Faded Blue

Early this past spring I finally got around to taking down a large dead tree along our waterfront. After several hours of hard work I took a break for lunch, leaving my jacket and can't-hook leaning on the fallen trunk. When I returned, the sun had shifted enough to create a new pattern of light and shadow that I found very interesting. This, and the contrast of blue against the other objects is what moved me to paint the scene. The red-breasted nuthatch was included to add a sense of life and movement, as well as a device to offset the large blank area in the upper right of the composition.