New Barn owl drawing started

This is the layout for my latest drawing of a Barn Owl.The drawing is a commissioned piece based on an earlier image Winter barn owl and in particular the attitude and pose of the owl itself which was much admired by my clients.I have altered the elements within the picture whilst maintaining the same 'vibe' as the earlier piece.This has been helped no end by the generous sprinkling of snow we had in december and the wonderful reference opportunities that came with it.So far here i have drawn in the basic layout and included some of the wonderful snowclad plants i came across.the background has had an initial toning of H grade graphite which i have blended using my paper stump in exactly the same manner that i used to create the original image and the background itself will be worked up first to look as similar to the original as possible.