A simple moment with a friend

Presenting “Charleston Roadside (Grackle)”

“Charleston Roadside (Grackle)”
Oil on maple panel, 5 x 8

For several years, I exhibited at the Southeastern Wildlife Exhibition in Charleston, South Carolina. I fell in love with Charleston and its southern beaches the very first time I visited the city in 2004. During a trip five years later, I was excited to show my work and visit and meet new friends, but couldn’t wait to see the beaches again. One afternoon before the show opened, Dustin Van Wechel, a friend and fantastic oil painter, and I found ourselves traveling down Palm Boulevard on the Isle of Palms. We ended up at the parking lot just over the bridge of Breach Inlet and were astonished at how many birds were there. I can remember sitting on the boulders along the roadside, watching the flocks of grackles fly up out of nowhere and then land on every visible surface, rest for a moment and then fly over the inlet and disappear into the distance. I shot as many photos as I could get of the birds and when they were all gone, I remember thinking, “Wow, that was a lot of birds,” and then looking over at Dustin with a big smile on my face and him saying, “Um ... I think you missed one!” I turned around and behind me was a female grackle perched perfectly on the “no parking” sign.

Dustin moments before he said “Um … I think you missed one!”

This painting is headed off to Mentor, Ohio for the Masterworks in Miniature exhibit at Gallery One. The exhibit opens March 11 and runs through March 26^th, 2011. (Read more)