Cardinals Rule!

The kind Dollimoma gave my wife and I this tsatske last month and I just love it. The birds are maniacal and malicious as they appear to be in the midst of some ancient and diabolical ritual of nature. I adore creepy and these birds are creepy. This piece gave me a new found respect for cardinals. I've always enjoyed our state bird and apparently six other states do too according to Wikipedia. Yes, Ohio is one of seven states to share the cardinal as it's state bird. Regardless of association or claims to this bird by these states or various sporting clubs, I have been tinkering with the idea of claiming this bird for myself; as Edgar Allan Poe had the Raven, I shall have the cardinal... maybe.
Yesterday during the unrelenting snowfall I began creating my version of this colorful bird.
This is what I came up with thus far. Northeast Ohio only receives about 165 days of sunshine a year. During the winter when everything is cold, gray, and depressing these red devils are sometimes the most colorful things found in nature at the time. I really do appreciate them, their plumage is striking and bold in our eternally dreary Ohio winters.