With the Eagles’ home opener against the Dallas Cowboys just days away, one local artist is flying high \u2014 preserving the team’s iconic status through a soaring symbol: the bald eagle.<\/p>\n
Hayden Richard, a Chester-based painter, began a bold piece long before the Eagles lifted the Lombardi Trophy \u2014 envisioning a massive bald eagle bringing the championship home.<\/p>\n
“This big bald eagle is coming home,” Richard said, spreading his arms like wings. “Before the Eagles won the Super Bowl, I started painting this.”<\/p>\n
There are no players, no stadium, no fans in the frame \u2014 just strength, pride, and freedom embodied in the bird itself.<\/p>\n
Richard layered the background with his fingers, then shifted to stippling \u2014 a meticulous technique using tiny dots of paint to build texture and depth.<\/p>\n
“Think of all those leaves, one by one \u2014 whoosh,” he laughed, slipping into a line of song: “Don’t worry about a thing\u2026 every little thing gonna be alright.”<\/p>\n
His “All States” series celebrates American landscapes \u2014 from towering redwoods to protective mama bears \u2014 a love letter to the country’s beauty.<\/p>\n
After losing his job as a chef when Crozer Medical closed, Richard returned to his first love: art.<\/p>\n
“I felt connected with the Creator\u2026 and art is like creation,” he said.<\/p>\n
He’s also the author of The True Awakening of the Mind, a book that mirrors the spiritual artistry he’s carried since childhood. Richard started drawing at age 7 in his native Trinidad, sketching in the earth with coconut branches. Today, his pieces hang on official walls back home.<\/p>\n
Closest to his heart is a body of work he calls the Colorless Collection.<\/p>\n
“There’s no black and white,” Richard said. “We’re one human family.”<\/p>\n
He describes the series as a way to unite people \u2014 beyond skin tones and team colors. “The one color we all share is red,” he said, “The blood that connects us.”<\/p>\n
And when it comes to Philly, there’s another connection close to home: Bird Nation.<\/p>\n
Richard is holding the bald eagle painting for what he calls “Eagles royalty.”<\/p>\n
“I’m hoping the owner of the Eagles \u2014 and Mr. Hurts and the rest of the team \u2014 will contact me and buy the paintings,” he said, with a laugh that lingers in the studio.<\/p>\n
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