Galahs In Traffic

Flocks of Galahs fly head on into cars on the highway while driving to the Kangaroo Island ferry, South Australia. A tragic phenomenon - many lay dead on the side of the road, for miles. This is a busy highway, and next to stopping, it was almost impossible to miss them.
This started out to be a drawing of the Norfolk Island Pines growing in the south-central coastal regions of Australia. It's not unusual for me to completely re-work oil pastel drawings after a day or two of work, when they could be called finished. Sometimes after a period of study, radical changes are in order, as in this case. After two days of work, while recalling the horrifying scene that day, it was clear that the style in the first stage of the drawing was stagnant and ordinary. Adding the blurry, in-your-face Galah is much more effective..
View the first version on the April 12th, 2006 nikkiartwork blog post, Galahs in Traffic

14H x 11W inches Oil Pastels on paper, white double mat, 26H x 22W inch custom white wood frame