GOLDFINCH DREAM
ACRYLICS ON CEDAR W/RED OAK FRAME
SUMMER 2017

     Goldfinches add such a shot of color to the garden from mid-spring to the end of summer.  Even though they are smaller than the other local birds, they always seem to get their share of seeds.  I saw a series of woodblock prints by Japanese Edo-Period artist Ito Jakuchu and they inspired me to do a painting of a goldfinch in a similar style.  Although arguably the finest painter to come out of Japan, these prints by Jakuchu caught my eye with their vibrant colors on a black background.  Two prints in particular, Golden Pheasant and Bamboo in Snow and Satocho (Parakeet) in a Chinese Parasol Tree (see Money L. Hickman & Yasuhiro Sato, The Paintings of Jakuchu, ©1989, page 152), were very inspirational.  I felt that painting a goldfinch on the branch of a blooming plum would really stand out from the black background, in the spirit of those prints by Jakuchu.  I made the frame out of red oak using pegged, hand-joined, mortise-and-tenon construction methods.   I used the Japanese technique (shou-sugi-ban) of charring and oiling the oak to finish the frame.
 
DIMENSIONS:           HEIGHT:  19 ½ inches
                                    WIDTH:  18 inches

                                                                  PRICE $475

ITO JAKUCHU--Golden Pheasant and Bamboo in Snow

ITO JAKUCHU--Satocho (Parakeet) in a Chinese Parasol Tree