"Gnarly"

   Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher on Northern Hackberry

Giclée reproduction  approx. 24" x 19"   

  © 2007 Heather Dieter Bartmann

In a foothills ravine west of Fort Collins a few small Hackberry trees can be found. They grow well hidden in a tangle of wild plum bushes. That spring morning I was enjoying the Hackberry’s contortions when a flick of movement below caught my attention. A Blue-gray Gnatcatcher was working his way up through the plum thicket. He passed by, not noticing me in his search for insects on the Hackberry branches and I hurried home to sketch my thoughts for the painting, “Gnarly”.