2009 Birds in Art

It's amazing it's been so long since I posted. I've been very busy making paintings of animals, just didn't think it had been so long, so this will catch things up.

First and foremost 2009 has been the Year of the Birds for me. I don't do birds often, only 3 in the last 6 years. So I set out to study them intensely this year. My first work, from an encounter with a wild tom turkey who strutted his stuff for about 30 min just outside my window, inspired a pastel that gained me entry into one of the most prestigious of international museum shows. Birds in Art at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Museum.

I entered on a whim not expecting anything, but I did like the pastel, and thought what the heck, I can always use it for the local shows later in the summer, and this will give me some experience, I had only 3 days before the deadline to get it in, so I put in long hours and just finished in time. This is the greatest honor I've received, and I'm simply amazed it happened.

Here he is 12x12 pastel "Splendor in the Grass"




I tried to capture the whole experience by giving him dramatic, almost Rembrandt style lighting, and capturing what fascinated me most, the spectacular geometries of the feathers and forms they generated in spirals of light and dark. Although it looks very detailed, it is actually very loose, many areas are scribbled in. Finally got something I've been trying for a long time, the look of detail without putting in every little thing and overworking it. I admire the every little detail work some artists do but find it's not at all for me, I love the material to show and the hand of the painter too.