I painted this image after I saw this barn owl take flight in front of me. I was walking with other hikers at Pt Reyes National Seashore. It was the second barn owl I saw in two days. I was at the lifeboat station teaching an en plein air painting class on a beautiful weekend for outdoor painting. I will be on hand to discuss the history of American landscape painting and National Parks, for pt Reyes' 50th anniversary, Sept 22, 2012

This yellow headed blackbird was brilliant yellow. It sat on a Wyoming fence post.  I had to stop my car to take a longer look. Painting yellow without purples will never seem as bold. Edgar Payne said that paint colors are 400 times less intense than nature's colors. 

"Cactus Wren" watercolor 4"x6"

I observed this cactus wren go into its nest-in a side opening.
Actually, I saw both the male and female at the nest during a full hour observing the nest. This watercolor is a composite of the desert plants. Cactus wrens nest in Cholla but surrounding all this are the imposing Saguaro.
What makes us see a bird and see a nest? It takes time to follow the flight pattern, and awareness. The nest was the same color as the birds and the Cholla!
I will teach the art of SUMI-E brush painting at Pt Reyes(.org)
To know nature is through painting esthetic values (in black inks):
 WABI  (subtle taste)

SABI (elegant simplicity)

Color adds joy!

Christmas Bird Count Journal 2011

"Bohemian Waxwing" watercolor 4"x6" $85

How can such a small painting say so much? This bohemian waxwing has been in my memory for many many years in fact I am beginning to see myself symbolized by it...bohemian...bird in flight.
I am getting carried away!
What does make a great painting?
I believe it is the space for the viewer, that is left open in the painting, which is how a great painting begins. Second, your memories are triggered by a painting and you become the spark that completes the greatness.
Why are some paintings so universally appreciated? Is it that the more common the subject, like Mona Lisa's smile, the more everyone can get involved?
Whatever it is, be sure you leave room for the viewer, because you are the viewer too!

My Watercolors and Oils Paintings of birds
 are in two Art Shows:
**Skinny Pancake, Burlington, VT at Lake and College on the waterfront
**City Cafe, Steamboat Springs, CO, the City of Steamboat Springs' office complex

Blackbirds fly as one: they lift off together and there are no followers. Amazing in their unison and camaraderie. I painted them in watercolors to feel their presence-the paint is transparent and gives clarity to a subject. Then I can see the subject in oils!

"Greater Yellowlegs" watercolor 5"x7" $85

The birds I paint are always more alive at the scene and this Yellowlegs was very active: in and out of the side marsh of the Connecticut River and lifting its legs gently through the shallows and dipping its head and prominent bill in and out of the water and more.
Still a painting can express our emotions towards the entire scene and more importantly jog that one memory years later. We all will see some differences;colors, shape, values and paint that which we see. However in the end they are all accurate because it is the memory and a work of art.