Where have all the ravens gone?

After I tweeted the raven portrait that I painted last night, someone astutely tweeted back the observation that he'd seen a lot less of them since the fire.  As soon as I read it, multiple species of birds flashed through my head that I've seen in abundance since our return, but I couldn't pull a single memory of the mighty and majestic raven from my "little grey cells" (reference to the TV show Poirot - my wife will get it).

The painting of the raven was a commission piece for some good friends of mine.  The brilliant red background contrasted by the colour choices in the feathers of the raven appear to be a hit.  It is bold and certainly a deviation from what I normally do, yet it retains the interesting wild colour approach that has been my artistic voice since starting this journey two years ago.

We have been back in the community since June 1 - four weeks ago yesterday we made our re-entry with the first wave of returning residents.  One of the greatest joys of being home is the variety of birds who play in the trees surrounding Birdsong Studio: magpies, robins, blackbirds, finches, and even some northern flickers have all been hanging around, along with several kinds of woodpeckers.  Maybe ravens have been around; maybe not.  Maybe they're waiting for winter to return.