During a trip to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, last summer, I had the opportunity to see some new varieties of birds in the wild which I had not seen before. Early one morning, when I was out with my camera, I saw a pair of baby chicks sitting huddled together in the chilled air. I photographed them and tried, without luck, to find the parents to see what type of bird these little feathery, fluffy, cuties were. The next morning, I returned to the same spot and there they were again huddled together but this time they looked like they had transformed! In one day, they had grown and changed dramatically but I knew it was the same pair. The following day, they looked even more changed and I was able to identify them as barn swallows. I loved the contrast of the foliage that surrounded them with reds, purples, greens and the warm browns in their feathers against the pale morning sky. The tenderness I felt watching them as they sat there, vulnerable but fearless, inspired me to paint them in all their beauty.