Why I Paint Chickadees – A Reflection on Nature, Art, and Faith

I have a favourite bird. There, I said it. I think that birds in general are one of my favourite painting subjects, but there is something about chickadees. Maybe it’s because they are so small and so fierce. Maybe it’s because they are just so accessible and available to watch. Maybe it’s because Buff Titanium and Payne's Grey just happen to be two of my all time favourite paint colours. Or maybe it’s because it is my mom’s favourite bird and I grew up hearing them be adored. I really, truly love watching them. They are small and unflashy, but they are smart, cheerful, and curious, and I am always happy to see them…and to paint them.

In his book Orthodoxy, G.K. Chesterton said 

"Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, "Do it again"; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again" to the sun; and every evening, "Do it again" to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them."

I like thinking of God as a creator who never tires of creating, or of his creations–even us. Every thing and every life was made with purpose and love; every bird, every feather. How lucky we are that God never gets tired of creating. 

Let me be a child forever and exult in things monotonous. The natural world is full of the same repeated motions of survival and growth and yet it is not boring, it is life, love. I hope to continue looking out with wonder, regardless of how many times I have witnessed the view; to glorify the Creator by creating, regardless of how many times I have done so.

This is the mindset by which I create my art, including my new and ongoing series of originals celebrating the small, the simple, the everyday. I wanted to create this series of small and simple, starting with the chickadee, for even the smallest things bear witness of God’s love. In fact, for me, the small things are often the most overwhelming testimonies of it. 

I have just listed several chickadee originals in my shop–go check them out! All of them were hand painted by me with professional grade lightfast watercolour paints on 100% cotton rag and have been waxed for water resistance.