The Snow Pigeon

©Annette Bartlett-Golden, Snow Pigeon II. Watercolor, 9 x 12 inches. $175

The Snow Pigeon
By Annette Bartlett-Golden
 
This month I applied to a show that would feature a body of my work.  That phrase means a group of paintings that have similar characteristics such as medium and subject matter so I chose five watercolors of birds to exhibit, should I be selected to participate in the show. The thing is, I recently sold two of the paintings I planned to enter in the show, Blue Heron and Snow Pigeon, so I needed to paint a couple more bird watercolors. A few days ago I finished the first one,Snow Pigeon II, which shows the bird in a slightly different pose than the one I sold.

I’ve already shared the story of how I came to paint the blue heron so today I’ll tell you about the snow pigeon. Last winter there was a heavy snowfall near the end of January. This sort of thing doesn’t happen very often here in the Piedmont region of North Carolina so I decided to hurry out for a walk before the snow melted. I went down the street and through woods to the park to see how the geese were doing with the snow. It was a bright clear sunny day but the pond looked frigid. Having my camera with me, I took a number of photos of the ducks and geese swimming among the shards of ice and congregating at the top of the bank.   

It was only after I had taken all these photos and was looking through them that I noticed a small white something among the geese and ducks. There, almost imperceptible against the snow, huddled a white pigeon standing on one leg with feathers fluffed. In all the times I had been to the park before, I had never noticed this pigeon! Edging closer, I took more photos of the pigeon. When she began to stroll away at a stately pace I followed at a little distance. Because the pigeon wasn’t particularly scared of me I was able to continue photographing her. I was thrilled to end up with about seventy good photos of the snow pigeon.

For a moment I wondered if this was someone’s pet.  She was sleek and beautiful and looked quite healthy. However, pet birds usually have leg bands and this pigeon did not. Also, she seemed quite at ease in the park among the ducks and geese. Later, on several more occasions, I was delighted to see the snow pigeon again. Other people told that they often saw her in the park. I’m very happy to have had the pleasure of meeting this nice resident pigeon on a magical snowy day when clearly she was none other than the Snow Pigeon.