Reflections

For the past month I have been painting Minnesota's state bird, the loon. I find that it's almost like working on two paintings- the loon and her background.

On this piece, I created a sort of rough draft background of trees and a sunset. But when the sky started to look like pea soup, I stepped away, gave it a breather. And when I came back, I realized those pine trees looked more like a city skyline. So I went with it!

Sometimes the painting tells you what it wants to be. This loon wanted to swim on a city lake. I love it.