When driving around Darke County in western Ohio, I often come across a quick visual treat. A bluebird zipping low over fields and grasslands of the farming community I call home. Once you learn what a bluebird looks like they are often hard to miss. My wife always reminds me that they look like grumpy old men. I think of them as dashes of cobalt blue. I live on what used to be a farm. The bank barn and tobacco barn are long gone. There are still remnants of old fence posts that were made from Catalpa trees. Any bluebird aficionado will tell you once wood posts were replaced with metal posts the birds population started to fall. Thankfully bird lovers across the United States took to building special wood birdhouse that are specifically designed for the blue grumpy birds. We still have a few of these boxes out in the 5 acre pasture.
The painting evolved from a quick sketch on a napkin. The bluebird is caught in a moment before flight. The foot on the right is lifted up and the rest of the weight will follow down. The fence post is weathered and old. The barbed wire is crudely wrapped around the post and is intentionally disproportionate. Both look painful and unforgiving. The dead wood and weathered metal contrast the colorful life of the living bird. The background is more a quick action strike of color. Is the background a landscape or rusted metal? There is a sense of volume and realism to this painting.
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If you think there is a bit of gloom to this painting then I suggest hearing the bluebirds song. The jamming tune these feathered friends chatter and chirp can break the mood of any rainy cold monday morning. Zip A Dee Doo Dah
Bluebird sound: LISTEN.
This original canvas artwork by Michael Glass depicts a pheasant caught in a state of surprise by a passing fox. The fox also appears to be caught off guard, pleasantly surprised even, by the presence of the pheasant. It’s a tale as old as life itself, a creature is forced into ‘fight or flight’ in order to survive. The focal point of the painting is the bird’s head, which brings intense bright colors to the forefront. The eye of the pheasant is shown peering out at the viewer, as if pleading for help. A large portion of the painting is taken up by the bird’s frantically flapping wings, followed by its tail which wraps around the fox, continuing off of the canvas and reappearing in the extreme upper right hand corner of the landscape.
This has been a mild winter. Later this week I believe we will get snow. With no hope of warm weather in the next 10 days, I smile and think of the summer that will be. My summers are mowing grass, playing soccer with my little girl, observing distant thunderstorms, drinking wine with my wife.God I love summer. Its those thoughts that fill my head when I sketch or randomly doodle. I draw and think, think, think, draw, draw then SNAP! an idea takes shape and I start to see the beginnings of a painting.
Sunflowers In Field