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.