New Work-Four and Twenty Blackbirds

Four and Twenty Blackbirds is my most recent painting. I have been steadily drawn to wetland habitats in my recent work. This fragile habitat is so easy to overlook and dismiss as a muddy bog when one glides by in their car. So much of our wetlands have been dried out and managed for human uses. Yet these habitats support a wealth of organisms and provide essential support for migrating birds that pass through on their ancient cycles.
In Four and Twenty Blackbirds I explored wetland reeds once again. I tried to convey my wonder at the power and beauty of nature. I put myself out on a limb in terms of technique as I did not begin with the bird images in the underpainting as I usually do. I also worked with the new palette of color I began with my previous painting, Pilgrims' Progress. I hoped to give a stronger voice to nature in this painting. The yellow headed  blackbirds give me a thrill when I look at them in their black masks. They are in charge of their world.

New work-Pilgrims' Progress

Finally, at long last I have finished my two new paintings.  With the first, Pilgrims' Progress, I started with a mental vision of color and a strong sense of the concept which led me all the way. I have been trying to loosen up my style a bit and reduce images and ideas to the essentials necessary elements. I feel really happy with this piece because I believe I accomplished that goal. It goes where I wanted it to go simply and succinctly.  And oh those Sandhill Cranes. They have an almost human quality to them, more than ordinary herons and cranes.  They are really huge and walk more like a turkey or a chicken. I was lucky to observe a pair in their elaborate mating dance at the Summer Lake Oregon reserve one winter. These mysterious migrating birds require the wetlands that are threatened all across the western United States.
Pilgrims' Progress is large, 30' x 60", and the images march right across.  I wanted it to seem a continuous flow, like a river of people and birds.