R3 Three Ravens

R3 Three Ravens
24 x 24" oil on panel
Private Collection

Actually the first Raven Series painting with ravens. I was not keeping a journal at the time, so how the Raven series got started remains a fuzzy memory. I do know that I had intended to paint Northern birds. I had done a small panel in this style with gesso. I had so much fun with the ravens in this painting, I continued with them, and they became the longest series I have ever done.

Also influencing me were the images evoked during the writing of my novel, 'Raven', on which I was working intensively at the time.

There were three ravens sat on a tree
They were as black as they might be
With a hey down derry, derry, derry, down, down.

The one of them said to his mate
Where shall we our breakfast take?
Down in yonder green field
There lies a knight slain under his shield.
-traditional