a pair in the pinwheels

The shape of the birds in this painting are loosely based on indigo buntings...I drew a male and female and gave them both brightly colored feathers.  In reading about the blue bird's coloring, I learned that the feathers refract & reflect the light to give off a blue cast, like the sky.

My afternoon was spent rearranging the composition, moving around pinwheels and sketching in a companion for the solitary bird.  The cradleboard I'm painting measures 8" x 10" x 1", with a matte robin's egg blue background.

The image was transferred using carbon paper.  About four years ago at a thrift store in Seneca, SC, I came across a stack of carbon paper pads about a foot high.  This pile was purchased for a mere five dollars, a lifetime supply of transfer paper.  That Salvation Army yielded some of my best random craft supplies....boxes of buttons, sherbert colored thread and vintage lace, gold embroidery hoops...