A Red-bellied Woodpecker Visited Me One Morning

In my field journals, that I shared in the last post, I have for the most part been painting birds as I see them. An illustration. But on my panels I have been looking at birds as inspiration. It was not something I planned.

One morning this summer, my daughter called me over excitedly to look out our family room window. And to my surprise there was a Red-bellied Woodpecker on a tree right by the window. Those woodpeckers tend to stay up way up high in the trees- and only if you have binoculars are you able to see their beautiful plumage. But it was right there, in front of our eyes. Beautiful!

That afternoon I happened to get a window of time in the studio and the painting above came out. I have since started on a bigger panel based on Northern Flicker. I love those polka dots! It’s interesting though because the first painting just flowed out of me. One of those moments where I was just playing around, not committing myself to anything, and then the painting was there. This time around, since I am more conscious of my aim, it is going so much slower. I am second guessing. Not as loose. Thinking too much. I need to figure out how to get back to more free feeling space.