A few years ago, I began painting two Red-breasted Nuthatches that were visiting our yard. I have always been drawn to the master Japanese woodblock artists of the 17-1800's, particularly Hokusai's prints of Nature. The Nuthatches felt like a perfect subject to try this kind of approach. It turned out to be a long, somewhat frustrating experiment. I began three different paintings, and never felt satisfied enough to complete any of them.
Just this past year, I took a fresh look at these paintings. I cut the first one into two smaller works that I then finished in oil. You can see them on a previous blog--Nuthatches #1 and #2. The second is this painting. I pulled out my gouache (as that was the medium I used when I started it) and was able to complete it. Sometimes, I just need the space that time brings to look at a piece in a new way.
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