Painting of the Month- April 2021

Well it was pretty easy to choose which painting for this month’s painting of the month. Read on and you’ll see why. Over the last month or so I have been conversing by zoom with local naturalist and writer Terry Sprague. Terry and I have never met in person until just recently. Through a a initiative called “the Art of Conversation” a collaboration between the Prince Edward County Arts Council and Community Care for Seniors, 15 pairs of local seniors and artists engaged in a series of conversations (via phone or video) with the aim of reducing feelings of loneliness and isolation. This resulted in a virtual exhibit of 15 new works inspired by these conversations - which explored the senior’s past, present self, or possibly future aspirations.

I was thrilled to be paired with Terry Sprague. I have admired his work for many years and had followed his Nature column in our local paper. Terry and I had some wonderful conversations about nature, a passion we both share. Birds were a popular subject matter during these conversations. Terry is a wealth of knowledge on the bird. During one of our conversations, Terry mentioned the White Throated Sparrow. We discussed its beautiful call, "Oh Sweet Canada, Canada, Canada", hence the title of this painting. Terry shared with me a lovely, touching, personal story about his late wife associated with this bird. I felt honoured that he felt comfortable sharing this with me, and I hope this painting honours that story.

Yesterday I presented Terry with his painting. He was generous with his time and took me for a lovely nature walk on the trails that he maintains near his property on Big Island. We have plans to continue to get together for walks with our furry side kicks. Below is a photo of Terry and his painting along with a photo of Monty and me. Monty is my new furry pal , an 8 month old Blue Tick Hound.

I am excited to see how this new frinendship will inspire my art. Only time will tell.

-Susan