Orange Cardinal

ORANGE CARDINAL Acrylic on Wood Panel | 8" × 10" | 2022 Custom Framed

Small bird. Enormous presence.

Orange Cardinal places a Northern Cardinal on a branch against a ground of deep, velvety black — and then sets it on fire. The bird is painted in layers of orange, red and gold that build from the dark ground upward, the plumage almost luminous against the black, the crest catching a light that has no obvious source. Gold paint splashes across the background like sparks or scattered seeds or simply paint celebrating the fact that it gets to be gold. The word ORANGE is stencilled into the dark ground behind the bird — visible, barely, like a label on something that has long since exceeded its description.

The cardinal perches with the composed stillness of something that knows it is the brightest thing in any tree it has ever sat in and has made its peace with the responsibility. The black frame contains all of that warmth and makes it burn brighter.

This is a painting about colour as pure feeling — the orange and red and gold of a cardinal in winter light, against darkness, doing what cardinals always do which is make everything around them look like it was waiting for them to arrive.

📦 Shipping & Details

• 8" × 10" original acrylic on wood panel
• Custom black frame — arrives gallery ready
• Signed and dated 2022
• Ships carefully packaged — ready to hang
• Certificate of authenticity included

One original. No reproductions. Small bird. Enormous presence.