John A. Ruthven
Original Watercolor Painting
Giclee’ prints $150
 

Martha, the last Passenger Pigeon passed away from this earth in 1914 at the Cincinnati Zoo. She was the last survivor of billions of her own kind. In 2014 it will be 100 years since she passed away and The Cincinnati Zoo hosted a special celebration to commemorate this history.

While Martha was in Cincinnati conservationists from around the country were trying to find a male Passenger Pigeon to mate with Martha and hopefully renew the species. It was to be of no avail. My painting is an idyllic scene I created in a Big Leaf Magnolia Tree showing Martha at her nest with one egg therein. A beautiful mystical male is sitting proudly nearby – thus the title ‘WHAT IF”.