| One of my favorite things in the whole universe to do (besides hanging out with my daughter, reading, walking dogs at the local shelter and eating soft-serve ice cream) is to work in the garden. I grew up on a farm and a large portion of the vegetables we ate were grown and harvested by my Mom, who has a marvelously green thumb. Well, the apple didn't fall too far from that tree and although I still have a lot to learn, I definitely love being out there in the dirt, shovel and bucket of manure in tow (charming, huh?).
Most of the people I know who enjoy gardening also love birds - watching, feeding and just observing their little lives as they go on all around us. Well, I'm no different. I find birds fascinating, beautiful and quite clever (well, okay, maybe not chickens...). I'm lucky to live in an area where there is an abundance of wildlife and on any given day I can see bald eagles, great blue herons and scarlet tanangers. When I talk about birds with my fellow observers, they are always shocked to find out that my absolutely favorite bird is the crow. They are busy chasing the crows away from their feeders while I try to attract them by offering gifts of slightly rotten eggs, moldy cheese and (a particular favorite) canned cat food.
Crows are smart, athletic and social. I love to hear them chattering with one another in the tree tops through my studio window. However, when they come to the ground to pick through my crow buffet, they are quiet and stealth, always ready to leap away in an instant. By now, they know me a bit and know that I mean food but they are still very apprehensive about letting me get close and will wait until I am safely back in the house before swooping in for a snack.
One of the reasons I feed them and try to get them accustomed to my presence is that I love making paintings of and about crows. I am constantly at the window, my camera set to 'burst' in order to take three pictures per click instead of one. For every round of photographs where I may take up to 30 shots, only two or three will be keepers. Ideally, I would love to get to the point where I don't have to hide behind glass in order to take their picture, but I think that will take a considerable amount of time and patience. Unfortunately, I don't have much time to be patient with, so for now, I'll have to settle for my glassed-in observation perch.
 ONE CROW 30" x 40"
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