Cardinals on Rosehip Bush - Tote Bag Birds the ruts frozen

the ruts frozen

the background impressionistic and atmospheric

just efficient

the snow driving horizontally

gathered at the water's edge among the reeds

Cardinals on Rosehip Bush - Tote Bag Birds the ruts frozenA male and female Cardinal on a bare rosehip bush in late autumn the dried berries dark and clustered, the branches lifted against a softly graded winter sky. The male's red is muted slightly by the cool light, the female's warmth rhyming with the russet of the remaining hips. It is a composition built on exactly the kind of restraint that separates this watercolour from decorative bird art: nothing is brightened beyond what the actual light would