I'm finally painting again

It's been a long time since I've painted anything, but it's always been one of my lost loves. Since ever I can remember as a child, I have drawn, painted with water colors or colored pencils, and even in school other kids asked me to draw something for them. My uncle Ernst, my dad's youngest brother, was a very good artist and I always pestered him to "please draw me a horse, uncle Ernst." A long time ago, I took some oil painting classes at a local community college in California and thought I did pretty well. I always enjoyed it and that's half the battle. Even if you never turn out to be a Picasso, at least you've spent your time well and it was not a waste. This morning I had a painting date with a lady who also likes to paint. We were to meet at 8 am at Bank's Lake where we would paint on the pier. Lo and behold, it started to rain and we had to postpone our painting session for another day. I, however had my heart set on painting, and just set up my supplies at home, in front of my computer, and began to sketch the rooster I found online that struck my fancy. Since tomorrow is a "Rooster Blog Party" hosted by Bella Vista, I've got roosters on my mind and searched for some good photos of handsome roosters. I'm not good enough to draw/paint freestyle and need a model, so this is the handsome fella I'm trying to paint: I think he looks magnificent! Here's an interesting tid-bit of information that I learned yesterday whilst browsing for rooster pictures: Did you know that the roosters used in cock fighting get their combs and wattles removed? It's called to dub - or dubbing - and sometimes they do it to chickens if they live in very cold climates, so that they don't get frost bitten there. It sounds painful to me, but they cut dog's ears and tails, don't they? Strange, what people do to animals - and to each other, for that matter! Here's my beginning sketch and my set up whilst Gizzy sleeps on the Lazyboy. (I guess he finds watching me paint boring.) I am using acrylics with some Gel canvas medium that makes acrylics perform like oils since I don't like the strong odor of oils in a closed up area. The canvas was already triple primed according to the packaging, so I didn't bother using any Gesso and it seems to be working. Besides, I'm a mere fletchling at this, so I won't worry about technicalities for now. It's still raining, so I'll make some hot tea and continue with my picture.