taking flight

taking flight

is not a given

all though not always right

all is not lost

Thirty-odd nests have made their way to me over the years. They are not ‘stolen’ as I know birds like to return year after year to the same spot and use the existing structure and build on it-the less work for them the better!

No, they are nests that have been blown down by the fierce winds or abandoned, like the cardinals’ nest in this image.

 

July

 a summer day

 8x10in, oil & cold wax on canvas 

words/image copyright Jan Yates 2014

available

The cardinals were nesting in a vine structure on the porch and one day the mother did not come back.

The heartbreak was in the Father. For weeks and weeks he would call for her, over and over through out the day, his frantic whistles painfully pleading for her return.

So I thought it fitting to make this on the porch. I’ve highlighted the nest, on the lower left, in the image below.

cloud illusion

The world's favourite season is the spring. All things seem possible in May.

-  Edwin Way Teale

Yes, I continue to work in the orchard series as I am drawn to what the trees represent.

In the time of blossom there is an airy feel-almost as if a cloud is resting on the land.

This cloud camouflages and protects the nesting birds, one of which made it's way into this painting.

Waiting for May, oil on canvas, 36x48in, copyright Jan Yates 2014

 available (inquire here)

"It was such a spring day as breathes into a man an ineffable yearning, a painful sweetness, a longing that makes him stand motionless, looking at the leaves or grass, and fling out his arms to embrace he knows not what."
-  John Galsworthy