A day at the Beach

I finished the above painting today. A nice nostalgic scene of a mother and children on the beach.
I used a palette of cool greys. There was a time when I almost exclusively used this  palette of colours.
Now its pretty much horses for courses.

I did a little watercolour of a starling this morning but like the bird it went south and I tossed it into the bin.
Anyway its a shame about the old starlings. We get one or two on the bird table but they are in great decline.
We have lost apparently 40 million since 1980 and they are now in the red category as endangered.
Apparently habit loss is a major issue. I recall 50 years ago Birmingham the City Centre was alive at night with the sound of thousands of starlings that came in to roost in the warmth of the city centre and perch upon the window ledges. Then action was taken to drive them away and stop them roosting. I suppose because they left a bit of a mess! If you see a few thousand starlings together in flight it is a spectacular sight. They weave and glide in unison it is called a murmuration of starlings.

Anyway an appropriate link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94bdMSCdw20