“Spring Cleaning ~ American Robin and Columbine,” an original painting copyright by Susan A. Walton.

Artist’s comment :

When flocks of robins returned to our place in spring, they would often congregate in the valley floor far behind the house where the earthworms were most abundant. A creek wandered through the musclewood trees there, and there were plenty of shallow areas in the stream in which the birds could bathe.

I used to spend a lot of time in the back woods while searching for interesting stones in the creek, mainly because it was where other people in the family seldom visited, so it was peaceful. And, being as far from the sounds of the distant highway as I could get, it was quiet enough there to hear even the shyest and most reclusive birds. There were interesting lichens to find, and it was the only place on the property where there were maidenhair ferns, a strange-looking fern that holds a marvelous circular, tiara-shaped array of fronds aloft on wire-thin, glossy black stems which American Indians used in their basketry whenever black was called for in the design.

There were also mosses of all kinds growing on all the trees and stones. One of my favorite species of moss would at times sport these bright orange appendages you see in the painting, which hold its spores.

Columbine, with its dangly, soft, red and yellow flowers, is a plant often seen alongside maidenhair ferns on the banks of creeks, and I enjoy the contrast between its delicate, intricate blossoms and the rough rock.

It was always a treat to take a seat on a downed log in that wet back woods and wait until all the birds forgot I was there, and came darting back out to splash in this hidden waterpark of theirs.

Unlike most of my acrylic paintings, this one also features a paint medium which is made with glass beads. I used it to simulate the texture of the rock and the way stone sometimes glitters. For added texture, I used a gel with fine black specks in it, then came back in and painted lichens here and there over the beads and specks.

- Susan Walton

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