Landing In Honeysuckle - Bluebird Painting

"Landing In Honeysuckle"
8X10
Oil on Linen Panel
©Cheryl A. Pass

SOLD
Click on image to enlarge the view.

One of the sweet surprises of living in the south is the wildflower, Honeysuckle. There's a fat bunch of it just down the street from my house and when I walk in the summertime the yummy smell of it wafts over to me as I walk by. It can get out of hand if it grows in your yard, but for obvious reasons, the bluebirds love it.

This painting turned out somehow different than I expected it to....or maybe that I chose a color scheme that is not my usual choice. The background gave me fits...I had to grey it down twice to make it fade back away from the Honeysuckle and the Bluebird which I wanted to pop. I put a few brush strokes in the background just to give it more of a feeling of movement, as if the leaves are shaking a bit from the recent landing. I had every blue tube of paint out of my paint box, from Manganese to Ultramarine to Cobalt. It is hard to capture the vivid blue of this gorgeous bird. We are lucky to have some of them living in our neighborhood. As it turns out, I think it has sort of a Victorian feel to it.

Once again, another attempt for the Nature Show. Not sure if I will put this one in. I'm going to keep painting from now until then to try to come up with what I would think is my best work.

Bluebird On a Pine Branch

"Bluebird On a Pine Branch"
12X9
Oil on Canvas Panel
Commission
Click on picture to enlarge the view.

This is the second Bluebird painting...since I have a client who loves them and another client who wanted one...I ended up doing two. They are similar, but different..heads turned different ways and the pine branches are configured differently. We are so lucky here in North Carolina to have many of these adorable birds. They are the color of sky in flight...and quick as anything. I think there is a poet who said they wear the sky on their backs. We love them...and it has been fun to paint them!


Perched in a frame for example....

Bluebird Balancing Act

"Balancing Act"
12X9
Oil on Panel
Commissioned

ADDED NOTE On May 23rd...
This past week and all of next are dedicated to getting my Dad situated into an assisted living home. He is 91 and a half...barely walking, suffering from several maladies, and needs more help now than I can continue to give him. So..we found a place and are in process of moving him, in between the continual Dr.s appts. This is very time consuming, selling stuff, moving stuff, packing stuff, etc. etc. I am exhausted and can hope that once we get him moved in, I will have some of my energy back and can paint again. I am looking forward to getting back to the easel after next week...sometime after June first or second. Thanks for checking back!!

I have a collector who loves bluebirds, so this one is commissioned for her. She and her husband have courted the bluebirds and been rewarded with a flock of them in their yard. Eastern Bluebirds are indigenous to our area and we all love them. I hope I did justice to the idea here. This painting is on spec actually, so if this one doesn't fit the collector's desire, then it will be for sale....and I will be doing some more bluebirds for consideration.
Balancing Act seems like a theme for my life lately....probably yours, too. We are all trying to find our footing and hoping we land in a secure spot. Our country's foundations are being knocked out from under us by a bunch of really bad power-mad politicians and a lot of misguided misanthropes. It's very sad, so the sight of a bluebird is a momentary bliss at least.