Weather's Changing

I don't paint much wildlife anymore, but at one time, the genre represented a large percentage of the paintings that I produced. When I was a child, birds were my passion, especially the ducks and geese that frequented the Thousand Islands region. I learned much about drawing and painting by observing them and then trying to capture their likenesses on paper or canvas.

The Lesser Scaup or ‘Blue Bill’, as many locals know it, is a diving duck that will feed and rest in the thousands along the lower Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River districts during the migration south each autumn. They nest in the Arctic but they will spend the winter anywhere from the US/Canadian border to as far south as Central America.

This painting shows both male (purple/black heads) and female (brown heads) of the species, on a beautiful autumn day, but ominous clouds are building, suggesting a change in the weather is coming.

This painting measures 16 inches by 20 inches and it is painted in alkyd on stretched canvas.