Painting Waxwings & Some Found Art

There are three species of waxwings, Bombycillidae, in the world, all occuring in the Northern Hemisphere. They are closely related to the silky flycatchers, which contain four species, all restricted to the New World. The waxwings are, Cedar Waxwing, which occure over most of Canada, throughout North America, as far south as Costa Rica.
Bohemian Waxwing, which occurs in northern North America, and Northern Eurasia.
The final species is the Japanese Waxwing, which has a red, rather than yellow, tail tip. I would love to see some of them someday.
The only waxwings that I can remember painting are Bohemian Waxwings.  I had never seen until I came to Alaska. The waxwing painting above is 11x14", and was painted 14, or 15 years ago. It sold right away. I forget the title.

This painting, 20x16", came several years later. I never liked it, never displayed it, and I believe that I eventually painted over it. I have started a number of other waxwing paintings that I never bothered to finish. That is why I seldom post step by step tutorials of a painting's progress until after it is finished.

Another 16x20" waxwing painting that I was'nt too thrilled with. I did bring it to a gallery, but they refused to hang it. I can't remember whether I gave this one away, or painted over it. It is not  so very terrible, but not quite up to par. Notice that the bottom bird in this painting is the same bottom bird in the previous painting. I think I have painted a few other small waxwing paintings, but I never photographed them.

So this is the painting that has kept me busy for the past few weeks. It is probably my best, and certainly my biggest waxwing painting, 24x18". So far untitled.

It was inspired by a poor quality photo of some Bohemian Waxwings perched in a Birch Tree that had snapped some of it's branches off in high winds.

While I was gathering photos of old waxwing paintings for this post, I found a stash of old slides of paintings from pre-digital days. I scanned the slides, and now I have some material for future posts. The Kangaroo Rat is from my Arizona years.

I dont remember the title of this painting of Common Mergansers. It is 16x20".

Another old Arizona painting of a Humpback Whale. I dont remember the title, but it's also 16x20". I often painted Alaska subjects, even before I ever thought about moving to AK.

Another popular painting from the Arizona days. This is a poor quality photo, but I really liked this 8x10" Red Fox.

I dont remember the size, or the title of this painting of Evening Grosbeaks. I remember going into my neighbor's yard in Lakeside, AZ. to photograph the frosty cottonwood leaves and branches. The thermometer read, 0 degrees farenheit on that morning. Very cold for Arizona.
There is some minor excitment amoung birders in the nearby town of Palmer these days, because a male, Evening Grosbeak is being seen at someone's feeder. They normally dont occur anywhere around here.