Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Summer Storm - Eastern Kingbird

"As practice makes perfect, I cannot but make progress; each drawing one makes, each study one paints, is a step forward."
                                                                                       ~ Vincent van Gogh

Summer Storm - 16" x 12" oil on canvas


I enjoy working on my little almost-daily 5" x 7" and 6" x 6" pieces as I continue to explore oil painting, but sometimes it is so satisfying to jump in the deep end and take on a bigger piece. I've used this bird in other paintings and drawings before, but it keeps inspiring me. It's from a photo I took a few years back at the Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge in Stevensville, MT. Eastern kingbirds just say "summer" to me. They were such a common sight on barbed wire fences all over Montana, as were thunderstorms on summer afternoons. It's a nice memory to savor as we're slowly plodding along through February.


2 comments:

Katherine Kean said...

Beautiful painting and wonderful quote.

Gabrielle said...

Thanks for commenting, Katherine. Van Gogh has been a treasure trove of great quotes. I've been lucky enough to see many of his paintings in person. One of these days I should do a post on him...