White Capped Noddy birds

11x15 watercolor on Canson 140 lb cold press paper, finished today, after drawing yesterday and beginning putting darks in first as seen below.  Fellow artist Christine in Australia provided a larger photo which I cropped down to position the mother bird looking out of her nest to unseen dangers.  Little baby white capped noddy is covered by her protective wing.  Branches and twigs were negatively painted within a multicolored natural background.

At the 2 hour mark today; this is as far as I got after taking so long to draw the scene.  I submitted the final version to our weekend drawing event on WetCanvas! tonight.  Christine provided 16 images for participants.  After selection is made, you have 2 hours to complete, and if not done, take a photo of your progress when time's up.  With all the tree limbs, branches, twigs, and leaves I had to add another hour.  White capped noddy birds are seabirds of the tern family.
Image is COPYRIGHT 2014 Kay Smith.