For many years, decades even, the Rosy Finch has been high on my list of birds I would love to see in the wild. In the winter of 2023, I finally had my chance.

I was in Jackson Hole to observe elk and research for a large-scale Pattern Painting inspired by the National Elk Refuge. After more bumpy sleigh rides out onto the refuge than I care to admit, I was getting restless with my routine, so I asked Pierce Tome of Astoria Fine Art where he would recommend I go to see some other wildlife. He got me excited about the possibility of encountering foxes near Jackson Lake Lodge, so off I went. I never did see any sign of foxes, but I was thrilled to encounter a large and boisterous mixed flock of Grey-Headed Rosy Finches and Hoary Redpolls. Both are lovely birds, but it was the Rosy Finches with their subtle and elegant combination of pinks, greys, and browns, that stole the majority of my artistic attention.

The hard, dark shapes of the birds as they fed on fallen seeds amidst the snow, strongly suggested the graphic nature of my Pattern Series. I have, of course, painted several of the birds “realistically” in full detail, but elsewhere, the birds have melded into non-objective patterns and colors. The effect is a stylized and systematized version of what I saw.