Nature Conservancy fun
Arlington is a tight knit place, one of those towns where people you knew awhile back just keep popping back into your world. Last spring, my younger two kids and I were seated at our favorite Thai restaurant a few tables away from their kindergarten teacher. Mind you, Jack and Clare were 17 and 15 at the time, and Mrs. Gandy walked right over and exclaimed, “Jack and Clare Lewis! How are you?” and proceeded to remember who their best friends were a dozen years earlier. The same is true for me. Janine was one of Clare’s Girl Scout leaders, and over the years has asked me to make mixed media paintings for colleagues at the Nature Conservancy. This one is for Lynn Scarlett, the Nature Conservancy’s global managing director for public policy. Ms. Scarlett took this photo of a white breasted nuthatch at Huntley Meadows, a wonderful regional park in Alexandria known for birding (https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/huntley-meadows). I used her photo as inspiration as well as a magazine article describing Ms. Scarlett’s work to add collage elements in the wing and branch. It was such a joy—combining collage, oil painting, and a fat little juvenile bird. A trifecta right up there with a new Better Call Saul episode, a chunk of dark chocolate, and a big glass of rioja. The original is of course with Ms. Scarlett, but prints can be found here: https://fineartamerica.com/featured/1-white-breasted-nuthatch-anne-lewis.html?newartwork=true