Yellowstone Heritage and Research Center - Waxwings

Our subject of the day -
On the left is a Bohemian Waxwing and on the right is a Cedar Waxwing.

I was back at the Yellowstone Heritage and Research Center this week to paint a still life. I thought I'd paint one more in my 'birds in a box' series. I chose waxwings - a Bohemian and Cedar - the two varieties of waxwings that we see here in Yellowstone. Always humbling to paint these subjects from the Parks history - many have been around much longer than I have! The Cedar Waxwing was collected in the Yellowstone National Park in 1935.

With the delayed spring, it seemed like the time to paint 'a study of grays'. Truthfully, I love gray! So many people consider it 'neutral' - but as an artist, what does THAT mean? It will always lean itself toward a color. So in this painting I used greenish-grays in the box, purple-ish grays for the background, and warmer grays (leaning more toward the orange side) on the birds. Look closely and compare the 'grays', you'll see the subtle differences. Overall, a very 'neutral' painting. Their splashes of yellow add a nice color interest.

You'll notice I took 'artistic license' with the tags. In an orderly painting like this, the tags become a strong part of the composition - so their placement, size and coloring is very important to the whole. I wanted to keep the piece feeling a bit somber, orderly but visually interesting. The tags needed to stay part of the whole, not become overwhelming to the piece.

Myself, I find waxwings to be especially beautiful birds - striking with their shape, coloring and distinctive silky plumage. Seeing them side by side like this, their size difference was quite noticeable. More so than I thought from seeing them in the wild. An educational component too. It was an interesting pair for a study in grays.

Waxwings In A Box - 12" x 9" oil