Excuses and a view of new work

I'm sure by now that most readers of this blog have assumed I have vanished from the face of the earth, perhaps carried off by an eagle or succumbed to paint fumes (hard to do when you paint in watercolors!!).  But, no, I'm back.  In December I came down with a "cold" that lasted about a month and was extremely obnoxious!  At the same time I have been working on several larger paintings due this spring at various competitions and shows.  So that's my lame excuse for leaving this blog lifeless for four months.  I'll try hard to mend my ways.

Ok, what's happening in my studio?  I've been working on this Mountain Bluebirds in the snow painting entitled "Late Spring Surprise".  It's patterned after a scene in my yard last spring when, in the midst of a late snow storm, a flock of Mountain Bluebirds dropped into my yard to wait out the storm.  They looked pretty unhappy.  Typically, we see a bluebird pair here and there along a fence line in the vicinity of a nest box.  But Mountain Bluebirds do migrate in large flocks.  One spring about 10 years ago we saw hundreds, maybe thousands, of them in sagebrush flats on the north edge of Yellowstone National Park.  They were accompanied by lesser numbers of American Robins and they were all huddling under the sage to find shelter from another late spring snow storm.  It was like hundreds of little pieces of the blue sky had fallen on the ground!  What happened in my yard was a smaller version of that.

The painting, hopefully destined to be an entry in the "Artists for Conservation" Annual Show at the Hiram Blauvelt Museum in New Jersey, is shown below.

This 9" x 17" watercolor is on Crescent Premium 5114 Watercolor board.  The snow flakes (more visible on the original) were made by spattering Titanium White opaque watercolor on the finished, dry surface.

I'll find out later in April whether this submission was accepted.  If it isn't, it will go to a gallery or into the show in Missoula May 2-3.

Next post I'll show you a Great Blue Heron painting.