Crows On A Fence With Fall Cornfield Coloring Page

Three crows are lined up along a weathered post-and-rail fence, with a harvested cornfield behind them and bare stalks standing in rows to the horizon. The artist has drawn each bird's feathers in overlapping layers, given the fence posts split grain and old nail holes, and textured the field with fine broken lines. The detail is high and much of it is small, so this page belongs to adults and confident older teenagers.

Black birds are more interesting to color than they sound. Do not reach for a black pencil. Layer deep blue, violet and dark green over each other and only add black in the very darkest places, and the crows will come out with the oily green-purple sheen that real crow feathers have. The corn stubble should stay pale gold so the birds read strongly against it.

Crows deserve their reputation. They can recognize individual human faces, remember a person who treated them badly for years afterwards, and pass that wariness on to other crows. A group of them, fittingly for this time of year, is called a murder.