Autumn is a season of movement. As the air turns crisp and the days grow shorter, wildlife responds in ways that are both instinctual and breathtaking. Migration is one of nature’s great rhythms—an ancient cycle of departure and return, driven by survival and the changing seasons.

For birds, the skies become highways, filled with flocks heading south. Sandhill cranes, their calls echoing across wetlands, gather in great numbers before taking flight. Warblers and waterfowl follow invisible routes, navigating by the stars, the landscape, and an internal compass we can only begin to understand. Watching these migrations unfold is like witnessing a living map—one that has been followed for generations.
As an artist, capturing this movement is about more than just painting birds in flight. It’s about the energy of the season—the urgency, the preparation, the quiet moments before departure. The way light shifts in autumn, casting golden hues over fields and lakes. The tension in a bird’s posture as it lifts off, the way wings catch the wind, the patterns formed by flocks moving as one.

Migration is a story of resilience, of instinct, of survival. It’s a reminder that change is constant, that movement is necessary, and that nature always finds a way forward. Through painting, I try to honor that journey—to capture not just the motion, but the meaning behind it.