Day 26. Who is watching whom?

“Bird Watcher” 6×6 inches, oil on canvas

I saw a post on instagram recently that I shared. “One day you’re young and carefree; the next you’re like, “Is that a tufted titmouse at my bird feeder?!” 

I don’t think I much noticed birds when I was younger and could probably name as many as I could count on one hand. I can’t pinpoint when that changed precisely. Even still, when people come to the gallery and of my Great Blue Herons say something like “Oh! Look at the Pelican” I die a little inside.

This painting started as a tufted titmouse, a bird people often mistake for a Blue Jay in my paintings, which admittedly has more to do with how I paint them than any deficiency on the viewer’s part. 

Funny then, that I actually painted over the Tufted Titmouse and replaced it with a jay in today’s painting. The title of this painting does not refer to the human viewer, but to the bird– a bird doing the watching, eyeing you, making sure you don’t mistype her. And you wouldn’t. Everyone gets the Blue Jays right.

 

Please note: All 31 paintings will be on display at our gallery celebration February 24th from 5-8pm. The show will also feature other artists who have been part of a 31 in 31 community.

 

Picture of Denise Hopkins

Denise Hopkins

January 26, 2024

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