I've made some small progress on the background. I think that once reality sank in that there was no way in heaven that I was going to get this done in time for any competitions this year, I kind of relaxed. Perhaps too much, since I hardly spent any time working on it this month. :-0
Another reason for my lack of progress is that the background really had me stumped. I made the mistake of staying in one small area and trying to layer, brush or stroke it into submission. I did get it closer to the effect I want but I also finally realized I should probably move along into other areas. Once I get more color down allover I can always come back to tweak a particular spot.
So I have started coloring in the birdfeeder in the background. It's hard to get the colors right and still keep it looking fuzzy and out of focus. I used Prismacolor's Henna, Greyed Lavender, Blush Pink, Brown, with touches terracotta and white to try to get the bronze metallic coloring of the feeder top. Some other colors in there are Colour Soft's, Persian Grey, Soft Pink and Brown Black and my favorite highlight bright, Luminance's Buff Titanium.
I will continue to just try to get color down on as much background area as possible and then go back to fine tune later.
