Carolina Wren

Yesterday, after finishing a larger piece, I painted this study of a Carolina Wren. I have several wrens that hang around my house. One pair has nested on a shelf in my garage. I don't have the heart to take the nest out, especially while it is cold.

Carolina Wren, 5" x 7", oil (click to bid)

I have a seed feeder and a suet feeder right outside of my studio. Also in this area is where I stack my winter wood supply for my wood stove. The wrens really go for the suet and are constantly flitting around the wood pile looking for seed and small, moving, crunchy critters. This is where this scene originated.

Thanks for visiting my blog, I hope you enjoyed it!

Tufted Titmouse 2

One of my favorite birds that frequent my landscape. This little dude makes an otherwise dreary winter landscape happy and full of life... hmmm... I think I am beginning to sound like Bob Ross...happy little tree/bird? Lets ignore that and proceed... Anyway, a constant visitor to my feeder, I have taken many pictures of this guy and his friends to immortalize on canvas.

Tufted Titmouse 2,  5" x 7", oil on linen board,  (click to bid)

Pictured is the morning after an ice/snow storm that went quickly through our area. Any covering of ice or snow makes these guys especially active at the feeder making short work of that expensive seed! But I will keep filling it anyway as the enjoyment and life the birds give make it so worthwhile to me.

"They shall go flying
With musical speeches

High overhead in the 
tops of the beeches.

In spite of our wisdom
And sensible talking,

We on our feet must go
Plodding and walking."
excerpt from a poem by Robert Louis Stevenson

Thanks so much for your visit!

Chickadee Study 1

I strive to keep up my avian painting skills by painting small works of the many birds that visit me. I always try to capture a sense of mystery in the subject if I can. This can be accomplished several ways. Lighting is key and the way you handle edges and background also are important. 

Chickadee Study 1, 5" x 7", oil on linen board, (click to bid)

This Carolina Chickadee was in the process of feeding heavily before an approaching ice storm. Birds and other animals always know when weather is coming. Part of this is instinct, but I believe that part is also an ability that we humans also have. The problem is we increasingly do not or maybe cannot pay attention to our surroundings. We have let so much compete for our attention that our senses have become dull and raw. You see, we only have capacity to clearly comprehend so much auditory and visual noise in our life. The question becomes how much and which information and stimuli we choose to entertain. For by the act accepting some we immediately decline others. By accepting too much, we tend not to understand any. The choices we make define who we are. What is important to you? Oh heck, I started off talking about painting - how did i get here?

Thanks so much for your visit - come back if you dare! :-)

Sake and Pokeberrys study

Sake and Pokeberrys study, 5 x 7, oil (click to bid)

Pokeberry weed. Pokeberry wine, pokeberry salad, pokeberry for your arthritus, pokeberry ink, pokeberry all over my white t-shirt from running into it when mowing. Even though a weed, I do have a fondness for this plant. I love to see the resident mockingbird in the top of it eating the berries in the summertime. Somehow, the weed also seems to love me as I have it's purple stains on several items of my clothing.

I like to use things like pokeberry weed in my still life paintings. Things like weeds or other common plants seems to me to be a bit unexpected compared to items included in many paintings. That's what I want in my painting, something unexpected, something that makes it real.

Thanks so much for dropping by.

"Rose of Sharon"

Click here to bid

Outside of my basement door is a Rose of Sharon shrub. It is full of blooms all summer long and reminds me of my childhood because my neighbor had several of these plants in his yard. It is really amazing how many blooms it produces in a years time - seems like it should get tired producing all those flowers...
I have decided that I need to produce more small studies along with my larger paintings. This painting is one of my first efforts in doing that. An artist is never through learning, no matter how good their artwork is or how experienced they are. Small studies are one way we use to work on our technique and they also have become very popular to collect. You can bid on this painting at the Daily Paintworks site where I have begun to auction some of my small works by clicking the link below. Larger works will still be sold through my galleries (see my website for links).