new and tempramental painting

this is my newest wall mural-

its for a little boy named wyatt who's 7 years old and has bright red hair and lovely freckles.  he shares his room with his 5 year old brother jayden who is blond and smiles like a surfer already. their room is a tangle of cowboy boots and guns and birds nests they found in the yard and a fish tank full of crickets that they got from the same place.  

i sat on the couch for 20 minutes with wyatt discussing with him in very serious ardor what he wanted on his wall.  you cant pull a fast one on this little guy, let me tell you.  "a peregrine falcon chasing his prey" (which are pigeons, he informed...which is true.  i researched it...who says homeschool doesnt work).  those were his exact words.

so anyway, its not the best thing i've ever done and i confess a fair level of frustration with this picture, mainly because i dont paint falcons all the time and i desperately wanted to do a good job for wyatt...how do you produce art for a 7 year old?  you'll notice the tail feathers are pretty non-believable...ah, well.  the falcon itself is about 4...maybe a little more....feet high to give you an idea.  the room i painted it in is on the top floor of the house, which includes a lovely physics lesson with it: heat rises.  so basically this peregrine was born into an arid desert of hot tehachapi air and a frustrated painter who couldnt mix any colors on the wall because they would dry the SECOND they hit the wall.  

i did learn two cool things from this piece though.  

1) i need to START with prayer and surrender and not END with it out of desperation...will someone please tell me why i forget that all the goodness or ability i "have" is just Him and His grace?  

2) the way peregrine falcons catch their prey in mid air like they do is they soar up really high and then dive at close to 200 mph at their prey and snatch them.  the wee birds never know what hit 'em.  i think God is amazing.  a true artist, if i may make such an understatement.