"Family Portrait" (Emperor Penguins)

Like most of us, I’ve always had a thing about penguins.  A couple of our grandkids have gone through "penguin phases", so I supposed that sparked a renewed interest in these feathered torpedoes.  I have not been to Antarctica to see them, thus I had to scrounge digitally for reference material.  I used to be referred to as Dr. Frankenstein because of my habit of taking a head from one photo reference, a body from another, feet from yet another and so on, to prevent copyright infringements.  I must admit returning to those old ways for this painting, but it somehow feels okay, and worth the effort.  Four random internet images were scavenged and morphed, BUT absolutely no animals were harmed in that process.

I tried to nudge myself away from "choking up" on the brush to get the fine details, and actually threw a bit of paint around while completing the background.