Another Red-winged Blackbird

I think I could sit at the redwing pond ten days in a row and hope for more.  As it is we've gone to the pond three times this spring and I wish for more.

When the light is right I see his breath drifting is lazy swirls in the still frosty air.  It reminds me of some femme fatal smoking her cigarette in a 1940s movie.  The magic formula is a cold morning, the redwing and his breath should be backlit with morning sunshine.  For his breath to really pop, the background should be in shadow.

I got this sketched and nearly finished the paint part on location.  Finished it up a few days later at home.