Goldfinches on Thistle — Framed Piece Landscapes Glen's columbine paintings document one

Glen's columbine paintings document one of the most architecturally interesting wildflowers in the Ontario forest — a plant shaped by its pollinator relationship with hummingbirds

This 2004 coloured pencil botanical study is one of Glen's most elegant late-period works: the vertical line of the stem

Glen solved it with loose

the ruts frozen

Goldfinches on Thistle — Framed Piece Landscapes Glen's columbine paintings document oneThree goldfinches work through a thistle patch a male feeding on a spent seedhead at left, a second male perched on the right, a female arriving from above with wings still open. The thistle is rendered with the botanical precision Glen brought to all his plant subjects: the spiny bracts, the purple bloom, the white plumed seeds drifting into the composition from the milkweed at left. This 1988 watercolour is more complex than the earlier single bird