Common Sandpiper
I found some fabulous pictures Sandpipers on google image search from which I was able to sketch a pattern for a bird carving. When carving a 3D object you need pictures from all sides and with the popularity of digital photography images abound. I took my time carving and painting these guys.
Greater Flamingo
This amazing bird, with its bright pink feathers, and elegant long legs, thrives in the harshest of desert conditions, and feeds in alkaline pools for crustaceans. Most of us have seen them in the zoo. I have depicted this one looking over her shoulder, and lifting her leg up in a classic feminine pose, as if to say, "Come and see me some time, big boy."
Blue Heron
Blue Herons are very plentiful in the Fraser Valley where I live. When I go fishing, I see them foraging on the edges of ponds and rivers, but they can also be found in farm fields. They have a certain elegance in the way they move, and fly. I have depicted this one walking along keeping a keen eye out for a frog or minnow to eat.
You are probably surprized to find a painting of a Heron in among my carvings. Its not often that I paint, but I felt it wound be good to try something different. Painting with acrylics on canvass requires a different set of skills than painting on a carved surface, and I'm finding the journey enjoyable.
Brown Pelican
In the summer of 2004 I had the pleasure of photographing a Brown Pelican at Cannon Beach, Oregon. It was amazing how close I was able to get before he took to the air. They are so elegant in the air and so humorously clumsy on land. Juveniles can be very brown, this Pelican is an adult in its non breeding phase.
Immature Western Gull
On a sunny afternoon, I took a picture of an immature Western Gull warming itself on the sand next to an estuary. Seagulls are adventurers and explorers. They travel amazing distances along some of the most beautiful coastlines in the world, such as Cannon Beach, where this one was photographed.The detailed shading has been done with a burning pen. By adjusting the temperature of the tip, various shades can be created.
On a sunny afternoon, I took a picture of an immature Western Gull warming itself on the sand next to an estuary. Seagulls are adventurers and explorers. They travel amazing distances along some of the most beautiful coastlines in the world, such as Cannon Beach, where this one was photographed.The detailed shading has been done with a burning pen. By adjusting the temperature of the tip, various shades can be created.
Tufted Puffin standing
Puffins can be found up and down the west coast from Alaska to California. They like nesting on offshore islands and cliff tops. I have seen them nesting at the top of Haystack Rock near Cannon Beach on the Oregon coast. They actually nest in under ground burrows.
The piece of driftwood he is standing on reminds me of a human brain which is symbolic for me because of my work as a Marriage and Family Therapist.
Tufted Puffin
This bird reminds me of a little old professor. The brightly coloured bill, and the pale yellow head tufts give him lots of character. I have watched these shorebirds diving and swimming around the monoliths and rock outcroppings of the Oregon coast, near Cannon Beach. Seeing him brings back memories of the pounding surf, the ocean breeze, and the calls of sea birds.
Belted Kingfisher
Those of you who spend time on rivers, brooks, ponds, and lakes especially where small fish are plentiful, have seen Kingfishers dive and come up with little fish in their dagger like bills. Being a nature lover is a great preoccupation. There is so much we can lean from nature, and it has a marvelous way of refreshing and renewing us.
Kingfishers in Flight
In this display of arial courtship, the female with the rust belly band is being pursued by its mate. He is chasing her with gusto and she is evading him with her low flying acrobatics- its the dance of romance! This is one of the few pieces I have of birds in flight.
Sandpiper/Lesser Yellowlegs
These little beach birds breed in the Alaskan tundra, and migrate all the way to South America, mostly along the east coast. We don't see them very often on the west coast. They make a little "tew" sound one to three times, and happily run along the shoreline.