Purple Finch and Lilac

by Don Balke

Title

Purple Finch and Lilac

Artist

Don Balke

Medium

Painting - Watercolor On Cold Press Illustration Board

Description

Not purple at all, the male Purple Finch looks like a large-billed sparrow with a glowing red head. The brownish female is boldly streaked and wears white facial stripes. These small, conical-billed birds are usually most abundant at New England feeding stations in spring, when the red maples are in bloom. Thoreau, who scattered crumbs for these birds at Walden Pond, loved to hear the Purple Finch's rich strains of music and their sharp call note. 'The hearing of this note,"he wrote, "implies great improvement in the acoustics of the air." A hardy bird, the Purple Finch has been observed bathing in icy streams in below-freezing temperatures, and singing after a blizzard.

If sentiment alone determined the most popular flowering shrub, it might well be the Lilac. There is hardly a person whose memory is not stirred by it, and its scent is one of the most familiar of all perfumes associated with flowers. Lilac flowers grow in panicles, the botanical name for their pyramid-shaped clusters. The panicles grow at the end of the small branches of a shrub or small tree which may reach twenty feet in height. In the spring, Lilac bushes are laden with fragrant clusters of flowers which vary in size. Lilacs have also become runaways and grow along roads and on uncared-for land. They prefer a rich soil but are strong enough to survive almost anywhere.

Please note the "Fine Art America" watermark will not appear on the painting or any print reproduction.

Artwork Copyright © 1985 Wind River Studios Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved under United States and international copyright laws. You may not reproduce, distribute, transmit, or otherwise exploit the Artwork in any way. Any sale of the physical original does not include or convey the Copyright or any right comprised in the Copyright. WRSH Stock Number XB09608

Uploaded

March 23rd, 2022

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