Oil on canvas 20 x 30 in
These Whooper swans in full flight are on their way to their wintering sites in southern Europe and eastern Asia. They can migrate hundreds or thousands of miles and have been seen flying at heights of eight thousand feet.” Perhaps the most impressive altitude record is that of a flock of Whooper Swans which were seen on radar arriving over Northern Ireland on migration and was visually identified by an airline pilot at 29,000 feet’!
One of the challenges of this painting was to get across to the viewer the incredible heights they can fly during migration, hence the deliberate purpose of a large amount of sky. I often see skeins of Canadian geese flying over my house but they are never as impressive or as majestic as Whoopers.