A Taste of the Philippines etc.

Gary has a friend, a former Alaskan who now lives in the Philippines. He has been tempting Gary with tales of the fabulous bird diversity on the islands (like this Scaler-feathered Malkoha). Gary wants to go. His wife says no, she hates to travel and hates it when he leaves her alone to contend with harsh Alaska winters alone. He only gets to travel about every other year. Last winter he went with Tom and his brother to South Africa.

Another Philippino jewel, Red-crested Malkoha. 

In the meantime Tom wants to go to Borneo, but is willing to go anywhere exotic. My heart is set on Australia this winter but I cannot afford it now and I cannot get the time off work. I would happily go to the Philippines or Borneo instead. Same challenge with time and money.

This White-throated Kingfisher would be another tantalizing incentive to make Gary and I want to go to the Philippines but we have already seen a number of them in Thailand and Cambodia. Tom has no doubt seen them as well on some of his many travels, but all of us would certainly like to see them again. Will we get to go anywhere this winter? Tom will, he spends part of every winter visiting his son in New Zealand.

Now back to some critiques of old paintings. This 12x24" canvas of a Trumpeter Swan was so close to being good. I spent a lot of time on it, and I held on to it for a number of years before reluctantly painting over it. The idea is worth revisiting but I will need to take more care in painting it. This photo looks better than the actual painting ever did.

I really like the perspective of this 8x10" Trumpeter Swan. That is all that I like about it. 8x10" is too small for this complex of a composition. It was rushed and painted it very carelessly. The idea deserves to be repainted, larger, and with more TLC.

Another 8x10" Trumpeter Swan painting. Not so bad. Still too small for the subject. It could do with something in the foreground to anchor the swans. I do not remember what I did with this one.

This 9x12" Coyote was a disaster from the get go. What was I thinking? Right now I'm working on an 11x14' Coyote on commission. I sure hope that it does not come out like this train wreck.

Another painting that was a bit of a train wreck. It was 16x20". I put it on the wall in a hand-crafted furniture store. The store ownership changed hands, my paintings came down off the walls, (understandable). When I went to collect my artwork, no one knew anything about them. I suspect they went into the dumpster. No great loss.