299 - Shorebird

This is a little shorebird that I saw at the Blackwater Refuge in Cambridge, Maryland, last November. Perhaps a Yellowlegs?

Some paintings are difficult to photograph. Wet paint reflects light and some colors don't photograph as well as others. The color of this little painting looks accurate on my monitor but the paint is reflecting light. Oh well.

299 - Shorebird

5" x 7" oil on gessoed board, unframed

US$85 plus $7 shipping

Blackwater Hawk

One November while at the Blackwater Refuge in Cambridge Maryland I caught a glimpse of a harrier soaring low over an open field. The light on its wings and the flash of color have been on my mind ever since, so I had to paint it.

Blackwater Hawk

18" x 18" oil on linen

Snow Bird

Snow Bird

20" x 16" oil on linen

Bird Study - Tui in Cherry Blossoms

In the northern part of New Zealand, Taiwan Cherry trees have been blooming everywhere.  DOC (the NZ Department of Conservation) regards them as an invasive species and would rather they be eliminated. They naturalize and spread into the bush, displacing natives trees but the native Tui and Pigeon them love! For the past week or two, there have been dozens of tuis in a large Taiwan Cherry that I can see from my window. The back of my house is elevated 20 feet above the surrounding bush so I've also been seeing the large pigeons zip past the windows with several tuis in hot pursuit. The song of the tui is beautiful - so you can imagine how two or three dozen sound when they're all singing at once.  I am in heaven!

298 - Tui in Cherry Blossoms

7" x 5" oil study on panel, unframed

US $85 plus $7 shipping

SOLD

Te Moananui

There's a boatyard in Opua where boats are in dry dock for maintenance. It's a busy place with workmen on ladders painting and sanding. This yacht is Te Moananui of Mangonui. The literal translation of the Maori; moana = sea, nui = big.  The Big Sea.  Mangonui is in Doubtless Bay about an hour north of Opua. Mangonui claims to have the best fish and chips on the North Island. I'm still taking my own survey!

Te Moananui
4 1/2" x 6 1/2" oil on panel, unframed
US $125 plus $7 shipping

SOLD

Nunki

This is the second painting in my new project, The Boats of Opua. This is the Nunki. Like many of the other yachts berthed at the Opua Marina, it's from an international port...San Francisco! I can often pick out these boats as they have a lot of equipment on deck, including solar panels, but the Nunki didn't give any clues other than the name of the port written on the stern. Maybe she's been in port for a while.

Other than three crossings across the Pacific by passenger ship, I'm an armchair sailor. I've read Joshua Slocum, Sir Francis Chichester, Robin Graham's Dove, and a dozen others. I've also read biographies by those that didn't make it, including Survive the Savage Sea.  So I look at the yachts berthed in Opua and wonder where they've been - part of the reason for this project.

The Nunki

The Boats of Opua, 8" x 6" oil on board

Unframed, US$125 plus $7 shipping

The Boats of Opua

This is the first oil in a new series titled, The Boats of Opua. As I live a mile from the Opua Marina (Bay of Islands, New Zealand) and I've always been fascinated with boats, I thought this would be a fun series. At 6" x 8", the boat paintings are a little bigger than the 5" x 7" bird series and are more intricate so they're a little higher in price. But like the bird series, my purpose for painting them is to understand how to paint without laboring over unnecessary brush strokes.

Boats of Opua 1

Original oil on gessoed board

8" x 6" unframed

US $125 plus $7 shipping

SOLD