Peacocks on Alder wood

Last night I started working on a playful little peacock, painted on Alder wood(very expensive stuff!). Still working on it, it is my first piece and I am trying to paint this fun and playful peacock so that I don't cover all the beautiful wood. It is a tricky piece and really my practice piece, because I plan to do more pieces on this wood. Right now I am experimenting to find the line that makes this bird pop out from the wood, without looking like an unfinished piece. Good luck, right!

Not sure what the other pieces will be, a few more birds of different feather I think and maybe some botanical ones too. They are small pieces and should sell well, not sure how I am going to price them just yet, Alder wood is so very expensive. But it is such a beautiful hard wood, I understand why it is. Once I have some finished I will post them for any input, you all choose to give, it will be appreciated.

Quick update on the lottery, I have not won yet, but I am moving forward. I have checked the last 2 tickets and one was a small win of $6, this helped by the next few. The second is zero, if I understand the game correctly, had a couple of winning numbers, but not enough! Hope you are having as much fun today as I am. Signing out for now, d