Happy New Year

Well, not really 'fishin', just takin' a few days off again to ring in the new and wash out the old. Wishing all a very rewarding New Year in 2007!

Ho, Ho, Ho!

Borrowed from the London Times, a little Holiday Jolly. Don't let the day melt you down and . . . . Have yourselves a Merry Little Christmas!

'Eye-ing' things at the Zoo!

A few days ago, I took a jog to the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore and gathered some interesting shots. So, here is a little Holiday fun quiz. Here are 14 images of zoo eyes, can you identify all of them? In this first batch, there are a raven, a rhino, an ostrich, a snowy owl and a crane.

Here are nine more images ... can you identify the gull, the zebra, the penguin, the kudu, the leopard, the warthog, the okapi, the giraffe and the lion?

Happy Birthday, Edvard!

Born 143 years ago, Edvard Munch, his works steeped in atmosphere and emotion, has never failed to move me.

Now that the Open House has come and gone, with very positive results, time to get some Christmas shopping in and a few days out of the studio. Soon enough, work will commence once again on the new pieces for a two person show next March to be shared with my good friend, Paula Waterman, at our eastern shore gallery here in Maryland. Some larger scale works will be coming off the drawing board soon, so keep an eye out!

Out and about the other day, as the sun was setting after an afternoon hike, the full moon was peeking through gauzy clouds and I could not resist the urge to pull over to the side of the road and grab a couple of shots. Nothing really special, but the feeling that surrounded me as I stood and enjoyed the scene left me with the thought that this was truly a fall scene if there ever was one. And now that all the work for this weekend's Open House is finally done, framed and ready to be hung, I have time today to relax and enjoy a fine, fall day here in central Maryland!

'Cow Cow Boogie', the last work off the drawing board for this Saturday's Open House, is a bit over 3" x 3".



Made famous by the likes of Ella Fitzgerald and Ella Mae Morse (two of my favorite Ellas) back in the middle of the last century, 'Cow Cow Boogie' from the motion picture 'Ride 'Em Cowboy', is a fun tune!

'Out on the plains down near Santa Fe -
I met a cowboy ridin' the range one day -
And as he jogged along, I heard him singin'
The most peculiar cowboy song -
It was a ditty, he learned in the city
Comma ti yi yi yeah -
Comma ti yippity yi yeah -
Now get along, get hip little doggies
Get along, better be on your way -
Get along, get hip little doggies -
He trucked 'em on down that old fairway
Singin' his Cow Cow Boogie in the strangest way -
Comma ti yi yi yeah
Comma ti yippity yi yeah'

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'Casual Observers'

Finished!
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Sticking with African subject matter as the current theme of work on the drawing board, here is the beginnings of the next piece up, some Ground Hornbills. This work will wind up matting out at about 5" x 7".

'Rough-and-Tumble', the latest little work off the drawing board is 6" x 4" and of one of my favorite subjects, the elephant. I have not done elephants in quite a bit, so doing this little calf has been a real joy for me.

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With just under two weeks to go till our Open House for this year, Paula and I are busy preparing new works for the December 9th event. This year, we have asked our good friend, the sculptor Karryl, to join us on that Saturday with her wonderful and whimsical bronze pieces. You can see Karryl's work at http://www.karryl.com.

Wishing all a warm and relaxing Thanksgiving Day.


'One Sheep, Two Sheep, Three Bo Peep Sheep', completed and ready for the Open House.

It has been some time since I last posted any 'in progress' shots of a work on the drawing board. So today, I thought I would post this image of a work that is currently in progress .... and yes, I know it is sheep yet again! A nice sized work, this one will wind up being about 4" x 24" when completed.

Sticking with the current theme of 'woolly' subject matter .... the last work off the drawing board ... a tad over 4" x 4".

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'Showgirls', the latest work off the board is another small work, 4 1/4" x 6 1/4", earmarked for the upcoming Open House next month. And yes, I seem to be stuck in the sheep shed!

This year's Waterfowl Festival has come and gone, along with a very wet and soggy pack up day on Sunday .... and now it is time to get busy in earnest on works for the upcoming Open House I will share with good friend, Paula Waterman, early next month. This will be our third pre-Holiday Open House and we are looking forward to having a lot of new works available on Saturday, December 9th. If you happen to stumble upon this blog page or are an old reader and are in the immediate Maryland area, check our web sites for directions or drop me an email. Or, if you are out of the area and wish to see some of the works that will be available for possible purchase, drop me an email and I will forward images of works that will be set aside just for the 9th.

This little lamb, hot off the drawing board this afternoon, will be available on the 9th .... image size 3 1/4" x 5 1/4".

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One more small work, this one 3 1/4" x 3 1/4", for the Festival next week. This one shall do it as far as inventory for the show. Now it's time to take a break!

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With the Waterfowl Festival just a bit less than a week away, finished this little work (6" x 4") of one of the new National Zoo tiger cubs that I referenced recently. I hope this will be the last of the works for the Festival, but who knows? There is still this weekend to work!

'Good Morning Sunshine'

The latest small scale work off the drawing board, this one is 6" x 6".

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A Day at the Zoo and Other Musings

A trip to the National Zoo in DC earlier this week with artist friend, Paula Waterman, turned out to be a very rewarding day of reference work. We headed into DC basically to gather material on the recently born trio of tiger cubs but found many other interesting subjects as well. The cubs were having a great time, romping around their enclosure, playing, rough-housing and doing the usual tiger cub things. Mom was quite attentive and when called for, very patient with the hyper active trio. Though the enclosure was quite shaded and the cubs often managed to situate themselves in the darkest corners, we did manage to snag a few good shots.


I believe that there are two female cubs and one male. It was obvious to me that one of the cubs seemed definitely larger and bulkier in body shape than the other two, so I would surmise he was the little male. But all three were very active and playful throughout the morning of shooting.


We also spent some time walking the new Asia Trail that opened to the public earlier this month. The enlarged panda exhibition was very well designed and we got a few glimpses of little, well not so little any more, Tai and his mom. The layout of the 'trail' was quite nice and several of the new areas were very appealing. Unfortunately, the clouded leopard, another of the subjects that we were specifically interested in, was not out in its enclosure as there was work being done to it. But the sloth bear area was very nice, as was the new red panda area complete with waterfall and nice rock formations.



We meandered over to the bird area and got some interesting images of several species that I have seen in Africa on my several trips to that continent, but had never really been able to get good close shots of, including the beautiful and colorful lilac breasted roller.


The marabou stork, with its appearance that 'only a mother could love' was another of the species that caught my eye. Another tough subject matter to make use of in a drawing, I can't help but be 'drawn' to their unique appearance. My good friend, Matthew Hillier, recently painted a magnificent oil painting of a marabou in bold strokes of paint and with a wonderful touch that brought such emotion to the subject that each time I see his painting, I wonder if I might ever be able to capture that same feeling of unique beauty of this motley bird, as Matthew did.
http://matthewhillierart.com/originals1-06.html




And, as a final note to today's entry, I read with great pleasure an entry to my friend, Carel's blog page this morning. He wrote quite wonderfully, on Monday of this week about photography and the artist. This was his third entry on the subject and I thought, by far, the most informative. I am often asked what I think of the use of photography in gathering reference material for future works of art and if I make use of photography in my work. Of course I use photo images for reference material when pulling together an idea for a new work. Sketch books play a major roll as well, with notations of light sources and movement and gesture and such, but I do make use of photography as well. But, as Carel so correctly put it, photos are just another of the tools in the 'tool box' that an artist carries with him or her, and act as reminders or points of departure. Take a look at Carel's page (linked to the right here) and read his explanation of how he makes use of photos and the examples he has used to flesh out his words. His words do best to define how I too, make use of photography in my work. Thanks, Carel, for your great description of this very controversial method of reference gathering for the artist.

'Little Rhapsody', a newly completed little work for the Waterfowl Festival in two short weeks! The image is just over 3" x 3".

A bit of a morning diversion from the drawing board today as I spotted this vulture sitting atop one of the trees in my back yard, a tree which is frequented by both vultures and crows. I guess the view is quite something from up there!

In any event, this guy sat for quite a long time warming up in the sunshine of the chilly morning. Not a subject that would be appealing to most, I will find some way to use this material in another work at some point in the future, just as I have used similar reference of other vultures in one of my recent bridge works, seen here on this blog some months ago.

Some photos today from a recent trip out to Chincoteague Island on the eastern shore of Virginia, just south of the Maryland border. Along with the usual compliment of egrets and herons, there were some other interesting sightings on that particular day.





What can only be described as a swarm of tree swallows kept flying around a stand of trees as I photographed some snowy egrets. Eventually, several of the swallows perched on the telephone line above my head and I just clicked away happily gathering some wonderful reference material!