Untamed Land

Untamed Land
Untamed Land

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Singing In the Spring

A few years ago I photographed the singing, (calling) male, Golden-crowned Sparrow in the photo above. It was high up in Turnagain Pass on the Kenai Peninsula. The month was June but Spring comes very late to the high country.
Golden-crowned Sparrows are large sparrows that breed in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest. They have a simple but elegant three note call, not unlike the territorial call of a Black-capped Chickadee.
On Monday and Tuesday of this week I did not feel like sitting down to paint after work. I had the day off on Wednesday so I got started on this 9x12" painting. I worked about an hour on Thursday and again on Friday. Today I worked another three or four hours and it was finished. That is fast for me these days although it was my typical fast pace in past years.
I am still toying with a possible name for it. 'Singing in the Spring', 'Calling for the Spring', 'Joyful Spring'. Something along those lines. Any ideas out there?
Now I am going to sit down to a nice dinner of home made Kalua Pork that my Samoan neighbor just brought me. YUM!

8 comments:

Camera Trap Codger said...

Love your rendering of the GCS. The warblers are arriving down here, but the rain and cold weather turned off their singing.

tess stieben said...

love the sparrow, I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of the song sparrows to tell me spring has come. I have heard that the trumpeter swans are about three hours south of us now as there is open water, here we still have ice.

john said...

Thanks for your comments Codger and Tess. We are still frozen up here although we are starting to thaw.
Warblers should show up in about a month and a half. Swans will be here a few weeks before that. Happy days.

john said...
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Noushka said...

Great blog, happy to discover it!
I like your artwork too!
How do find the time?!!!
I don't anymore!!
Congratulations!

Marc Calvo said...

The spring comes sooner than i expect in Anchorage!!.

john said...

Thanks for your comments. Noushka, I find the time because my regular job is only part time, four days a week. I am grateful that it leaves me time to paint.

Jeremy Pearse said...

Really love this one, you have nicely captured the shape and character of the bird in mid-song - and from an interesting angle too!