Cardinals in Snow - Tote Bag For him This is a territorial encounter

This is a territorial encounter in progress: the Pileated

This graphite pencil study

but the same fundamental discipline applies

neck craning forward over a stand of autumn cattails

collected in November 1932

Cardinals in Snow - Tote Bag For him This is a territorial encounterA male cardinal drops toward a snow covered pine, wings spread in landing, while a female forages below in the blue white shadow of the drifts. This 1987 watercolour is the image most people picture when they think of Glen Loates the red of the male against winter snow, the composition spare and absolutely certain. Nothing is wasted. The pine needles, the seed casings scattered on the snow, the shadow that gives the drift its dimension: every element