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The Feathered Brush
Painting and Birding 'round the Long Island Sound
by Sean Murtha on 1/28/2011 10:25:55 PM
"Snowfall, Bruce Park" 2011, Sean Murtha
At last, a New England Winter! I've always wanted to experience one... so much so that I even moved to New England ten years ago. But Southwestern Connecticut is only technically New England; latitude and shore-effect keep the winters fairly mild, typically, and snowfall minimal. Not this year! Since Christmas we have had storm after storm, with increasing frequency, each one dumping at least half a foot, some well over that. The snowplows have run out of places to put all the snow, and the piles at the end of my driveway are nearly as tall as I am. Everyone is [...]
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by Sean Murtha on 1/21/2011 12:35:31 PM
Tundra Swan Study, Sean Murtha 2010
I remember reading somewhere that "the best poems are never written because the act of writing them would have spoiled the moment", and this statement could apply equally to painting--especially plein-air painting where the "moment" is truly happening there before you. For all the romance associated with the image of the artist dutifully painting away at their easel while the sun sets in the distance, in reality that sun has probably set before they have the easel set up and the paints squeezed out onto the palette. That is, if they even have their paints with them when that amazing sunset [...]
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by Sean Murtha on 1/11/2011 8:41:58 PM
"Side by Side" 2010, Sean Murtha
For better or for worse, my birding "patch" is Bruce Park in Greenwich CT. As it is for my plein-air painting, it is a location chosen for its convenience rather than its riches. When I have time for a true expedition, I go elsewhere, but during lunch-breaks, or for a few stolen moments before or after work, Bruce Park is my place.
There is value, however, in having a regular place to bird, even if it isn't a hot-spot. For one, I am typically not baraged with dozens of competing distractions, and can concentrate and focus on one bird at a time. [...]
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by Sean Murtha on 1/6/2011 5:26:19 PM
This Winter there has been a marked increase in the number of Razorbills reported on the Long Island Sound. I had a distant but extended view of one on January 5th, from Tods Point in Old Greenwich, CT. I was scanning the horizon with my scope, looking for distant Loons and rafts of Goldeneye and Long-Tailed Ducks, when a small black-and-white bird appeared in my field of view, flying with rapid wingbeats. Coming toward me, it could have been a duck, but as it neared it also veered northwards, and in side view it was unmistakably an Alcid. The heavy, blunt [...]
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by Sean Murtha on 1/5/2011 6:00:40 PM
"The Third Day of Christmas" 2010, Sean Murtha
I hope everyone had a Happy New Year! Nothing has really changed except the calendar page, but there is something comforting about wiping the mental slate and starting fresh. I'm wondering, however; are we going to call it "Two-thousand eleven" or "Twenty-eleven", neither of which really flows smoothly off the tongue?
January is named for Janus, the Roman god of doorways, who had two faces, one looking forward and one back. I'll begin this first post of 2011 by looking back. This was my last signed painting of 2010. It is a plein-air done at Waveny Park in New Canaan, right after [...]
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