Wip day 2, Ducks

I've roughly applied some colour today, I like to have a skin on the paper. I started to work on the mother duck, and soon decided to use some watercolour pencils to achieve the texture of the feathers. I've added some purples and blues into the plumage to bring it out of what will be mainly a green background.

The Proud Mother, Wip

I've had to put my self portrait to one side, strangely due to ill health. Since having flu last month my chest has been bad. The dust from the extra soft pastels I've been using for my self portrait has been aggravating it. So for now I have decided not to use pastels, so this new painting is going to be in gouache.
Obviously of ducks, I'm going to be using a very restricted palette of mostly greens. There are some beautiful reflections to capture. The composition is from a series of photos I took in Richmond Park in the Isabella plantation. I particularly like the duckling in the foreground, who has some real attitude!