More Paintings From the Album

Over the years, I have painted at least a half dozen Black Bears and waterfalls. This is my favorite of the bunch, Black Bear Grotto, 11x14".

Keeping on the bear theme, this is a 16x20" painting of mama and cubs, (grizzlies) emerging from their hibernation den. I forget the name of it.

For some reason, I have only painted a handful of Polar Bears. This is an 18x24" painting that I also cannot remember the title of. It's funny that I can remember the sizes of these old paintings, but not the titles of them.

Back in the good ol days, I did a lot of ballpoint pen, (Bic Fine Point) drawings. I quit doing them when I realized that the ink fades over time, and I could not in good conscience charge money for something with such a short life span. I traded this one to another artist for some of his limited edition prints. I did'nt feel bad because prints fade away also.

Caribou on Parade, 16x20". This was a popular painting that got lots of positive responses from people.

Polar Bear Peak, 16x12". This is more of a landscape painting, which I seldom do. It is set in the upper Eagle River Valley.

This is my favorite Gray Jay painting. I forget it's name, but it's 20x16", or 24x18'. I guess I can't remember it's size either.

I did a series of exotic bird paintings inspired by my trips to Costs Rica. This is a 12x16", Speckled Tanager that I gave a spanish name, Tangara Moteada.

This 11x14", Barred Antshrike is titled, The Jailbird. It's plumage is black and white, striped like old time prison clothes, and the branches behind the bird look a little like iron bars.

A 10x8" painting of a Long-tailed Hermit, (hummingbird) raiding a spider's web. They steal both tiny insects, and silk for nesting material.

A 10x8", Collared Redstart. This is a cute, inhabitant of the mountainous cloud forest.

African Lions, 16x20". I also forget the name of this one. I wanted to go to Africa, and see lions in the wild for decades before I actually got to do it.

11x14", Elk titled who knows what. This painting was stolen from the gallery where it was hanging, but not before I got a 4x5" transparancy of it. It was used as a Canadian Provincial Conservation Stamp, so I did make a little money off it.
 My hero, Robert Bateman saw it and said he really liked it. What a thrill. I have had the priviledge of seeing my artwork included in two art shows that featured his work as well. I'll have another show with his work, (and all the big names in wildlife art) next Summer. I can't wait.

18x24" Bald Eagle, I forget the name, but I do like the painting. I even remember who got this one, a local doctor.

People Are Strange

Is'nt that an old song by the Doors? Way back before the days of digital, and before I got in the habit of having my artwork professionally photographed, I tried to photograph my own work. Using either slide film or print, I accumulated a collection of photos of my own paintings. The prints, I put into the photo album above.
One day years ago I was preparing for a big art show here in Anchorage. One of my regular collectors called me up and asked if I was going to have any Elk paintings at the show. It so happened that I had a nice Elk painting, but it was hanging in a gallery out of town.
I told him about the painting and I told him I would bring a photo of it to the show. Then I grabbed the photo album and brought it with me to the show. I placed the photo album off to the side, on the table in my display.

Almost as soon as the show opened, a woman came by and zeroed in on the photo album. She opened it up, and carefully studied every photo in the album. She completely ignored the actual artwork in the display.
At one point she pointed to one of the paintings and said, "I would really like to see this painting".

I pointed to the actual painting that happened to be hanging right in front of her. She glanced at it for a few seconds, and went back to studying the photo. I thought that her behavior was so odd.
After she left, someone else started flipping throught the photo album. Then another, and another. Many people would say they wanted to see one painting or another. When I pointed to the real painting, they all did exactly as the first woman.
Other people ignored the photo album, and looked at the artwork itself. As in all art shows, most people walked past without even glancing at the display. Why come to an art show, and walk throught it without even stopping? Most people do just that. People are strange.

Sometimes there was even a line of people waiting to look at the photo album, and completely ignoring the original artwork. Eventually I started politely asking people why they spent so much time looking at photos, but would'nt look at the actual paintings? They all got a flustered look on their face, and abrubtly left without answering.

To this day I am baffled by all this. Eventually I put the photo album under the table so people would have to deal with the raw paintings. So, what do you think about this? I would really like to get some feedback if anyone has any insights about why people could relate to photographs, but not original art.

Anyway, these are all photos of those old paintings from the photo album. This is a 16x20", Snowshoe Hare called, Snowbunny.

Townsend's Warbler, 11x14". It is set in fall colors, but Townsend's Warblers are already gone from around here by the time fall comes around. They are not common around here at all.

A detail of a 5x12" painting of Harlequin Ducks.

No Man's Land, 14x18". These are Mountain Goats.

Barn Owl, 20x16". Remember that these are second or third generation photographs, so they lose a lot of the quality of the original paintings. There is a lot of delicate detail in the owl's face in the actual painting.

Coyote and Bison, 15x30". If you see enough of my paintings, you will see recurring themes in many of them. This is one of my all time favorite paintings.

Javelina, 11x14". (Collared Peccaries). Many of the paintings in this album, were painted long before I  moved to Alaska.

Sitka Black-tailed Deer, 18x24". They have small antlers, compared to other deer species. There is now a bank in the spot where this painting is set.

This 14x18" Snowshoe Hare marked a milestone in my painting career. It is one of the last Gouache paintings I did before I switched exclusively to acrylics. It is also one of my best Gouaches. I was painting way above my skill level when I did this one.
There are enough good paintings in that old album, that deserve to be included in another blog post. Stay tuned.

Autumn Colors Along the Coast

Today I took the time to monitor the seasonal changes along the Coastal Trail.  Magpies are ubiquitous and I usually ingnore them, but the antics of these three caught my attention.

When I stopped to photograph them, they came right up to me. They were at my feet, walking all around me. Hoping for a handout, no doubt.

Although the day was gray and cool, there was good color saturation to show off the fall colors.

It was high tide while I was there, so I could get close enough to photograph these juvenile Common Mergansers off the shore.

Presumably this is a juvenile, Northern Shoveler. Like I said before, moulting males look like females, and so do juvenile males. Most of the adult ducks have probably migrated south already, so I assume that most of the ducks I see are juveniles. There were lots of ducks around today.

There was also a lonely, juvenile Sandhill Crane right where I saw three adults a few weeks ago.

Adult sandhills are far from being colorful birds, but this young bird was downright drab. It closely matches the color of it's surroundings.

Now I have some pretty good photos of adult, and juvenile sandhills, I still would like to get good photos of the birds in flight, and engaging in their courtship displays.

I've been seeing more Lesser Scaups lately than I have ever seen in Alaska. This bird could be an adult male coming out of it's annual moult, or a juvenile male coming into it's adult plummage. You can tell this from a Greater Scaup by it's steep forehead. There are other field marks to distinguish them that are not evident in this photo.
Other birders have reported seeing a dramatic increase in the number of Pine Siskins this summer. Could it be climate change affecting the local bird distribution?

I'm about 90% positive that I got a lifer today. There have been reports of several Thayer's Gulls in the area. To tell the truth, I am not really clear about what field marks to look for. When I saw this gull, I assumed it was a non-breeding Herring Gull. It was being very cooperative and I could have gotten many good photos of it.
Since I thought it was just another Herring Gull I only took two quick shots from the picnic table where I was eating lunch at Spenard Crossing. Now I see from the amount of dusky gray on it's head and neck, it is more consistent with a non-breeding Thayer's Gull, a new bird for me. I'll study the photos a little more before I decide what it is.

Along with elevated numbers of Lesser Scaup, and Pine Siskins, today I saw far more Gadwalls than I have ever seen in one day. There were hundreds where I'm lucky to see three or four. It is obvious that this is a male, but is it an adult coming out of it's moult, or a juvenile achieving adult plummage?

These two are juvenile females. I shot all of these photos from the picnic table.

A female and male, (hen and drake) Gadwalls in mid moult.

A footbridge over Chester Creek near Spenard Crossing.

I climbed this nice, covered staircase that leads up out of the Chester Creek Greenbelt. The end of another pleasant day.

Beam Me Up Scotty!

Scott Christy and his wife Jean Tam are longtime friends here in Anchorage. They have an airplane, and a small cabin on the remote outer coast of the Kenai Peninsula. The cabin is reached by float plane in the Summer months, and skis on the plane in the Winter.
These photos were all taken by Scott. The photo above shows the typical glacier lake habitat near their cabin. I did an older post about my visit to the cabin, but Scott has some better photos, and it's definitely worth a second look.

While flying in from Anchorage, the plane passes over numerous small lakes and waterfalls that are pretty much inaccessible to people.

Who would'nt want a vacation cabin with a view like this? The cabin is location near the shore of Big Johnstone Lake with Excelsior Glacier feeding it. It is a cold place. The cabin is actually back in the trees where it is protected from the blast of cold air that eminates from the glacier.

Big Johnstone Lake is connected to the ocean via a short river. Harbor Seals lounge on the icebergs in the freshwater lake because it offers them protection from Orcas. I'm not sure if they catch fish in the lake.

Scott and Jean have a Zodiac which they use to travel around the lake and down the river to the sea. It gives them the opportunity to get great photographs of the constantly changing ice formations on the lake.

Scott's photos may be spectacular, but actually being there is truly breathtaking. Glowing blue everywhere.

The place is located in coastal temperate rainforest. It will typicaly rain solid for a week or a month, then have one day of sunshine, and then back to the rain. Nevertheless it is a magical place.

Where's the Polar Bear? It is too far south for them, but Black Bears are abundant in the area. A few grizzlies too.

A rare sunny day in the rainforest, with a beautiful lake in the background.

Taking the Zodiac along the river from the lake to the ocean.

Jean holds up dinner.

More salmon destined for the freezer or the fish smoker. Personally, I hate fish, including fresh caught, or smoked salmon. My friends make me eat them all the time anyway. Everyone around here always has a freezer full of salmon. It's a rough life. I'll take moose meat any day, but I'm grateful for people's hospitality.