"Putting Down"

Pastel on sanded gatorboard, 14x11

This painting revised, retouched, and updated 2/21/2023 - see newer listing.

On rainy days, I go through my old paintings, reference photos, and drawings looking for things that interest me.  For some reason, I often find myself drawn to sea gulls.  I admire their freedom and exuberance. 

This particular gull is actually from a photo of a large flock, but his form and sense of presence attracted my attention.  I pulled him out for this study and first called it "All Alone" which is a little ironic because gulls are rarely alone.  "Putting Down" is more descriptive.