PREPARING FOR A PHOTO SESSION

Making an appointment with your photographer for a phote shoot offers you a deadline to step pestering a canvas and submit it as finished as it can be. Or you cancel the appointment which you knew in your heart was pre mature and tuck the painting on a back easel for consideration at a later date as you ponder it.

The hawk image occupied the "tuck away" easel for about a month. This week end I was able to transition it into an image showing some of the qualities of a raptor that I was hoping to find.

This is a studio shot but I am ready to turn it over to my photographer Sidney Smith as finished. It also helps that she is outstanding at what she does.

A WONDERFUL DISTRACTION

The most friendly chicken in our flock of six is Rose. She enjoys my conversations when having afternoon coffee in their coop yard. She often sits on my knee while listening to me talk about a day of making contacts, supply errands, and studio work.

Yesterday she moved up to my shoulder and roosted there as we watched the others in silence.

I have read how chickens can be friendly and fun to watch to the point of distraction and now

here I am here writing about it and thinking gesture sketches, ink etchings and water color.

EYES OF THE BEHOLDER

Whether you are using photos you have taken or researched, or simply watched a specific animal at the zoo or your own backyard, it all seems to come down to how you perceive and act on what you think you have seen . That's the beauty of painting. The artist can take liberties to celebrate the image as it comes down on the canvas.

Since my last entry I have visited this canvas off and on to find what I am looking for in my effort to represent a Red Tail hawk.

I'm curious what the end result will be.

LOOKING UP

After spending the winter choosing animals that prowl and pounce I have decided to look up and find entertainment in the flyers. Spring and summer are providing a canopy of life among the feeders and gardens in our backyard.

I am especially focused on two hawks right now. the Red Tail and the Cooper's hawk. Both perch long enough for some quick sketches and unfortunately the demise of a small mouse.

My sister lead me to a wonderful source :

http://palemale.com/. A daily journal of an excellent photographer in New York.

SOME DAYS

Some days you just need to leave the studio and get your inspiration side ways. The Mt. Hood national forest is just a little over an hour away. The alpine air, glacier lakes and blue blue sky are all this golden retriever needed to demonstrate how to embrace the day.

AVA's WOLF

When deciding on a an animal to paint I often choose one from an inspiring book I have just read or a someone who has influenced me in a way that identifies them to the image of a certain animal.

In the case of this wolf painting, a

delightful 9 year old girl named Ava provided the subject. She and her family have been living in Alaska for the last two years for an adventure far away from their California home.

Last spring Ava became ill. Eventually she was diagnosed with cancer.

Ava expressed that her favorite animal is the wolf. I painted this image for her with the hope it would become a companion that will see her through this hard time of treatments and concern.

Recently, she and her family have returned to the little village in Alaska. Her optimistic self has endured all procedures so far. May she continue to mend.

HEALING ENTERTAINMENT

To preoccupy myself during a lengthy period of recovery after surgery, I decided it was a good time to raise chickens. They arrived 3 days old and tiny. Now they are 8 week old pullets and well on their way to being fabulous hens. And thanks to them I am well on my way to being back in the studio again.

Without a doubt these two girls and the other 4 will provide inspiration for fun paintings ahead.