Red Knot Companion 2

Here are the first two stages of the second companion piece that will go with the larger beach scene.

Red Tailed Hawk nest.

I spotted this nest when we were out for a walk the other day ( actually the Hike for Hospice ) and I went back today to try and figure out who was at home. Check it out - I think it's a Red Tailed Hawk.

You can just see its beak and a bit of colour. The nest is situated quite high in a tree but fortunately beside a ravine so I am almost level with the nest - hopefully I'll be able to get some more photos before the new foliage completely hides the nest from view.

Final Step of first companion piece

This is the final step for the first of two companion pieces. This series is to help bring attention to the endangered Red Knot.  The Red Knot as mentioned is truly an amazing bird with its annual migratory flight, however it's population has dropped significantly due to overfishing of the Horseshoe Crab in the Delaware Bay area. The Red Knot stops at Delaware Bay on its route north to refuel on Horseshoe Crab eggs before it continues north to its Arctic breeding grounds. Without this vital source of food to re-energize, the Red Knot will not make the trip to the breeding grounds.

Step 3 of the Red Knot companion piece.

Here is the third step - the eye has just been finished and now it's time to work on a bit of the beach sand.

Red Knot - an endangered Canadian shorebird

Another new piece - this will become a "Companion" piece to a larger scene - this is a Red Knot - an endangered shorebird that breeds in the Canadian Arctic and winters on the southern most tip of Argentina. They stock up on Horseshoe Crab eggs in the Delaware Bay before returning to the Arctic making their annual roundtrip flight of 26,000 kms one of the longest of any bird species.


 Below is the first step:

Here is a second step - a few hours later

Too Big to Hide - Step two

Working from left to right since I'm right-handed I've started to fill in the back ground . The concept of this piece is to try to demonstrate the way that these beautiful animals can blend into their surroundings, however as hard as they try sometimes they just can't hide, primarily due to their sheer size.

Bull Moose can weigh up to 750 kgs or roughly 1500 lbs and their antlers can span 5 to 6 feet across. Moose are also extremely active foragers since a full grown adult needs to consume approximately 9500 calories per day to maintain it's weight.

Too Big to Hide

Started a new piece last Friday and worked quite a bit on the Moose.

Overall the piece is smaller than what I have been working on - it will roughly be 8" X 20" when it is done. The moose is only 3" X 4" however there is probably about 5 hours of layering into it so far.

I'll start working on the main trees now and gradually fill in the background. This piece is from one of my favourite moose photos that I have taken.