When I first saw the exquisite photo by Dan Streiffert on the Friends of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Facebook page I was mesmerized. The combination of Red-winged blackbirds and the White-faced Ibis was both surprising and exotic. But the challenge of painting the pattern the birds make while flying was what most excited me.
Portraying actual colors and textures, and the way light falls on the subject I try to capture the awe I feel when observing natures beauty in my artwork. Finding the hidden colors in light and shadow makes the loose realism juicy. The images take on a certain abstraction with composition— simplifying and cropping,
It took me about a year to start on this image. I felt it would be perfect for the High Desert Museum’s annual invitational Art in the West Exhibit, got it done just in time for the deadline, and was thrilled that the art was juried in.
I rarely paint from photos that I haven’t taken myself and have spent many hours on MNWR trying to take reference photos of the Red-winged, and Yellow-headed Blackbirds, swallows, cranes and other birds, to use in my paintings. So, I understand how difficult it is to capture a photograph of this caliber. Many thanks to photographer Dan Streiffert and the Friends of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge for allowing me to use it for reference for “Drama Flight”.
