We see this kind of hummingbird, a Ruby-throated Hummingbird, in our yards. These birds are smaller than my thumb, and they buzz around. David Sibley describes the buzz as "the blur and hum of their hovering wings." (What a gift his books about birds are.) Hummingbirds' hearts beat around 250 times per minute when they are at rest. Flying, they beat 1,250 beats per minute: how amazing someone can count a tiny, fierce heartbeat like that.
This small painting is watercolor and pastel and charcoal and graphite on paper. How to suggest blur-and-hum in a picture?!
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