Valentine the Roseate | 9×12 | Oil on Linen Panel

Inspiration for Valentine the Roseate

My wonderful lady and I enjoyed our first painting experience together so much that we started another piece: Valentine the Roseate! Whilst on a date and drinking lattes, I had been telling her of my childhood interests. (These interests were, subsequently, often early subjects for my drawings.) One huge hobby was birdwatching and general ornithology; I did love our feathered friends so! (I distinctively remember being around 8 years old and finding a bird’s egg on the ground in the woods. When I took it inside to care for it, in my excitement, I dropped and broke it. Then my Mother had to try and console me as I wept bitter tears!) In view of this information, my girlfriend suggested “Let’s paint a bird!”

Fortuitously, I had recently been to the Florida Aquarium in Tampa, where they have an amazing exhibit called the “Florida Wetlands Trail.” This exhibit invites visitors to journey through a state park trail (past the alligator-populated Suwannee River!) using wooden signs to guide one’s self. The description promised playful otters, Great Blue Herons, and Roseate Spoonbills wading in the vegetation. And the pink-plumaged, flat-nosed fowls did not disappoint! I was able to gather great source photos of roseates and several other bird species. The trip, and encouragement of my girlfriend, led to my painting series “Birds of a Feather.” I like to think of this series as an homage, if you will, to carefree childhood.