The Great Blue Heron

The Great Blue Heron, 2017, Oil on Board 12"x12"

The Great Blue Heron's habitat is pretty wide spread across most of North America and Central America.  Chances are you've encountered one if you were near wetlands or the shores of open water.  I'm fortunate to live on a marsh where we enjoy their company year round.  They are very slow moving and methodical in the hunt.  If startled they fly off pterodactyl style with a loud squawking sound that belies their elegant beauty. When we were in Florida, the tourists had tamed them to the extent they would walk into the house looking for a hand out.  I've seen them swallow a fish many times larger than the circumference of their throat.  It's fascinating the watch that fish shape make its way down the long thin neck.  For me, a painter, the composition offered by the many contortions of the neck is endless.  The stark contrasts of the white head and chest feathers against the blue, black and somewhat mauve feathers is pleasing.  And, the bill, the bill...such a medley of color.