Cutest Deer Picture Ever!

Deer are one of my most favorite animals. I've loved them since I first saw Bambi as a child. I drew a million pictures of them as a child with anything I could get my hands on, crayons, chalk, whatever. So, I naturally have "cute deer" radar. I love pictures of cute deer, especially fawns, so when I saw this I just went nuts. OMG! I've seen a lot of cute deer pictures but this has to be one of the cutest fawn pictures I have ever seen. Don't you just want to grab it and hug it?!


I came across this image on a FaceBook post. Unfortunately, as is the way with Facebook, few people who share images bother to say where they got them, or give credit to the artist or photographer. I would really like to know who took this picture so I can give them credit. If you have any idea who the photographer is, please let me know!

Siberian Tiger Painting

Another mini tiger study I'm doing. I don't normally like to post works in progress but that's usually because, the way I paint, my WIPs don't look like anything until they're nearly complete. But in this case I think you can pretty much tell where the painting's going even though it's far from finished. It's quite obviously a tiger (Siberian) in the snow.

Stalking Siberian Tiger Study - WIP
5"x7" oil on Gessobord

This is from a photo I took when I went to a wildlife photography workshop with Paul Burwell at the Triple D Game Farm a few years ago. This is a really great experience if you ever get the chance to go. I took thousands of pictures of animals in natural settings, including tigers, wolves, lynx, bobcats, coyotes, foxes, cougars, black bears, otters, and raccoons. I have enough reference to keep me painting for a few years.

I'd like to go back again soon, though, for the winter photography workshop when they have subjects such as snow leopards and arctic fox in the snow! Wouldn't that be wonderful!? But, ugh, Montana in winter?? Yikes! I'm a wimp. I admit that sounds miserable! But it would be worth it.

But I digress. Back to the tiger painting. I love this particular shot because of the intensity and the pose. He's stalking. He's focused. He looks like he's spotted you, the viewer, and now you're his target. The curves of his body, the power of his muscles are exciting. The lighting is also dramatic. (Btw, at Triple D you gotta get up at 5:30AM for that morning lighting! Be prepared!)

When I first decided to paint this image I was toying with the idea of making him a white tiger in yellow grass, instead of a yellow tiger in white snow. What would you think of that?

Check back soon to see the finished painting!

Foal in Flowers Painting

Here's a quick little study, a mini painting, I finished recently of a foal standing in a field of yellow flowers. I know the pose is a little typical, but it was a good opportunity for me to just refresh my memory of horse anatomy. I think the roundness of a foal's belly and rump, and curves of its back, neck, and face are what make a foal so cute. This pose shows off all those adorable features.

Foal in Flowers Study
6"x6" oil on Gessobord

Saving Money on Art Supplies

Ok, I'm working on a lot of small "studies" lately, which means many wet paintings at one time. I hang larger paintings on my studio walls to dry, but I don't want to tack up a dozen mini paintings. So what do I do with all these works in progress while they dry?

I was looking online for vertical art storage units and the Safco Art Rack came up a lot.


But, wow, almost $400 for what's basically a box with dividers? That seemed a little on the expensive side for what it was.

Sure, I could probably make a box myself with $20 worth of materials from Home Depot. But, frankly, I'm not very handy that way. I'd more likely staple my thumb to the floor than create anything useful.

So I started looking around for other ideas. Certainly there are other storage units that are not specifically geared toward art that would serve the purpose, aren't there? Yes, there are. You just have to think a little outside the box.

Good old Office Max has a variety of vertical and horizontal letter and folder organizers that work great for smaller paintings. This is what I picked up for only $15:


Much better than $400!

Of course, this only works well for smaller paintings. The paintings shown there range in size from 5"x7" to 8"x10". But I'd imagine there are other solutions out there for larger paintings. If you know of one, share it with me!

My Past Life

For anyone curious about what my "day job" was before I recently lost that job when the company shut down in April, here it is.




This is what side-tracked me from my wildlife art years ago. I worked doing computer art for video game companies, most recently a studio called Zipper Interactive, owned by Sony. I modeled environments in a software program called Maya. So when you're running around in a video game, the streets and buildings you run through may have been modeled by me.

Unfortunately, Sony decided to close down the Zipper studio and about 100 people lost their jobs.

I have mixed feelings about this. In the early years I really enjoyed working on video games. I was, after all, still ding art. It was fun and I made good money. In later years, though, I longed to get back to my wildlife art.

The company shutting down left me in a state of mixed emotions. Concern about losing my steady income and benefits. Sympathy for those who lost their jobs. Sadness from knowing I'll never work with some of those talented, funny, and inspiring people again. Joy at my new-found freedom. Excitement about the possibilities. Fear of an unknown future.

I'm trying to view this as an opportunity, not a tragedy. The call of the wild has been echoing in the back of my mind for many years. Maybe this is what I needed to heed that call.

Learn Wildlife For Kids - Color Book Fun

A good way to get kids interested in learning is, obviously, to make it fun. To get kids interested in learning about wildlife, and wildlife art, I thought it might be fun for them to color some wildlife art images. This will encourage them to take a closer look at the animals than they might do otherwise. When coloring in an image the child will need to observe more closely the animal's color, anatomy, and habitat.

Here's one of my deer paintings, Startled, a picture of two whitetail deer running in the snow. I've converted to a line drawing so kids can color it in for fun.

Click on the image to see a larger version. Then right-click on the larger image and select "save image as..." to save it to your hard drive. You can then print it out and your child can color it in with crayons, colored pencil, or whatever he/she likes. If your printer can handle it, you might even try printing it out on watercolor paper so your child can explore painting as well.



Here is the original full-color painting your child can use for reference. He/she can try to match my colors or explore new colors. Try coloring several pages, each with a different color theme. Try to be realistic or go wild! But, most of all, have fun!



Let me know if your child enjoys this and I'll post more in the future.

Whitetail Deer and Waterfall Painting

I recently finished this painting of a whitetail doe and buck walking along a stream with a small waterfall, titled 'Follow Me'. This is a little different from my usual more realistic style. I wanted it to be a little more painterly with softer colors so it had an almost romantic fantasy feel to it. Even though deer may not really fall in love I wanted this painting to have the feel of romantic lovers wandering off to be alone together.

Follow Me
18"x24 oil on canvas

Water is not easy to paint. I've had a hard time painting calm water before so I thought the flowing water here would be even more difficult. Actually, it turned out to be easier. With moving water you don't have to worry about all the ripples and how they affect reflections like you do with calm water. The waterfall actually turned out to be quite fun to paint.

I plan to do some more waterfall with wildlife paintings in the future. What other wildlife subjects would you like to next to a waterfall? Bears? Otters? What else can you think of?