Wildlife Portrait #1:  Blue jay (Cyanocitta cristata)
 
Acrylic painting on a 8x8 canvas framed in locally sourced cedar
 
Blue jays are clever and common backyard corvids (members of the Corvidae or crow family). They are talented mimics, tool users, and important acorn dispersers that help to create and sustain our forests. Blue jay feathers are not truly blue but have structural pigmentation and appear blue through light scattering.