Works in progress: cardinals and falcons

Hello, oil paintings I've been chipping away at for the past two months! How are you doing?

Clearly, the lighting did not agree with my camera, so there is a great deal of glare, but you get the idea. Northern Cardinals, a bird you've probably seen many times! I certainly have. So when I paint them, I find I usually have to put some kind of spin on them! Like black and white, or strange patterns. This painting is reckless frustration finally breaking through its chains. I can't say much more, because right now I'm just staring at it and thinking about what I want to change when I work on it again!

Speaking of black and white paintings! I've had this idea since I finished my previous black and white piece. A vision of a bird in flight against the night sky, with a cartoon-ish crescent moon. I finally got around to painting it. Black and white's fun, so I was excited to return to it. The bird's a falcon, though viewers have called it a dove, which is perfectly alright. Again, I'm still just thinking about what I want to change!

These paintings are both nearly done. I've been alternating between them, switching whenever I get tired or want a change of pace. Between the two of them I've put in a good 16+ hours of work, spread out over those two months. Sizes are 24x30 and 18x36.