The Face-off

"The painting of the bird is one I've done just for myself. It's a winter wren that I've always wanted to paint, and it turned out so well that I decided to extend it. The chipmunk is an animal I think a lot of people take for granted, so I thought he'd make an excellent counterpoint.

"The wren and the chipmunk are not enemies. They would usually be running around in the ground cover of the forest bottom and would hardly pay any attention to each other at all. They might even sit and feed together, nearby. This encounter that I've painted could happen, but they would just look at one another before flying and leaping away."