Sandspit

I painted this little oil on location a while ago, in Sandspit. It's just east of Warkworth, New Zealand - my original hometown before I moved to the Bay of Islands. My son, daughter-in-law and three grandkids are moving to New Zealand in a few months. I'm really looking forward to taking the kids to Sandspit to swim, which is where I swam as a kid.  It's safe and shallow.

"Pathless Woods"

Pathless Woods

18" x 36" oil on linen
SOLD

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,

There is a rapture on the lonely shore,

There is society, where non intrudes,

By the deep sea, and music in its roar.

I love not man the less, but Nature more,

From these our interviews, in which I steal

From all I may be, or have been before,

To mingle with the Universe, and feel

What I can never express, yet cannot all conceal.

Lord Byron

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