a Bluethroat

BLOGANUARY 2025 DAY 15

Today became a parenting day: my son needed some guidance, my daughter came round for food and cuddles with the dog, and then my middle one got involved when we were discussing the concept of favourite children. Needless to say, they all felt a child other than themselves was the favourite and I spent my time chuckling at the spurious grounds upon which they proposed their reasoning. I drew the proceedings to a close by saying that my daughter’s boyfriend was actually my favourite as he eats vegetables without complaint, and they all grudgingly agreed with my decision. Lacking a functional father in their lives does mean a lot of work for me even though they have all now left home, but they do make me laugh, and I am very proud of them.

Having plied my youngest with beans on toast followed by tea and a rather delicious wedge of plant-based apple cake, I didn’t really manage to achieve much else apart from a few more emails. I painted this Bluethroat, a bird in the thrush family which is present all over continental Europe either on passage or breeding, but despite reaching Scandinavia from India and North Africa, doesn’t seem inclined to cross the Channel. Some are seen as they skim around the edge of England en route to the mountains, but I don’t know of any that have been seen here, although I am happy to be corrected.

This is in gouache in my Venezia sketchbook: