My Montana Vacation

For many many years, Jason and I had been talking about going to Montana. Since I was turning 40 in June, I figured that this would be a great reason to go, so I went and got those tickets! I am in love with this state! If you've kept up with this blog, you know that I went last year with my mom to a working cattle ranch. This time, Jason and I went outside of Missoula and visited Glacier National Park while we were there. So beautiful. It's a shame I don't ski. If I did, there would be no reason NOT to move here.

Taken outside of Missoula at about 9:30 at night.

The first night we were there, we took a little critter cruise outside of Missoula. The summer solstice is quickly approaching making it light out til about 10pm. Love it. We drove around and saw 3 little skinny deer. We were on an Indian Reservation and I didn't know, but they have their own laws and such. In fact, we saw a cop car that said "Tribal Police" on it. Hmmmmm.

Sunset June 4th 2011

The next day we got up and drove to Hungry Horse. On the way we saw Flathead lake, the largest lake in the Western half of the US. It was awesome with those snow covered mountains. Montana is also full of casinos, with a slot machine in every gas station as well as tons of taco places. My favorite was called the MexExpress: 5 tacos for 5 bucks! whoo hoo!

Animal Bridge

To avoid high impact collisions between vehicles and critters, they have built this "Animal Bridge" which allows the animals to cross without the threat of having being hit. This was also on the Indian Reservation so the the sign says "Animal Bridge" in both English and Salish.

Mountains near the bottom of Flathead Lake

Seriously, can you imagine waking up in the morning and this is the first thing you see out your bedroom window? I'd be forever happy.

One of the many gateways into Glacier National Park

We made the trek all the way up to GNP on a tip that given to us about the critters. Apparently they've had so much snow in the mountain tops that the animals are all condensed and coming down to feed on the new grass. And that the odds of us seeing something were great indeed. It was another 2 hours away from Hungry Horse but so worth it. The scenery is amazing!!! The Blackfeet are the primary tribe in this area. And we crossed the continental divide, which is pretty awe inspiring in itself.

Bighorn sheep (females and young)

Mama Grizzly with 2 cubs

(the black dots in the center)

Jason at the base of Sherburn Lake inside GNP

While we were at GNP, we saw whitetail deer, bighorn sheep, grizzly bears, elk, Indian (wild) horses and on the way home, 2 black bears. It felt more like the beginning of April instead of June temperature wise. And lots of snow.

The view from the deck at the Glacier Park Inn owned by Mary and Mark Robertson.

Wow. This place was recommended from a friend of mine and I cannot tell you how wonderful it is. M & M are some of the nicest people you'll come across and her granola kicks ass! (she made us breakfast on Sunday morning). They very into photographing bears, especially the Spirit Bear of British Columbia. http://www.glacierparkinn.com

Swan Mountains view from Condon Montana



The rest of the vacation was spent in Condon Montana where we did some fishing and some horseback riding. I would have love to gone hiking, but the bears are thick this time of year and what can I say, I'm an east coast girl who is very afraid of Grizzlies! I did have bear spray, but honestly, it did not give me piece of mind.

Mission Mountains from Condon MontanaJason caught a Cut Throat Trout!




Bald Eagle flies over Clearwater Lake



Whitetail in the bush

The critter cruises were full of deer sightings and some were nice enough to stop, look back and let me get a nice photo op!

Overall, it was a great way to ring in my 40th year. And we're already talking plans about going next year!! I *heart* Montana

Please Vote for Me!

You can now go to the Dog Art Today blog http://dreamdogsart.typepad.com/ and look at all the entries for the Mutt Lynch Winery label contest. I would so appreciate it if you were to vote for my piece:

Sugar's Busy Day

8x10 black watercolor

It's number 72 on the list, so you don't have to go through scores of names :)

On another note, I got the rejection email that I will not be participating in the Rose Kennedy Greenway art fairs and I have a feeling Somerville Art Beat doesn't look good either as they haven't cashed my check yet. Hmmm. Was it something I said? Some of these shows can be a crap shoot, and always a lot of hard work, but I feel I need to get out there and do something. Keep making art, yea, that's what I'll do :)

This past weekend, J and I took a ride out to upstate NY. We went to the Catskills and headed out to see his niece who is studying at Cornell. When he was fishing, I was birding. Late May and early June is by far the BEST time to bird. There are a lot of transitions going on including migrates flying through, and lots of year-rounders and mating and displaying. Not to mention, the bugs are out and that always means the birds are out.

Male Scarlet Tanager

This guy is by far one of my favorites. I've read that they can be very difficult to see as they prefer the high canopies of trees. I have seen them lower however, and this past weekend I was honored to spot a male in the trees right above my head. These little red birds seem even more vibrant when set against a background of new green leaves that the woods are full of right now. Love them. If I'm out in the woods and hear one, I will go great lengths to seek him out. I can watch them forever. Their song is like a robin's, but a little more "buzzy" and the call is more of a "chip-banggg chip-banggg". You can find out more and listen to them here: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/scarlet_tanager/id

Art Online

So I get emails from Dog Art Today, a great blog dedicated to... Dog Art! http://dreamdogsart.typepad.com/ They are holding their 3rd annual wine label competition for the Mutt Lynch Winery and this year's theme was "naughty" Aww! I asked my friend T, who's got a goofy white boxer named Sugar, if she had any photos of Sugar being "naughty". She sent me some and here are my interpretations:

Sugar's busy day

8x10 inch watercolor

Sugar's Flower

5x7 inch

watercolor with Prismacolor pencils

You're only allowed one entry per person and because my black and whites tend to get more response out of people, Sugar's Busy Day is my entry. Fingers are crossed!!!

Lil Silver Pug

5x7 inch

Black watercolor and a silver Prismacolor pencil

So like I said, I'm finding that my black n' whites are getting more attention than my color pieces. I'm all about it. I've been working with black watercolor for a couple of years now. I started doing black and whites with some breeds, like pugs, that I already had a lot of color paintings of and wanted to do something a little different. I've done a couple of commissions this way too. I think black and white definitely creates more of a dramatic effect. I think the dog in Lil Silver Pug looks more regal ... or even old timey because of the black and white. Stay tuned for more!

???

Does anyone know what artist created this image? I found it on a blog, LOVE IT but there was no reference to the artist. I found the image for sale on Ebay as well and they only listed it as a Brazilian artist... hmmmmm. Anyway, if anyone knows please tell me! Thanks.

So why do you paint animals?

Kitty on a Tractor

2006

8x10 inch watercolor and prismacolor pencils

This past Easter, I was hanging out at my parents house. A lovely time, had brunch at the Georgetown Country Club with my parents and brothers and then later did some horseback riding. I spent the rest of the afternoon at my folks....

A while ago I did a painting for my dad of the Gate A entrance to Fenway Park. I used someone else's photo, hence the reason why you won't see it here. But my dad, God Bless him, was looking at it on Easter (it hangs on the wall with all the other paintings that I've done for him) and says "You know Chris, I really like this painting." and my mom chirps in " Yeah, you should do more paintings of Fenway and sell them!"

Sigh.

I know they mean well, and every one around me would love to see me succeed. The fact is, I paint animals. I like to paint things from nature as well and have been trying different mediums as well. But it's true, I love the personality that comes through in each painting of the animal. Who knows you better than your dog? No one. Who loves you more than your cat? Well, maybe your spouse might... but.. When I meet with a client who just lost their beloved dog or cat and knowing that I can mortalize that relationship somehow with a portrait, it makes me feel better. It allows me to connect with person with my art.

I've always loved animals. Growing up I had horses, dogs and cats. The occasional mouse, gerbil and parakeet were thrown in the mix too. Ask my 2 brothers or my sister (who has 4 cats of her own - all rescues!) how my house was growing up. When I drew as a kid, it was always animals. Later on when in art school and during the high tide of censorship (marched in DC when they pulled the Maplethorpe exhibit out of the Corcoran Gallery of Art), there was so much going on with SHOCKING people. (remember "Piss Christ"?http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piss_Christ) It seemed in my 18 year old eyes that people were loosing what art was and what it supposed to be and spending more time just shocking people. Especially my class mates at school.

What is art? I believe that a successful piece of art is something that you can look at, it evokes an emotion inside of you, you walk away.....sometimes the emotion is so strong, you need to go back and look at it again. Now, if you know me personally, I'm never one who goes out of their way to piss someone off, or disgust them. More, like a person who wants to cheer you up or make you laugh...

I continued to paint things that I loved. Blooming trees off the rooftop of my dorm, still lifes with flowers and .. animals. You can do so much emotion with those big brown eyes. I love creating a flowing mane or Collie's ruff with watercolor brushes. I love the wrinkles on a pug's head. Cat's eyes: I could go on forever.

Animal art has been around for ages. Royalty used to have their dog's portraits painted all the time. And your animals are such comfort givers, I believe that the art can do the same. So I will continue to paint animals. Enter contests, shows and continue to be a part of something that has been around since the 16th century.

Sorry mom.

New Art works

I wish I had more to show you. There's only so much time.

"Toupee Kitten"

5x7 inch

watercolor and Prismacolor pencils

"Orange Kitten II"

8x10 inch

watercolor and Prismacolor pencil

"Doggie Butt"

8x10 inch

watercolor and Prismacolor pencils

"Long Haired Daschund"

8x10 inch

watercolor and Prismacolor pencils

"4 Bowls, 3 Kittens"

5x10 inch

black watercolor and Prismacolor pencils

All works are for sale. Feel free to contact me for pricing or if you'd like to get your own pet's portrait done. Thanks for looking!

It's all in the eyes....

So the other night Jason and I watched Bambi. I haven't seen this movie up to now, and that's probably a good thing because as I child, I may have been deeply effected ... in the incorrect way. Dating a hunter and being an environmentalist and doing many field studies on the whitetail I could go on and on all the incorrect things about this movie. Not to mention the amount of destruction the Disney has done on the everglades of Florida (I'm sure the alligators and whooping cranes are tearing up just as Bambi did when his mom died) but I digress.....

I want to talk about the great thing about this movie... the animation.

Bambi was based on a an Austrian book "Bambi, A Life In the Woods". The book (which I would love to have a copy) was about a year in the life of a Roe deer. Disney changed it to a whitetail as more Americans are familiar with that kind. This film was made in 1942. 1942!!! We officially were out of the Great Depression, but I'm sure there wasn't a whole bunch running to the picture shows at that time. In fact, Bambi didn't do very well at the box office because of the financial situation of the country. But in any regards, the animation was just lovely. Look at the eyes of these characters! Just melts your heart. The eyes have it. Just compare the pictures of Bambi and Thumper above to the ones below.

Bright eyes in awe of a butterfly! Eyes squeezed shut in anticipation of a crash while the other's is rolled back, almost terror. Yes the whole facial expression is there!

Back in the days of The Art Institute of Boston, I took a class for children's book illustration. We had an assignment where you were to take a stick figure's face and try to get as many expressions as you can. Something like this (I just did this one before I started writing):

Isn't it amazing to what a few simple lines can represent? Happiness, wonder, sadness, indifference, anger, extreme anger!, awe inspiring, eerie (what the hell was that I just heard?). The third one down in the first column is the look my mom would give us when she found us still up playing and giggling at 1 in the morning. That's when I knew she was pissed! Bug eyed and angry as hell! LOL.. then leering, boredom, very happy, laughing, chewing lunch? lol. and exasperated.

So here are some portraits I have done of friends pets. Mind you, both of these animals have crossed that rainbow bridge. I may have made the eyes a little sadder because of this reason.... It's pulling on the heartstrings. My friend Cathy looked at the Reba picture and when I had said that Reba is no longer, she actually got emotional herself. It's all in the eyes.......

Reba

8x10 inch

watercolor, colored pencil

Echo's Birthday

8x10 inch

watercolor and colored pencil

Art & Nature

Orange Kitten 2009

5x7 inch watercolor and colored pencil

Art and nature are definately 2 of my favorite things so in this post we're going to touch on both. First, though, I'm still trying to figure out to take high quality pictures with my iPhone. I must admit, I miss my old camera. If any of you have a website for some tips on how to get some great photos please let me know in the comments section. I think I may go the duct tape route with the old camera (the back 'door' where the film goes in won't click shut).

Orange Kitten 2011

8x10 inch watercolor and colored pencil

Speaking of pictures I have a STACK of photos that I constantly pull from and paint from. Some time ago, my friend had recieved a pair of kittens. I went over and took about a roll of film of these sweeties playing and tumbling over each other. Above is 2 paintings of the same kitten. I like to look at the comparison between the two and my goodness, much richer color and more saturation with the latest 2011 kitten. Same kind of paper and materials used too. Sometimes I think I'm not growing as an artist (Bear with me - I am my own worst critic) and then I look at my paintings side by side... What do you think?

WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES

Deer Causalty at Chester
February 2011

Dead Deer March 2011

Jason and I spend a lot of time walking in the woods and we came across these scenes at 2 different locations. The first was at Chester. From the tracks and blood in the snow, it seems that this deer was pushed off the packed snow track and into the 2 foot snow where it wasn't able to move as freely and then was attacked and cosumed by a pack of coyotes. The second was in Weston and from what we could tell, this deer (about 20 yards from the road) was probably hit by a car, made it into the woods and died. Then, coyotes came and took care of the rest. Nature isn't pretty all the time (just look at Japan right now) and I think as more time goes by the more we become disconnected with it. I try not to feel bad for these deer, I can't. It's nature and I have no control over it. I think I should do an art project about this....