House Finches At the Feeder
• acrylic on canvas
• 26 in. x 28 in. framed
This painting is inspired by the view from our dining room table. The room has a large window that provides a view of the backyard. A mere body’s length beyond the glass, a bird feeder dangles from a shepherd’s crook bird feeder stand. The feeder is a tube filled with seeds, surrounded by wire mesh large enough to allow access for the birds, and small enough to prevent squirrels (as clever and tenacious as they are) from reaching the seeds. In early summer, mom & dad House Finch bring fledglings to the feeder. My intent with this painting was not to realistically recreate the scene, but rather capture the flurry of activity as three or four House Finch families jockey for position at feeding stations.
There is a certain geometry I found interesting in this pseudo-natural setting—the square grid of the wire mesh, the circular openings in the cylindrical glass, the vertical pattern of the fence surrounding the yard. I also chose to incorporate subtle architectural elements as a nod to this species’ name, and its propensity to hang around suburban homes. There is a contrast and interplay between this geometry and the natural shapes of a juniper tree, a rose bush, curvilinear landscape beds, and dappled patches of sun and shade created by the maple tree presiding over one end of the yard.
Lemon-yellow patches of sunlit grass interlace aqua-green shadows. Dusty red finches and fuchsia roses contrast with emerald-green metal trim on the feeder. I placed one of the circular feeding ports near the center of the composition. It serves as an anchor for the surrounding action.
It’s not important to me that the viewer recognize birds and other elements in the painting. In fact, the painting’s title is the main thing that tethers it to reality. Rather, I hope to communicate a sense of ebullience—what I feel on a summer afternoon watching the House Finches at the feeder.
This painting is available for purchase at SNW Gallery.
