The Eagle is flying

Sorry about the delay in posting this, my computer is having issues. I made great progress this past painting session and am very happy with how far the painting has come. I've been very self-disciplined about "building" this scene correctly, working from top down and from background to foreground. But having finished the sky finally to my satisfaction, I decided to have a little fun and add the eagle right away. I blocked it in at the end of the painting day on Saturday and made myself stop because I start making poor choices when I start getting tired. I'm so glad I waited. I took the time on Sunday to do some further research on eagles and Sunday's painting went smoothly. I've decided to try and paint with a similar palette of a painter that I admire very much, James Perry Wilson. His paint choices didn't include black and thus far neither have I. I felt the urge to add it however, on the eagle's shadowed wings, but in the end, I'm glad I didn't. I even got a start on the distant hills. I will have to restrain the colors for a while yet, until I reach the midway point and start brightening and darkening the values, but so far so good.