Prints are available from the Corners Gallery, please contact them directly to order prints or inquire about prices and shipping.

Title:  “Sand Dune Treasures” - Piping Plovers Dimensions:  13 3/8” W X 11 3/8” H Original drawing: Graphite and pastels on Stonehenge Etching Paper Reproduction: Giclee print, the highest quality digital reproduction on acid free paper with archival inks Signed and Numbered Limited Edition of 250 reproductions Original work is in a private collection.

“SAND DUNE TREASURES” (Piping Plovers) (Graphite and pastels on Stonehenge etching paper) was commissioned by long time good friends as a surprise 40^th birthday gift from husband to wife. She was not as enthusiastic about bird watching as he, but enjoyed the activity when he invited her to join him.  She discovered piping plovers on her own and identified them herself, making the occasion a treasured one for them both.  Piping Plovers are severely endangered and are protected by the Endangered Species Act. They nest on sand beaches which are often traversed by many people and dune buggies.  Nesting areas are now fenced off from human and vehicle traffic and monitored by such environmental organizations as the Nature Conservancy and local Audubon Societies.  These beautiful shorebirds are affected by storms and high tides, which can wash over nests and drown the eggs or nestlings, as well as by gull predation and dogs running off-leash into protected habitat.  The original drawing was rendered in graphite and pastels on Stonehenge etching paper. It depicts a pair of piping plovers, one of which is preparing to take over incubation duty so its mate can stretch and feed.

 

Title:  “Emergence” – Northern Cardinal Dimensions:  14.5” W X 10” H Original drawing: Pastels on Stonehenge Etching Paper Reproduction: Giclee print – highest quality digital reproduction on acid free paper with archival inks Signed and Numbered Limited Edition of 250 reproductions         Original work is in a private collection.

 “EMERGENCE” (Northern Cardinal) (Pastels on Stonehenge etching paper) was inspired by Northern Cardinals perching in an ice-storm bent shad bush (Amelanchior canadensis), which continues to blossom and bear fruit under our kitchen window. I exhibited a show titled “Breaking Free” for which I requested that my framer make the frames before I made the pictures. The only requirement was that none of the frames be constructed with 90 degree angle and if constructing such a frame meant the corners could not meet, then I planned to create an image that escaped the frame entirely. The original frame for which I created “Emergence” had flecks of red on a simple gold frame constructed of many small mosaic rectangles of molding. The general shape of the finished frame was an angular oval with stair-step corners. The shadbush branch emerged from a nebulous haze of green, becoming more focused as it crossed the page, until the male cardinal perched like an exclamation point at the end of the composition of blossoms. I added dark red lines to demark emerging rectangles of increasingly dark green to mimic the construction of the frame, drawing the focus of the red bird to the foreground.

Title:  “Youngbloods” – Young Sandhill  Cranes Dimensions:  12 ¾” W X 9 ¾” H Original drawing: Pastels on Stonehenge Etching Paper Reproduction: Giclee print – highest quality digital reproduction on acid free paper with archival inks Signed and Numbered Limited Edition of 250 reproductions         The original work resides in the John and Alice Woodson Forester Miniature Collection titled Natural Wonders at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, WI.

“YOUNGBLOODS” (Sandhill Cranes) (Pastels on Stonehenge etching paper) resulted from my visit to the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, Wisconsin, sponsored by the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum of Wausau, WI. Pairs of every species of crane in the world are displayed in natural habitats and captive breeding takes place to help increase the population of some of the most endangered cranes. When LYWAM invited its “Birds in Art” artists to donate a painting or sculpture to the newly established John and Alice Woodson Forester Miniature Collection, I drew a trio of adolescent Sandhill Cranes, preening after bathing in wading pools.  “Lanky beauties, their juvenile plumage all soft in pastel grays and umbers and siennas. Youngbloods. The hope for the future.”  I purposefully allowed two of the cranes to escape from the confines of my artistic rectangle.

Title:  “Tuxedo Junction” – Razorbill Auks Dimensions:  10” W X 10” H Original drawing: Pastels on Arches Watercolor Paper Reproduction: Giclee print – highest quality digital reproduction on acid free paper with archival inks Signed and Numbered Limited Edition of 50 reproductions         Original work is in the artist’s collection.

“TUXEDO JUNCTION” (Razorbill Auks) (Graphite and pastels on Arches watercolor paper) was inspired by a month-long visit to Great Island, a major seabird breeding colony off  the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland.  The work took two years to complete. After composing the dramatic focal group of 5 Razorbills, I set them aside to think about how I would present them in the scheme of a larger painting.  Using tracing paper, I created layers of sketches of their island habitat, but still didn’t find the right arrangement to suit me.  I moved tracing paper Razorbills around in the composition until I had to give up. Sometimes such works must be set aside until the mind is clear to resolve a compositional boondoggle. When that revelation came, the work was finished in two months! It has become one of my signature works and one of the largest – measuring 2’X 4’.

Title:  “Wild Black Cherry” – Pileated Woodpecker Dimensions:  10” W X 17” H Original drawing: Graphite and pastels on Stonehenge Etching Paper Reproduction: Giclee print – highest quality digital reproduction on acid free paper with archival inks Signed and Numbered Limited Edition of 200 reproductions         Original work is in a private collection.

“WILD BLACK CHERRY” (Pileated Woodpecker) (Graphite and pastels on Stonehenge etching paper)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Title:  “Prospecting for New Homes Under an Old Relic” – Atlantic Puffins Dimensions:  24” W X 17.5” H Original drawing: Graphite, pastels and watercolor on Stonehenge Etching Paper Reproduction: Signed and Numbered Limited Edition of 500 reproductions         Original work is in a private collection.

“PROSPECTING FOR NEW HOMES UNDER AN OLD RELIC” (Atlantic Puffins) (Graphite, pastels and watercolor on Stonehenge etching paper) Observing birds alive in their natural, untrammeled environment inspires the most revealing, the most genuine interpretation of their lives in art. To accurately depict Fratercula arctica, I spent a month living on an island in the north Atlantic, with 300,000 nesting Atlantic Puffins, sketching and taking extensive notes. It was thrilling beyond description to observe young Puffins -- newly paired and on land for the first time in four years -- prospecting for their first nest site to which they would return for many years.

 

Prints are available from the Corners Gallery, please contact them directly to order prints or inquire about prices and shipping.