Psychopomps......

No, I'm not freaking out since my dog's demise, I had this painting in mind way back when I took the reference photos in Boston and had it sketched out at the beginning of last week. I'm just an avid reader of Stephen King, and the reference in The Dark Half to sparrows being guides to the afterlife for the souls of the departed has always kind of stuck in my mind....but then I'm the person who had screaming nightmares after reading The Mist & Pet Sematary, and don't get me started on 'It'!

Anyway, enough with the slightly worrying glimpse into my subconscious!

At one of the exits to Boston Common there was this big flock of sparrows fluttering and chattering in a bush, tame as you like and I rattled off a couple of photos (while checking all around that I wasn't going to get hit by a truck or knifed in the back...no, not really!) and have been waiting all this time to have a spare couple of afternoons to paint them. This has been painted in watercolours, using a very annoying wobbly sable brush and a strong magnifying glass to try & get the detail from the photo. Initially, this drove me nuts and there was a lot of swearing and dropping of things - I paint with the drawing board resting on my lap and the addition of a magnifying glass to the hand holding the palette caused overload. However, it did cause me to paint in a much looser style which I quite liked, so persisted with the discomfort!

As the school is still closed due to the snow, I have yet another free day but had better do some paid work!