Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

New linocut. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

This is one of the reference photos I took. It's feeding holes look like someone fired a mini cartoon machine gun into the tree.

Wolf Paintings

The other evening i was taking a walk and saw a red fox trotting through the woods and across an old road. This new sighting has only fueled my new obsession with wolves and foxes.

I think one of the hardest things about painting wildlife, especially foxes and wolves, is not making a cheesy painting. Here's a couple really nice (and not cheesy) wolf paintings that have been inspiring me.

The Black Wolf of the Currumpaw (1894) by Ernest Thompson Seton

This one was painted by Danna Ray, a fellow artist selling on Etsy. Take a look at her awesome work here: http://www.dannaray.com/


This one just makes me really happy.

Carolina Wren

I painted this watercolor of a Carolina Wren over the weekend. They are funny little birds. I watched one this morning on an old well and stone wall, peeking its head into every little nook and crevice. Sometimes it looks like they dart around exploring just for fun.

Also, they sound like a tiny squeak toy being rapidly squeezed.

This is a photo I took last winter of one.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/60986542/5x7-print-carolina-wren-watercolor

Ocean Creature Series

I just finished this series of fun little ocean creatures. These were fun mini watercolors to paint and very minimal planning was involved. I started doodling in little 3x3" squares which became these paintings.
I drew stuff like this a lot when I was a kid, especially sharks and anemones.

Nuthatch

Happy Halloween. Here's a little sketch of a White-breasted Nuthatch.

Fishing Lures

I made this ink and watercolor doodle last night of my collection of fishing lures. I think they are such odd and fun little objects. I like how this one turned out a lot. I think I'll try to do more drawings like this.

Here's an older watercolor of one too.

Vacation

I just got back from my vacation at the beach in Stone Harbor, New Jersey. Saw lots of cool birds, animals, and plants and took hundreds of pictures.

A Black-crowned Night Heron.
Happened to have my camera when I saw this guy early in the morning.

I like this lucky shot of some shorebirds flying off.

A Turnstone. Didn't notice it was banded until I looked through the pictures. I think this has become one of my favorite shorebirds.

I managed to get this painted while I was away too. This small horseshoe crab had really interesting color variation in it's shell.