#11 Study of Two Pigeons

8" x 10" mixed media on watercolor paper

This is Beetle (on the right) and Robert on the railing of our porch right outside from where I paint. I tried to capture them being sweet with each other. This is the same porch that I have the large cage from which I nursed her back to health.  I keep the cage door open and put food in there once a day.  They both go in to eat and then hang out throughout the day on the railing.  I have read that pigeons mate for life but that must only be in the complete wild as I have seen otherwise in our flock.

#8 Pigeon Study with Cloud

10" x 8" Oil on linen mounted on panel


For Mother's Day my sons surprised me with their own pigeon art.   My youngest made a sculpture with newspaper, masking tape, wire and paint. He signed his name on the tag around his ankle. I love everything about it. Just look at those feet and the little bits of color on his neck.

My oldest, in the thick of a stomach bug, made an origami pigeon and a card inspired by the pigeon that got into my paints. I love the little scratch painting she's doing. We renamed her Picasso (we use to call her 58, her tag number). She still has some paint on her breast feathers.

#7 Study: Two Looks of Buster

5" x 7" Oil on gessoed paper

This is our oldest pigeon, Buster.  As he has aged his coloring has gotten much darker and his beak now has a tiny hook at the end. He always looks a little surly to me.  The right look is a little odd but I kind of like it.  My son said it looked like two pigeons were looking in a window at us.

These were my preliminary sketches-

#5 Portrait Study of a Pigeon

4 1/2" x 4 1/2" Oil on linen mounted on panel

In the previous post, I liked the way I painted the back pigeon more than the front one. So today I really tried to focus on suggestive marks rather than detailed.  Before I started painting, I drew several sketches and I think it helped me get the tight rendering need out of my system.

These are my preliminary sketches done in pastel. The bottom left is the last of the four I did and the one I decided to base my painting on.