9 x 12

Oil on Linen

Maple Shadow Frame

This is an original oil painting

I had a day in my studio early summer and this bird just kept landing outside my studio and staring at me. I love a damn cardinal. They stay, did you know that? They build a nest and just hunker in and I have a whole society of them living in the brush by my studio at home and in the mountains. I love them in the snow and I love them in the green.

To be honest though none of them give me much attention. But this one just kept sitting there staring at me and I finally looked and thought- oh shit is that bird dead? it looked like a teenager. Then he moved and flew and then came back and I was like OK OK I get the message.

So I painted him. Standing up looking at him while working on something else, That seemed to work because then he flew off. Just like a teenager.