On the “Dream of Mourning Doves” painting (2007):…there are a couple of fat little mourning doves that like to roost on abranch near my 2nd floor deck. I saw them again at the beginning of myvacation last week, snuggling in the morning sun. Some time ago I had resolved to immortalize them in a drawing, but never got around to it, so when I saw them again this year (I’m pretty sure it was the same couple because of the way they perch together), I thought why not now? My original idea was to portray them finding me buried in leaves outside (based on a strange dream I had years ago), but I just let the drawing happen, and it turned out the way it turned out. It is unusual for me to use oil pastel in combination with acrylic paint,but it serves my layered aesthetic & propensity for mixed media quite nicely. I’m doing another piece in this fashion currently.
Mourning doves were originally named the Carolina turtle dove by thenaturalist/painter John James Audubon, in his famous Birds of America. Their diet is 99% seeds, with a rare insect or snail, and they swallow a little sand or fine gravel to aid in their digestion.They are prolific breeders, and while their clutch size is almost always a mere two eggs, they may raise up to six broods a year. They are also monogamous and form strong pair bonds. They have a large population in a vast range, from Central America to Canada, and are one of the most common birds in North America. Audubon was trained in artistry by the uber-famous neo classicist painter Jacques-Louis David, by the way. You learn something everyday.
