Man with Birds

Man with Birds

(acrylic on canvas board, 8x8 in)

Gateshead Art Society can’t meet these days at the Shipley Art Gallery because of the virus, so those nice people at the Shipley have set the Club a Challenge based on a painting in their collection. This is the painting:

'The Chorus of Birds'

by Jan van Kessel

 We were asked to "draw or paint any birds or animals you see out of your window or garden. If you have a pet, you could draw them instead." 

Being a disobedient artist with precious few birds in the garden and no pets, I decided I’d just riff on the basic idea and the painting you see above is the result. It's a curious affair, but one that answers a little voice in my head that often asks why I don't get on and paint the kind of figure paintings I've always intended to paint. How to interpret that answer I leave to another time, but the Coronavirus Lockdown is leading me down interesting paths.