Yesterday's Harvest

It was a harvest of photos only, too many good shots to include in one post. Like this photo of a hen, Greater Scaup with her two surviving babies. I suspect a grebe or a gull got the rest of her brood.

This Red-necked Grebe was still on the nest. Very late in the season.

I never could quite see what this grebe was catching.

Four of about 50 Canada Geese in one group.

There were also a few baby geese around as well.

American Widgeons.

These Gadwalls are newly independent young. The siblings still remained close together. There were four of them in all. Where were the parents? I did'nt see them.

This young Mallard was catching, (presumably aquatic insects) in the turbulent water where Westchester Lagoon empties into Chester Creek. It's mother hovered nearby just downstream.

I'm not sure if this is another young Mallard, or an eclypse drake.

Another shot of a very confiding, Greater Yellowlegs.

Not all the birds were aquatic. This is a cooperative, White-crowned Sparrow.

I got dozens of shots of this bird, and only quit when the light changed and became too harsh.

I'll end this post with some more random photos of young Mew Gulls.

The Wild Coast

The coast around here is wild only if you share the perspective of an ant. The waves along the shore average about 4 inches high. Many lakes have bigger waves. It is wild because instead of beachgoers, there are lots of birds. At least in the summertime.

The midsummer coast. Most of it is closed to people because it is so dangerous to walk across the mudflats. Many people have been lured to their deaths by the harmless looking ground. On my first visit to the coastal trail I took one step from a boulder beside the trail onto the mud. My foot sank to my knee. It took all my strength to pull it back out. If I did'nt have that boulder for an anchor, I would have been trapped.

Today the mountains across the inlet were very visible. The snow never melts on those high peaks.

The mudflats are full of southbound shorebirds right now. There were thousands of them widely scattered across the mudflats. Most of them were Short-billed Dowitchers and Hudsonian Godwits, also yellowlegs. I also saw some Black Turnstones and lots of peeps too far away for my sorry eyes to make out.

Alaska has really great wild roses. These were growing beside the trail. They may be a domestic variety gone wild, I dont know too much about plants.

I tried my hand at photographing hovering, Arctic Terns.

I got better results than I usually get.

These photos may have been even better if there was brighter light, and if the terns had been a little closer. I am happy with the results that I got anyway.

There were a number of nearly independent baby, Mew Gulls.

I like the look of them so I shot many photos.

A protective parent warns me to keep a respectful distance. For a Mew Gull that means about an arm's length or so away.

I could'nt get quite so close to this mama Greater Scaup on Westchester Lagoon.

I did get pretty close to this Red-necked Grebe fishing just offshore. I like the water droplets.

When a subject is this cooperative, I just keep on taking photos. I'll probably post more photos of this bird later.

Another bird that could'nt be more cooperative, this Greater Yellowlegs. I got so many great photos today that I'll have to post more of them soon. I'm also going to try to visit the mudflats again this week, hopefully during high tide. That way I can get closer to more shorebirds.

Spotted Cats

A few days ago I took stock of my inventory of artwork. I sorted the 30+ paintings into three categories. The worst paintings went into the recycle bin. They will be sanded off, and I'll paint something else on top of them.
The best group of paintings will be left as is, and will be shipped to galleries or art shows as needed. The middle group of paintings will be put in line for a face lift. Two of those paintings have already gotten their new faces. They were both old paintings of exotic cats.

Several years ago I painted this Jaguar called, La Reina, 9x12". I liked the cat itself and the leaf litter beneath it's feet, but the rest of the composition did'nt quite work. Nobody liked this painting, but I did'nt know what to do about it.

Painting green leaves has always been a challenge for me. I have tried numerous shades of green but none of them look natural to me. The closest I can come is to lay down a base of green, then cover all or some of the leaf with a very thin glaze of red. Then highlight parts of the leaf with blue, white, or yellow.
This new vertical arrangement of branches and vines helps draw the viewer's eye to the Jaguar, and it looks much better to me.

I did'nt make any changes to the cat itself.

Although I like the cat in this Ocelot, 8x10", painting, the setting looks contrived to me.

First I added a series of glazes to various parts of the painting, and then reworked, or added leaves. The improvement is dramatic to me, although I dont know how well that shows up in the photo. The differences in color saturation between the photos has more to do with differing light conditions between the original photos, and new photos.

This painting really makes me want to do another Ocelot painting. I have a good idea in my head.

Since this post is about spotted cats, I'll include two paintings that I did not alter. This 11x14" painting called Two Leopards is hanging in Gary's gallery in Homer. If it has'nt already sold, I expect it to sell by the end of summer.

This 12x16" Cheetah painting called, Cat in the Grass, sold last summer. I can only hope that the Jaguar and Ocelot paintings will sell soon.

The Swan and the Gull

The photo above is a detail of the latest new painting.

It all started out with an 8x10" gray gesso board, which I sanded smooth. Then I sketched out two Trumpeter Swans that I photographed at nearby Sixmile Lake on the airforce base.
I painted the top and the bottom dark blue, while the middle layer of the board was a medium blue-gray.

Then I took an old toothbush and flicked on a fine spray of watery, pale gray paint on top of the middle layer.

Next I blocked in some base tones on the swan's bodies.

I tried to blend some blue-gray with warmer buff tones into the foundation of the swan's bodies. This is a technique that I have attempted to perfect many times when painting white birds, but it needs further refinement. By the time I get it right I will lose interest in the subject. And so it goes with just about everything in my life.

Next I added whitish surface feathers on the rear swan. I also added light highlights on it's beak.

A detail of it's head. You can see the light flecks from the toothbrush. They are less prominent in the actual painting.

I realized that the rear swan needed a thicker neck, and I added some light highlights on the front swan's body.

After refining the front swan's plummage, I added the swan's reflections in the water. I also put some pale washes across the middle level of the painting. Then I covered the whole painting with a thin glaze of burnt sienna. At this point I thought the painting was completed, so I signed it.

After a day I realized that the painting needed a few refinements. I brightened the intensity of the sunlit feathers, and added some light washes to obscure hard details of the swan's plummage. Now it's done.

Last year I painted this seascape, Wildscape, 16x20". I know it will never sell but I figured I could at least improve it a little.

First I worked on the gull a little, and repainted it's legs. Then I put a pink wash on top of the background to obscure it somewhat. I also brightened some of the highlights of the sea foam.

A detail of the gull. Is it any better? Is it finished? Who knows?

The Last of Gary's Photos

Another photo from Semliki Toro that I forgot to include earlier. R.L.T. stands for Rueppell's Long-tailed. The bird's name has recently been changed to Rueppell's Glossy Starling.

A White-thighed Hornbill near the Budongo Forest in Western Uganda.

Although I dont know the official name of these lizards, I called them Orange- headed Agamas. This individual was near Murchison.

A big croc.

Some elephants in Murchison got excited when we approached them too fast for their comfort. Their excitement was too scary for my comfort as well.

A Red-necked Falcon.

Grasshopper Buzzards were more approachable than most raptors.

I'm envious of Gary's nice shot of a Palm-nut Vulture. What a great bird!

The hippo seemed oblivious to this jacana pecking at it's head.

Gary's photo of the very rare Egyptian Plover.

These photos were taken only yards from the hippo with the jacana.

We only saw this one lion on the trip, but we got to see it on two consecutive days.

On the first day we saw it, we were standing out of the car looking at a pair of Grey Kestrels. The lion was about  a quarter mile away, staring intently at us. It soon hid itself in some thick scrub. The next day we approached in the car and the lion all but ignored us.

I'll end this with a photo I shot with Gary's camera in the capital city of Kampala. I guess President Obama has a back-up plan in case that president thing does'nt pan out. Tom is on the left, Gary on the right.