Seagull With Sausage

I was staying at a hotel at Llandduno in North Wales. They served far too much toast after the fried breakfasts (every slice was cold too.) Disliking waste I wrapped a few slices in serviettes and later fed them to the gulls. I recall a man with a gaggle of children saying "please would you not mind feeding them as they cause havoc." As he'd asked me and not told me I complied....for an hour or two anyway. I'd seen them swoop and snatch rip chips, ice creams and muffins from the hands of holidaymakers but animals get a tough deal in life so I don't mind.

These opportunistic thieves fly along the promenade on busy days, do a big U turn, then repeat the surveillance (at an average 28 mph.) The hotel I was staying in served vegetarian sausages but they were like dog's chew toys so I smuggled them out for the gulls. One morning I sat on a bench and got the sausages out. Less than a minute passed before one landed on the nearby bin. I had my camera prepared but the gull was too fast. I thought I'd paint it but had to use my imagination. Here it is.

I put in a blue sky and the general shape of a gull and got started. I didn't want to spend much time on this thing as I was using a piece of shiny wood I'd found in a skip; it didn't like paint. Painting something white isn't easy so I put some sun on one side to create some shadow. I left the sausage till last and suddenly it was finished. I thought of adding Blackpool tower in the background but that board and oil paints weren't friends so I didn't bother. I haven't eaten a meat sausage since December 1985.

Lacking detail this was painted quickly and I hardly took any photos. I used few colours - black, white, blue and a dab of brown for those legs which seem far too thin to hold up a body full of fish and chips. In one of these photos you'll see Paris on the screen. This live cam featuring the Eiffel Tower is something I watch nearly every day. I like to see the traffic, the ever-changing sky, the lights coming on in the apartment block and the revolving light on the tower. The link is here:-

https://platforms4.joada.net/embeded/embeded.html?uuid=47fcda1a-38f6-4fb2-3938-3330-6d61-63-bb4b-5df88851d8b7d&type=live&liveicon=1&vsheader=1&tz=Europe/Paris&tsp=1668095652&titletext=

The gull that snaffled the sausage in Llandudno is probably still now. They live for about 20 years. Another painting for the attic.