Thursday, July 16, 2009

Painting 14 - Yellow-Headed Blackbird

(The preliminary sketch - sorry about that evil eye. Eew!)
Today I felt like doing something a little different, a little looser, a little more spontaneous for my painting. This past weekend, Paul and I slipped down to Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge for another dose of nature. The yellow-headed blackbirds were still in control of the cattails. Many of this spring's chicks had fledged, sporting a hint of next year's brilliant plumage. They joined the bright yellow males on the reeds. Yellow-headed blackbirds are one of my favorites (is there a bird that isn't a favorite!?) and their images in my mind were just begging to be painted.

5 comments:

Kelly said...

I've never seen a yellow-headed blackbird. Gorgeous bird and gorgeous painting!

Laure Ferlita said...

Love the looseness you've captured - almost like a field sketch!

K said...

I like the intenseness of his gaze... Like Laure said, great field sketch!

Ann said...

This is wonderful! I also like the looseness - very expressive and lively.

Dave said...

Great work. That's the bird we've been searching for all summer! One day...