Galahad

And why I paint birds.

This is Galahad, who is named after the pure and noble Camelot knight who found the Holy Grail and was instantly sent to Heaven when he drank from it. He was also the son of Lancelot, which links this painting to the original version of this owl with that title. Only two of these mixed media on paper pieces that I’ve been working on this last year are based on new source material. All the rest are based on earlier birds in the series.

I was asked the other day what the impetus was for the first bird. I tend to not get into politics on social media but my answer was the 2017 inauguration of Donald Trump. I hadn’t been painting for a year or two while I was working on a book, but his election upset me so much I had to pick up the brush. My first thought was an American bald eagle, but birds were a new subject for me so I did a few practice hawks and parrots since I was familiar with those. Lil’ A.B.E. was the sixth in the series, and it only now occurs to me I should add him to this new mixed media collection.

Speaking of hawks, there’s one circling outside my window as half a dozen crows go crazy. And since Trump continues, and apparently will continue, to lurk like a hawk on our mutual horizon, I will continue painting birds. There’s a vulture on my drawing table at the moment. I hope to make her beautiful. Maybe I’ll show it to you next week.