Badass

Badass. Oil on panel, 6" x 6". ©2019.

I'd never seen a pileated woodpecker in my life, until about two weeks ago. Now I've seen three.
This guy was digging around in some leaves on my walking route, just off of a busy street. I heard him before I saw him, which is surprising given the astonishing red of his fauxhawk.

He was not bothered in the least by my efforts to photograph him. It was almost impossible to catch a nice pose, though, so I resorted to video. A super-blurry video still became the reference for the painting.