It’s almost that time of year again when the rain crow, also known as yellow-billed cuckoo, starts calling. This is another one of those often heard but seldom seen critters that live out here at Wild Ozark. The other two that fall into this category is a whippoorwill, and spring peepers. Of course, I’m using local earth pigments. So it’ll be another example of my signature earthy art.
The Call of the Rain Crow
I finally was able to get good audio on a short video clip the other morning.
Painting Progression
I’m hoping this one won’t take more than a day to paint because it’s only a 4″ x 6″. But that doesn’t always work out to be the case. Sometimes painting smaller is a lot harder than painting large. The paper I’m using is Arches hot press 140# mounted onto a birch cradle board panel. When I’m finished, it will be preserved and varnished so that I can frame it without glass. The original and prints will be offered in my online shop when I’m done.
Finished
Here’s the varnished and framed final photo. Original and prints are available!
Photo Reference
I’m using a photo (with permission) by Terry Stanfill, a photographer of northwest Arkansas.
More resources about the Yellow-billed cuckoo
Here’s the page from a website I visit often to learn about the birds I see and hear out here.
Visit Terry Stanfill at his Facebook page to see all the beautiful photography he publishes there.
And last, but not least, there’s a video of one of my favorite groups singing about the cuckoo at the bottom of my other page about the cuckoo.
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Author/Artist Info
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Madison Woods is a self-taught artist who moved to the Ozarks from south Louisiana in 2005. In 2018 she began experimenting with watercolor painting, using her local pigments. She calls them Paleo Paints, and her artwork features exclusively the lightfast pigments foraged from Madison county, Arkansas. Her inspiration is nature – the beauty, and the inherent cycle of life and death, destruction and regeneration.
Her online portfolio is at www.MadisonWoods.art.
Click here to join her mailing list.
Aww, what a cutie! I know I always say what a great job you’re doing, but you are, so there it is. 🙂
Oh, thank you Janet. I try. There’s an interesting habit these birds have. The female doesn’t build nests or anything. What she does is lay her egg in another bird’s nest and makes them raise her babies. Another bird that does that is the brown-headed cowbird. I think I’ve been watching a worm warbler feed a cowbird baby today, or else her baby is double her own size already, lol.