Friday, February 09, 2007

New Painting at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum

Pictured above is day 4 working on this massive new painting at the Desert Museum. I am painting a female Tarantula hawk wasp in her hunt for an Arizona blond tarantula male as he crosses the desert in search for a female. You can see my specimens at the lower left next to my paint palette and did I mention this painting is 60" x 120"! I have until April 22 to get this one done....and I'm excited about this one.
I've had great crowds and visitors peering in on my creative process and demonstrations. Folks from all over the world, and the response has been awesome! The paintings look great in the gallery space and I'm getting a ton of ooowws and aaahhs...that's what makes me tick, just what the doctor ordered. It feels good to put the show on again after our 3 month vacation.

Above a quick pic of the progress, just 4 days into it, she is coming along nicely. If your wondering about the background, James and I went out into the natural desert here and searched for a saguaro cactus arm skeleton, and to my delight after searching all day, we found the perfect specimen for the painting. I will take a pic of it and blog in a future post. The piece we found also has a something very special about it as I have been informed by the botanists at the Desert Museum. Stay tuned.


4 comments:

Allan Chow said...

WOW!!! You are truly an inspiration to all. Thanks for sharing. Thanks for the comment. One day i'll have the space and guts to work that big. I can't wait to see it finished.

emmellee said...

I'm one of those visitors who oohed and ahhed at your exhibit. I was there last week (2/15/07) and just stood back in awe and admired your talents. I absolutely loved your preying mantis and your painting of the dung beetle. Who ever thought something called a dung beetle could be so beautiful on canvas!!! Viewing this exhibit was the highlight of the visit to the Desert Museum for me. Thanks so much foir your sign telling us to "bug" the artist and for being willing to talk with us about y our works and talent.

emmellee said...

I'm one of those visitors who oohed and ahhed at your exhibit. I was there last week (2/15/07) and just stood back in awe and admired your talents. I absolutely loved your preying mantis and your painting of the dung beetle. Who ever thought something called a dung beetle could be so beautiful on canvas!!! Viewing this exhibit was the highlight of the visit to the Desert Museum for me. Thanks so much for your sign telling us to "bug" the artist and for being willing to talk with us about your works and talent.

Robert A Vollrath said...

What the first two post said, times ten!