Limited Edition Giclee Print, 2010 (Age 14)
 
Print Size: 18" x 24"
 
I have not liked school field trips that I’ve been on because I find by the time we get there it’s almost time to go home. However, I have loved going for day trips with my family and our friends. This way I can spend as much time as I want taking lots of photos. We always arrive when the doors are opening and leave when the lights are going out. A day at the Toronto Zoo was no exception. We lingered in the late afternoon sun for almost an hour on a raised deck above the large wetland area. I was trying to get the perfect photo of a Red-winged Blackbird that kept flying over the pond, when I spotted her... a young nesting Trumpeter Swan almost hidden among the cattails. I took many photos as she lay there in perfect repose, eyes closed, completely calm. Then we figured out why. These swans mate for life, and it was the male we had seen off in the distance circling the area and dutifully keeping watch that enabled the female to rest without worry. If only we could trust like that. I took a different approach with this painting, hiding the swan in the reeds and cattails, creating a mood of mystery for the viewer to figure out the scene.