Last Leaves

Autumn's Fallen - oil on illustration board, 14" x 16"

I found this marsh warbler dead after it presumably hit a shop window in town. I don't think anyone saw me pocket it, but if they did, I'm sure it made them wonder. I don't normally do still lifes, so this is an unusual painting for me in that respect, but the bird was such a cool thing to have on hand to study, I wanted to compose a full piece out of it. The rugosa roses were the last blooms of the season, so, with the leaves and the bird, the whole piece is really focused on the beauty of things as they pass on. Perhaps this beauty represents a glimpse of the glory of rebirth? As far as the natural world goes, these kinds of things click into place so beautifully.

I hadn't mentioned it before, but I've been back at drawing room a few times since the end of summer. This past Monday yielded a few good drawings, and I have some others from weeks prior that I like. I'll post them here soon. You can always come by the studio to see these new things if you're in the neighborhood, of course. There's a First Friday coming up on the 7th, where I should have a few new drawings up. I'll make a more formal post about that later.

This weekend looks good for me to have some serious studio time, finally. Hopefully I can make some headway with either this one small work that I have set up, or the study for the larger figurative project I've been going on about. We'll see which I am in the mood for, I guess.