Look at me, Look at you

House finch

The House finch, amid the sparrows, shows some red.  House finches are common at our feeders; yet, they are noticeably fewer.

This is a small work on paper.  I did not know when I started that the bird would turn around.

Courtly Hunts

If you are a member of a Court, Nature does not frighten you much: you are in a rarefied, guarded and pampered place.  Take a look at these playing cards from the early 1400's and you can see, in an amazingly artful way, this notion of Nature playing out a Hunt/Game, sometimes bloodily depicted, while the Court--King and Queen and some attendants--participate gracefully.  The four suits are Falcons, Ducks, Hounds, and Stags, and the "Face" cards are the Court.

You can see more of the wonderful cards at this Metropolitan Museum of Art site.

dove, not

Junco

pigment, glue, charcoal/ paper

We call these little birds that skitter around below the bushes in our yards Juncos.  They never seem to quarrel.  They seem to wear hoods.  If I could name them, I'd call them monkbirds.

This little painting sold; I just found out today.  It is one that I might have liked to keep in our yard's home.