Date Night

Our nest has been empty this year, but in just one week one of our chicks will be home (after being gone for nearly a year!)  Then our other two chicks will fly home for an all-too-brief but very happy family reunion.  Date nights have been fun and easy to coordinate, but a full nest will be so lovely!

As I admired the peacefulness of these two Canada Geese on a lake near my house, it wasn't hard for me to imagine that they had left the kids at home and were having a night to themselves. You can never have too many date nights, even if you're a goose :)

I chose to use a long narrow canvas to "zoom" up on my subject, the geese, while still taking advantage of the beautiful water ripples that lead your eye around the scene. 

The ripples lead in to the painting at an angle, helping to give the impression of movement ("Hurry before the babysitter catches us!")   It was autumn at Lake Lynn, so the changing leaf colors gave me a wonderful golden glow to play with.  I emphasized the differences between the foreground/background colors to add the illusion of depth.

Date Night, Available

18x36 oil