Bluebirds, Meadowlarks, and Indian Paintbrush

"Mountain Bluebird"
5x7 Pastel Painting

"Meadowlark"5x7 Pastel Painting

"Indian Paintbrush"5x7 Pastel Painting

Lately, I have been working on painting 5x7's, starting out with the Meadowlark, then the Indian Paintbrush and lastly the Mountain Bluebird.  For me all of these subjects represent our state of Wyoming.  I don't think I have ever seen a Meadowlark close up and would be thrilled to study one, so I had to work from about 5 different photos to paint the Wyoming state bird. The Indian paintbrush, our state flower is a favorite of mine and I always look forward to running across a few of them every year.  I sometimes daydream of one day happening on a large patch that paint the landscape with their vivid red color!  This study, though came from a reference photo I took last summer while Plein Air Painting at Lions Park in Cheyenne.  My Bluebird painting, came from inspiration I received on a drive a few week ago through the back roads of Vedauwoo.  My  husband and I had taken our big ole black 4-wheel drive truck out on a perfect trail, then stopping at the top of a hill with an open field.  I couldn't believe it when I looked out my passenger window and there was a brightly colored bluebird!  I had to come home and give painting this beautiful bird a try!  Our summers in Wyoming always have many beautiful surprises for artists and I look forward to finding some new ones this year!