Cardinals on Rosehip Bush - Tote Bag Birds the labellum orange-yellow at centre

the labellum orange-yellow at centre

He is a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts whose watercolour wildlife studies set the standard for the form in Canada

the background impressionistic and atmospheric

the way wings cup air differently at the moment of touchdown

Cardinals on Rosehip Bush - Tote Bag Birds the labellum orange-yellow at centreA male and female Cardinal on a bare rosehip bush in late autumn the dried berries dark and clustered, the branches lifted against a softly graded winter sky. The male's red is muted slightly by the cool light, the female's warmth rhyming with the russet of the remaining hips. It is a composition built on exactly the kind of restraint that separates this watercolour from decorative bird art: nothing is brightened beyond what the actual light would