Twitterati Painting

Every now and then in a large tree nearby there's a tremendous twittering going on as a group of birds gathers for a big tweet. I've always liked the sound of it and happy party like atmosphere it generates. Earlier this year I did a piece of birds gathering on telephone lines, so this is a follow up on that. It often happens as a painting proceeds towards completion that I realise that it has a meaning for me deeper than the simple idea that inspired it, and that happened again here. The painting is quite shadowy at the bottom, quite sombre, with a solitary owl perched quietly on a low branch. The bare branches of the tree add to this mood, but as it rises towards the sky the feeling lightens, resolving in the freedom of the birds to take of into the sunlit clouds. I find a sense of joy in that freedom, and I came to realise that it embodies the idea of transcendence, a theme that occurs elsewhere in my work, unconsciously rising to the surface.