New Season – American Robin
Robert Bateman Hand Signed Limited Edition Print 15″ x 11″
Edition Size: 950
“The harbinger of spring’ is the label given to the robin. In my experience, horned larks, killdeers and red-winged blackbirds may come earlier, but the cheery warble of the robins stirs the heart with the rebirth of life. Male robins usually come back earlier and start to establish territories. Their lyrical song is really a cocky challenge to other males that ‘This is my turf; keep out!’ Males have black heads contrasting with a gray back and a rusty-orange breast. The female is generally paler and less contrasty.
The old wagon wheel is a relic of pioneer days. One very seldom sees them lying around the fields or farmsteads any more. They have either rotted away or were made into decorative pieces for country homes. I like to imagine the 19th century craftsmen putting the wheel together. I also like the textures created by decades of weathering, like the lines on an old person’s face.
The robin is fresh and ready for a new season of raising young. The wagon wheel is very old, but when it was new, the ancestors of this robin came and sang their spring songs in the same way.”Robert Bateman
(From the original painting New Season – American Robin, 1983, 36 x 48″ Acrylic on Masonite)
