New Opportunity

I followed my boyfriend to a local small-scale pet shop the other day. They have all sorts of interesting animals; lizards, snakes, fish - some small and some very large, birds, small mammals, aligators, etc. He was looking for a volunteer opportunity, I was hoping they'd let me stick around and draw the animals. When I asked to hang around while my boyfriend volunteered the co-owner was surprisingly excited. He offered space on the wall for selling prints on consignment, he even offered to let me set up a pet portrait booth! I don't think I'm good enough to do pet portraits on the fly, but maybe I'll get there. For now I'd love to get the opportunity to paint the birds and sketch the lizards.

The painting above is one I did of Amber, the Red Tailed Hawk. I painted it a couple years ago when we had live birds in our classroom and I think it's time I revisit bird portraits.