Looking Back

"I would love to just paint birds, and everybody would love to be able to fly. There's the sense of freedom, of being able to soar above it all and being able to go where you want. Raptors are the top of the line. In addition to being beautiful, they've got his reputation for being tough kings of the sky. The gyrfalcon, 'Falco rustic Olus,' is an arctic bird. It's also the largest of the falcons.

"I enjoyed working with the lighting. It's mostly in shadow; then there's really strong light around the edges and along the top. The eyes are brilliant, and their vision is spectacular. In a lot of photos, their eyes appear to be all black, but they do have pupils. I wanted to show that, so I added the reflection from the sky."