Trumpeter Swans, Martindale Flats

Trumpeter Swans, Martindale Flats, acrylic on panel. 12x16 $350 unframed, $450 framed. 5x7 cards available. Trumpeter Swans overwinter on the agricultural fields and wetland near our home and are a common feature of winter birding trips. Winter wet also makes for glorious mud and puddles, I love painting all three!

Young Great Horned Owls in Bigleaf Maple

Young Great Horned Owls in a Bigleaf Maple, 12x24 Acrylic Painting, $525. This painting of two young Great Horned Owls was from a scene in our backyard a few years ago. All spring and summer the young were active and visible most days. The magnificent tree they often perched in is now gone, the victim of summer droughts.

Columbia Spotted Frog and Water Striders

12x16 Acrylic painting SOLD. Columbia Spotted Frogs often sit on the bottom of ponds and small pools as "sit and wait" predators. In this painting several of our largest water striders (Limnoporus notabilis) are skimming the surface of the pond. Loved the challenges of painting water reflecting several colours and subjects on both the surface and the bottom of the pond.

"Serengeti Cleanup" Wildebeast and Dung Beetle

12X16 Acryilic painting. $350 unframed $450 framed. Our visit to the Serengeti during the Wildebeast migration was an unforgettable experience. Following the massive heards were Dung Beetles, flying like bullets at waist height and dropping down to fresh dung shortly after it was deposited. Working from photos we took in Tanzania I did this painting expecting to easily identify the species of Dung Beetle, unaware that the Seregenti has dozens of species and many of them are not easily identified!

Taking Evasive Action: American Lappet Moth and Common Nighthawk.

The concept for this painting has been in my head for some time, and I finally started to work on it when my wife, Leah signed our family up for a booth of artwork at the joint meeting of the American Entomology Society, the Canadian Entomological Society and the B.C. Entomology Society that will take place in November 2022 in Vancouver, BC. The theme of the meeting is Entomology as Inspiration: Insects through art, science, and culture (https://entsoc.org/events/annual-meeting). Male Lappet Moths (Phyllodesma americana) are much better fliers than the heavy-bodied females and often fly great distances searching for a female, making them vulnerable to aerial predators such as Nighthawks. 12x16 acrylic painting. SOLD. 5x7 cards available

"Early Evening, Alate Evening: Pacific Dampwood Termites".

 

12x16 acrylic painting.  SOLD

One of the hallmarks of the last weeks of August and the first weeks of September here on the south coast of BC is the evening flight of flying termites at dusk.  As a child, we called these "Oh no bugs" because their appearance on an August evening meant that there were only two weeks left of summer holidays and we would be soon going back to school.   The  mass eruption of these fatty, slow-flying insects just before dusk means a bonanza for insect-eating animals and it meant for great bird and bat watching opportunities.   The winged males and females, called alates emerge en masse to swamp the appetites of the numerous predators that come out to eat them.   My intent in this painting is to depict the jewel-like fluttering flight of the termites as they leave their colonies and head out to mate.

Tiny, but fierce....

Northern Pygmy-Owl in Arbutus.  Acrylic Painting.  SOLD

Northern Pygmy-Owl records from our place are commonest in the fall months, presumably when young birds are dispersing.  This bird was found in an Arbutus tree beside the pond last September.  They are fun to paint because of their tiny size coupled with their apparent ferocity.