"Chickadee On Cattail" 10" x 20" Oil on panel

I've had this design in my head for a few days now, after seeing a photo of another bird on a cattail stalk. It wasn't a chickadee and this painting looks nothing like the photo, but it definitely planted the seed of the idea.

Also, I wanted to do something different with it, in terms of the format. Therefore, the "mat" is actually a border which I painted with Acrylics. By doing this, I was able to "extend" the bird's tail, leaf and stalk forward, giving it a very pronounced 3-dimensional feel.

I've done this type of theme many times over the years and there's no doubt that it is popular with my customers.

Recent Commission

This was painted from a client's photo, which was taken from the veranda of their Florida home.

It was an absolutely wonderful photo and when I was asked to recreate it on canvas, I could hardly wait to get started. The sway of the grasses actually made me feel the slight breeze on my face.

Sometimes a photo or painting can "send" the viewer there, right to the location of the scene and this photo did that for me.

This is Oils on a 24" x 30" Gallery Wrap canvas ( 1-1/2" thick ) with painted edges, so it's rather impressive in person, just due to the bigger size.

I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent on this!

Knife Paintings

Here are a couple of smaller paintings I did today, using only painting knives. Sometimes, I like to approach things with a looser style and forgo some of the finer details.

The knives always yield a more impressionistic result.

I also tend to use brighter colors when I paint this way, since I'm trying to achieve something not quite so "literal". It's fun to push the envelope a little.

If you're in a painting rut, or itching to do something different, give this knife approach a try.

Just have fun with it and see what develops!