Pastels, spots and splashes!

Following on from my kingfisher painting, I decided to have a play with pastels. I remembered that I'd recently brought a black pad, and used this for the background. I think this makes the colours stand out more. However, it did make it difficult to photograph!
The posture of this kingfisher reminds me of a hummingbird. I don't think he is quite chunky enough to be a true kingfisher.

Trying to think more abstractly (and waste time on the computer!) I found a photo of a kingfisher and imported it in to paint.net. Using the pipette colour picker tool I transferred some shades of its coat to some random spots. I quite like how the colours work together. Would you have known it was inspired by a kingfisher?
And using a polystyrene pizza base I attempted to create stamps replicating kingfishers feather patterns. I printed them on a sheet of blue acetate, lakta paper and shiny blue paper. I like the contrast of the warm metallic colours and the backgrounds.