Conversations with Birds and a Squirrel

Hans Holbein the Younger’s “A Lady with a Squirrel and a Starling” has always fascinated me with its minimal palette of white, black, and that particular blue of Holbein’s. I’ve painted versions of those branches and leaves in my backgrounds over the years. I wanted to sample the idea, but somehow, the tangle of branches and Pieter Breugel’s winter scenes kept flashing in my mind during my daily rambles through the Santa Fe trails. Bare trees against lowering skies. It evokes a certain melancholy and meditation, a longing for the lightness of spring….

There is a working crew creating a new and improved walking trail near my home. They have felled some trees in the process. One afternoon, a cacophony of protesting bird song filled the air. There were so many of the little creatures perching on sparse winter branches, in a frenzy over the disruption. In Priyanka Kumar’s book “Conversations with Birds” the ruby-crowned kinglet and Wilson’s warbler are mentioned in the preface. These beautiful tiny little birds are the ones talking with the child in my painting “A Conversation with Birds”. A few years ago, I saw a wonderful exhibit at the Denver Art Museum “Glory of Venice: Masterworks of the Renaissance”. This is an ode to Bellini’s “St. Dominic”.