A Pheasant This Winter

"A Pheasant This Winter", 24 by 30 inches, acrylic on canvas.
This is a commissioned piece, requested by the buyer after he had seen "Winter Berries". "Winter Berries" was sold in a fund raising auction last December, so it wasn't available. The buyer was kind enough to ask me to paint something similar. It was his request that the bird in the new piece feature a pheasant, rather than being a very stylized graphic generic bird as in the original painting, with a few berry plants popping up through the snow. "Pheasant" is also considerably bigger than "Berries", 2 by 2.5 feet instead of 6 by 8 inches.
The buyer intends to use the image on his holiday card this year, so the painting needed to be completed in time for him to print and mail them out. Aside from that, I see its timing as an early celebration of the cooler weather finally headed toward my area over the next couple of days.