I wanted to bring home the conversation of this murder of crows sitting around jawing at one another over the fog at dawn like Heckle and Jeckle from the old cartoons. I was inspired by the challenge of using a strong color for the fog and blending it convincingly to the sky and ground. The dark branches and the black crows provide a strong graphic element that I wanted to capture.
What intrigued me was how the fog in all its blueness just kind of sat there like a fat pig in the mud. The fog was so thick you could not see the bases of the biggest trees. The blue color makes the image recede in that area and to further that feel I heightened the orangish complementary color of the clouds in the sky above. The whole piece developed quickly and detailing the trees with their small patches of warm light really knit the image as a whole. The crows gave life and character to the painting.