Teton National Park

I am inspired by beautiful nature. How can you not be? The complexity and the constant changes of light makes it challenging to paint plein air. I try to simplify and capture what is exciting as soon as it appears, the next minute it will be gone.

These paintings are from my most recent plein air workshop with Jim Wilcox. A very knowledgeable and inspiring teacher.



Jackson lake, with the Yellowstone national park in the background.

Owls

I like to share my most recent owl drawings from my visits at the California Academy of Sciences. I spent many hours in their science lab studying these beautiful taxidermy mounted owls. It was a wonderful experience, and I will be back to do more illustrations in the fall.



This is a Barn Owl. The barn owl can hunt in complete darkness because of its excellent hearing. The disk shaped face attracts the sounds to the ears, that are located behind the eyes. The ears are assymmetrically placed to capture sound from various direction. The barn owl can also identify very complexe sounds and associated them with certain prey.




A Great Horned Owl. Also a fierce hunter and as the other owls have great hearing. The cat like ears are not ears, these are just extended feathers. The feathers are so soft and they muffle the sound so that the owl can silently approach the prey.

The final drawing! My next step is to use these studies in a painting..

A Walk in the Park

After a day of drawing it felt good to take a walk in the park...


The state flower of California is a poppy..


There was not much to do in the park..

So I walked on the beach instead..

Teamwork

Wind and wings.

This one needs explanation: This is the entrance to Fort Mason in San Francisco, and where I take improv classes. Improv is a wonderful way to work on teamwork skills.

In My Peaceful Garden...

...flowers...

..but then suddenly there was a busy bee...

..very busy..

..amazing!...Back to the flowers..

On My Way..

..to the coffee shop this morning..

..I was surprised to see that furs, hats and manual turning signals are back in fashion!

Direction

A sense of direction.

Together

A walk on the beach to gather pieces of inspiration and find peace of mind, the theme is TOGETHER.