Goldfinch — Gallery Canvas Oil The violet was one of

The violet was one of Glen's most frequently revisited wildflower subjects — it appears as a companion in his fawn paintings

the notation that this was painted at actual size from a living plant

the other perched on a stem above watching

This is Glen's graphite at its most patient

summer undergrowth — is painted with the same botanical attention Glen applied to his wildlife subjects

Goldfinch — Gallery Canvas Oil The violet was one ofA male American Goldfinch at peak summer plumage launches from a thistle wings spread, the electric yellow of the breeding male almost incandescent against the soft blue green atmospheric background. Thistle seeds drift in the air around it; a companion flower opens at centre. This 1970 watercolour is one of Glen's most chromatically confident pieces: that particular cadmium yellow green of the male in June is one of the hardest colours to render