Don Conroy paints a blackbird and talks about a bird that features in many stories and legends.
Artist, writer and presenter Don Conroy demonstrates how to paint the herald of spring, the blackbird and also provides viewers with a nature lesson.
One of the most common birds in Ireland, the male blackbird is black and the female blackbird is brown.
I always know it's spring time when the blackbirds start singing.
Although quite rare, there is also an albino blackbird, a white blackbird. Another interesting fact about blackbirds is that people used to eat them. Like other members of the thrush family, blackbirds also become friendly during winter time and are happy to come to a bird table.
Blackbirds also feature in stories and legends. When Saint Kevin meditated and prayed during Lent he would hold his hands up in front of his face. One day while in this pose a blackbird came along and laid an egg in his hands. Legend has it that he kept his hands in this position for 14 days, long enough for the blackbird to hatch the egg.
Mary Magdalene was facing death by stoning and the night before her execution, she went to sleep and dreamt that she went to heaven. She was afraid to meet Saint Michael at the gates of heaven. So, she asked a blackbird that was sitting on a nearby tree to go to the gates and make a case that she be allowed to enter heaven. The blackbird sang a beautiful song to Saint Michael and Mary Magdalene was allowed enter heaven. The next day, when Mary Magdalene woke from her sleep, she was taken out to be stoned alive but Jesus came along to save her.
This episode of 'Painting For Fun' was broadcast on 19 March 1985. The presenter is Don Conroy.
'Painting For Fun' was a ten-minute programme broadcast each Friday and introduced by Ian Dempsey on Dempsey's Den. The programme features Don Conroy demonstrating the techniques of painting, cartoons and illustrations. The young viewers were encouraged to send in their work, and it would be shown.
