Grainne

Grainne is a large drawing which is of a Northern Goshawk, one of our most majestic birds of prey and very difficult to spot. She was part of a group of three different goshawks I drew last year and she is the only one left as the others have been sold.
 
They look such fierce birds but are absolutely beautiful if challenging to draw lifesize. When they are young they have pale yellow eyes which throughout their lives turn to a beautiful deep orange and this helps to identify their age. The female is larger than the male and are a Scheduled 1 species, which means it is illegal to hunt or persecute them. I made my drawing as near to their actual measurements in length as possible which is 48 to 62 cm in height, they have a wingspan of 135-165cm which is pretty impressive. Sometimes  it is easy to mistake Sparrowhawks for Goshawks expecially the male as he is smaller than the female.
 
I find it fascinating that there are quite a number of words in the English language which have their origins in terms for hawking such as 'hoodwinked', 'fed-up' and 'bated breath'.
 
Graphite, coloured pencil, oil and chalk pastel 69x50cm