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The Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis) has several distinct subspecies and in this painting I have shown the widely-distributed eastern, nominate race, which was once considered a separate species called the “slate-colored junco”, an apt name. I have placed the bird amid the fall leaves of a Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina). These juncos breed in boreal forests (taiga) and higher reaches of the eastern mountains in the U.S., but are common through much of the fall, winter and spring, and sometimes known by the colloquial name “snowbird”. They are easily attracted to bird seed in feeders or spread on the ground – or snow. Females are browner, more softly toned, but still have the “hooded” look with white bellies and bright, white outer tail feathers that show distinctly as the birds fly. Art supply shortages inspired me to experiment painting on a thin sheet of brushed stainless steel, which, with appropriate primer, worked fine. The painting, itself, in in oils and is 1...