Morning Gossip

In Launa Blonquist's oil on canvas painting, two chickadees are caught in mid conversation. The soft pastel colors of the background read as indistinct mottled clouds tinged pink with morning light the sunrise seeming to take inspiration from the chickadees' plumage. In contrast to the softness of the background, the birds, the grasses, and fencing of the foreground are rendered in careful detail, though the whole scene has a gentleness to it, with even the barbed wire seeming somewhat playful. Bright highlights punctuate the painting: a dash of light across the smooth plumage of the birds' heads, sunlight reflecting in water droplets, and glints reflecting off the berries. Perhaps the bright lights are meant to create a visual pattern to cue the viewer to the bright sounds that would fill the air from the chickadees' conversation.

Launa Blonquist says she has always been interested in art. As a child she spent quite a bit of time sketching, a skill she developed over time, and which served her well when she began to practice oil painting. Each painting begins with a detailed sketch. Launa's painting practice has been challenged and encouraged by local painting instructors Carol France and Laraine Toone. Blonquist is a lifelong resident of Henefer, Utah.

1995 Council Award