Cardinal on Pine Branch

I had a request for a painting that would be a Christmas present. The request was for a lone cardinal with the following sentiment:

• “When a cardinal appears in your yard, it’s a visitor from heaven.” 

Not sure where the phrase came from, but the request was due to a recent death of a young person very close to this individual. So I wanted to do my best within my amateur-skills. Lettering is tedious with oil paints (at least for me it is) because the paint needs to be thinned just the right amount. So I knew adding words to my canvas was going to be a challenge. It certainly would not look like stenciling or die/laser cut. I wanted a close up of the cardinal sitting on a pine bough. I added some pine cones for extra embellishments. The lettering was held off and done at the very end. It was a bit nerve wracking since a bad slip could mess things up on an otherwise good painting. It’s definitely not perfect, but I’m satisfied  how the lettering looks. Ultimately, I like the results and hope it’s what the recipient wanted.