High Rise Cardinals

I decided to go a little smaller, this time, and my subject is one I have been going to paint for a long time. My first sighting of a Red Cardinal was in Branson, Missouri. I shot a ton of photos, hoping one day to put them on canvas. We don’t have any of these guys out west. I feel like we were cheated! They are such a magnificent, beautiful bird. It seems every time I see one, and I have seen lots of them in my travels, they always make me think of Christmas. I’ve nicknamed them the “Christmas Bird”.

The old limb I used in this painting was one that fell from one of the many trees I have here on my property. I’ve had it in my studio for over two years, just waiting for the right composition to put it into. That time finally came. I love to paint things that have character, and this bad boy had lots of it. It was a perfect perch for my Cardinals.