The Frost Hart

As we all know, AI art is taking over the graphic art world. More people are using their own AI created art when purchasing items from places like Zazzle and Cafepress. And as one wise artist on the Zazzle forums stated, AI isn't going away. The genie is not going to be put back in the bottle, sooooo...those of us who have been creating art for years just have to get back to creating art for our own enjoyment. Granted this doesn't help pay the bills, but that's just how it is.

This was when I began to realize that over the years I had begun to loose my love for art because for so long I've been concerned with "what will sell?" A while back I switched from doing drawings and paintings with paints/pencils and paper/canvas to digital painting because it was far easier to create digital art and upload that to Zazzle and CafePress than trying to get a good clear picture of my physical art. In fact I've been doing digital art for so long that my old fashioned drawing skills have become rusty. VERY rusty.

As a way to reconnect with the creativity I had left behind, I've taken up adult coloring. For my birthday I bought myself a new set of Prismacolor Premier pencils and some Woodland Creatures themed coloring books by a Christian company called Journey & Friends Creations. At some point I will likely want to create my own coloring pages using the photographs I've taken in Yellowstone, but for now while I'm relearning I'm more than happy to color the beautiful images in the Woodland Creatures series.

Cut here for length and images: ( Read more... )

One of the many scenic places in Yellowstone.
( Read more... )

While we were visiting Yellowstone this past spring we observed this grizzly bear driving the heron away from its nest and devouring the eggs. Since the bear had just come out of hibernation and was quite hungry, the eggs were a great find, but it was unfortunate for the heron.



Nature can often be brutal.

We were on our way to the grocery store when we came across a pair of turkeys who were leading their poults across the road. Of course we stopped and waited until they were all safely across.

The move is complete and we're back online. We found a charming little place in the woods, north of Yellowstone. We have all sorts of wildlife roaming the area around us (including a couple of mountain lions, which I admit I find a bit unnerving).

There is a family of whitetail does and fawns who pass by our home multiple times a day. In fact, one of the does has been known to peep through the window of the ground floor bathroom.

Here is one of the fawns who has agreed to pose for a future painting.

It looks like my morning walks are on hold since the sidewalks and paths are covered with knee-deep snow. Walking to the corner store for a bottle of orange juice earlier today was something of an ordeal.

Oh well. Thank goodness for the stationary bike. Riding it isn't as enjoyable as going out for a walk, but at least it's a form of exercise.

This is a sad week in the animal world. Sudan, the last male Northern White Rhino has died.


https://nyti.ms/2GNbT7w



Some excerpts from the article;

“This is a creature that didn’t fail in evolution,” said Thomas Hildebrandt, head of reproduction management at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin and one of the project’s leaders. “It’s in this situation because of us.”


“Sudan is an extreme symbol of human disregard for nature,” said Jan Stejskal, director of international projects at the Dvur Kralove Zoo in the Czech Republic, where Sudan spent most of his life. “He survived extinction of his kind in the wild only thanks to living in a zoo.”


What happened to the dinosaurs and the mammoths was natural selection, but what has happened to the white rhino and other recently lost species should never have been allowed to occur.

Since finishing my painting of the mallard ducks, I've spent time over the past weeks going over my reference photos while trying to decide on my next subject. I've chosen a pair of Canadian Geese in flight. Today I'm working on blocking in the image. Tomorrow I should be able to start the fun part; detailing.

This first painting of 2010. Images featuring this mallard pair will soon by available on CafePress and Zazzle.