animals
« Previous Entries Next Entries »Great Egrets
Saturday, July 25th, 2020
Great Egrets, Coppell, Texas – 18H x 24W inches soft pastels on paper.
Fins, Feathers and Fur 2020: Cockatiels
Friday, July 17th, 2020
Cockatiels, Jurong Bird Park, Singapore 12H x 9W inches graphite on paper, white double mat and white 18H x 15W inches frame with crackle finish. Check out the Jurong Bird Park website.
Showcased in the J. Mane Gallery’s Fins, Feathers and Fur 2020 exhibition.
Keel-billed Toucans rejuvenated
Saturday, May 16th, 2020
Keel-billed Toucans, seen at the Dallas World Aquarium, when they used to fly around freely there, in front of the waterfall. 29H x 20W x 2D inches acrylics on canvas. This is an older piece not listed back then because I was never happy with it. Using crackle medium to help create a bit of texture, it has been touched up, rejuvenated, and is now for sale.
Stellar’s Jays finished
Friday, May 11th, 2018
Stellar’s Jays finished, Nimkish Lake campsite, Vancouver Island BC, 18H x 24W inches watercolors on 140 lb. cold pressed. Framed size 27H x 33W inches: white mat and white wood frame with crackle finish.
Stellar’s Jays are not seen in groups like this, perhaps only seen 3 together at most, so in that sense the portrayal is not accurate, but the aim here is to show a collage of 11 birds representing their distinct character.
Raccoons
Tuesday, April 3rd, 2018
Raccoons, Ottawa ON Canada – 14H x 20W inches watercolors on 140 lb cold pressed. Framed size approx. 20H x 26W inches – white mat and white wood frame with crackle finish.
Noisy Stellar’s Jay
Thursday, February 1st, 2018
Noisy Stellar’s Jay, 11H x 14W inches watercolors on 140 lb premium. Framed size approx. 17H x 20W inches, white mat and white frame with crackle finish.
New Zealand sketches
Monday, January 1st, 2018
Agapanthus near Ambury Regional Park, Mangere, New Zealand, 4H x 6W inches quick sketch with WC pencils
Sheep, Mangere park New Zealand, 4H x 6W inches quick sketch with WC pencils
Oystercatchers
Monday, February 27th, 2017
Oystercatchers, 18H x 24W inches watercolors on 140 lb cold pressed. Framed size 27H x 33W inches, white mat, white wood frame with crackle finish.
Showcased in the J. Mane Gallery’s Fins, Feathers and Fur 2020 exhibition.
This is finished, although I’d love to merge the contrasts somehow. I don’t want to mess up the implied light though, or the initial spontaneous brush strokes, like in the background waves. Every new mark at this stage makes a difference too, and in context to the whole, even small changes affect other areas that need to adjust accordingly.
Before you know it, colors mud together and beautiful open spaces disappear. I’m going to take direction from my most recent pieces, which I feel were over-worked, and quit while I’m ahead.
Challenge is exciting…particularly with watercolors. Whereas with other media mistakes can be erased or covered easily and change can occur throughout the process without much hesitation, with watercolors a person needs to know a subject well – or at least be able to fake it with confidence!
Finding a way to make each painting unique means following cues happening within the work itself. In this painting, the most remarkable thing occurred after the the first phase of production.
Because this subject was unfamiliar, I started by first penciling in the shapes, wondering what I could do to make this less boring – you know, not just be a picture of Oystercatchers. When erasing the pencil marks in order to see what the paint had established, little rolls of eraser pieces scattered here and there. Sprinkled impromptu around the birds, those tiny eraser shreds added a pronounced and unexpected zing of life to the composition.
First thinking “what have I got to lose?”, the eraser-pieces were mimicked in paint around the birds. I’m tempted to make those strokes more prominent, but a small success is in order, so will use this fun technique in another painting.
Monk’s residence, Luang Prabang, Laos
Monday, October 17th, 2016
The insight of a nine-year-old
Monday, June 25th, 2012
“It does not matter how much you see, it matters if you appreciate what you see”
Fintan Fox, 9 yrs old. Below, an angel fish drawn after snorkeling in Figi
I recently had the pleasure of conversations with nine year old Fintan Fox, the son of a good friend whom I had not seen for over 35 years. My friend Julie and her son, Fintan, both created blogs about their extensive travels beginning in England where they live, to Russia last August, then through China, Thailand, Cambodia, to Australia, Figi, and now through western North America. They are on the last leg of their year-long trip around the world, stopping to visit us in Oregon on their way to Canada.
This drawing is one of Fintan’s blog entries, an Angel fish drawn after seeing some while snorkeling in Figi. So impressive! With a minimum of information, the style is bold and confident… simple, yet accurate. Similarly, he writes with matter-of-fact wisdom, and surprisingly well-thought-through opinions. Wow, nine year-olds can be great sources of inspiration.