Red Knot Series

An Endangered Shorebird.

This will be a series of work that is focused on bringing attention to and hopefully raise funds for the Red Knot. The Red Knot is a small shorebird that is endangered in Canada due to overfishing of the Horseshoe Crab in the Delaware Bay area. This small shorebird flies over 26,000 kms on it's annual round trip from the southern tip of Argentina, to Delaware Bay where it refuels on Horseshoe Crab eggs and then continues north to it's breeding grounds in the Arctic. Afterwards it heads back down to Argentina where it over winters, sometimes flying as much as 8000 kms without stopping. A truly amazing bird!

The piece below is one of two plan companion pieces that will join a much larger beach scene.

Step 1:

Step 2:

Step 3:

Final Step:

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"The Strip"

Size: 10" H X 44" W

Usually the title of the piece comes to me about half way through the completion or sometimes not until the very end. This particular piece I had the name picked even before I started to draw it. The Strip is simply that - a little strip of "wilderness" or habitat that is only two blocks away from our home. Now we live in downtown Ottawa, our nation's capital, so the term wilderness might be stretching it a bit, however we are fortunate enough to also live in an area that is surrounded by the Rideau Canal to the north and the Rideau River to the south.

The inspiration for this piece came from our morning walks with Charlotte , our 4 1/2 year old Saint Bernard. If you are lucky in the early morning hours and late evenings, in addition to the fresh air, you may see a Red Fox running along the frozen shoreline. This strip of habitat provides more than adequate coverage for several red foxes to co-exist with other urban residents and shows the importance of city planning and the appreciation of "green space".

In this piece I have purposely left out the Riverside Hospital, the 4 lane major thoroughfare - Riverside Drive and the transit way that are situated between the Strip and the trees in the background. ( a little bit of artistic licensing ).

The work:

Step 1:

The title of this piece also describes it's shape - it is quite literally a strip of paper - Stonehenge White 245gm - that measures 10" high by 44" wide. This piece will be finished as a mixed medium piece that will incorporate acrylic paint within the graphite.

The above photograph was taken shortly after the initial layout of the piece and shows the brush work that is used as the base of the tree line in the background. This work is done with a 3/4" Wallack's 978 Aqua Gold Watermedia brush held at a vertical position after being dipped in powdered graphite.

Step 2:

The principal trees have been added which gives a standard point of reference across the full range of the piece. Since this piece is based on a real location and photographs are used as reference the principal tress are placed relatively to scale along the "strip" of land.

Step 3:

I've shown this image a little larger than the previous one to try and show some more of the detail and bring out the contrast that I am trying to develop. This is where the patience has to kick in to high gear as the branch work and tree limbs can become quite monotonous. I'm gradually moving from left to right as I'm right-handed and it helps to keep the smudging of the graphite to a minimum. I have also done some additional brush work both on the original tree line in the background as well as the shrub/grass line in the foreground.

Step 4:

The graphite is almost nearing completion - still some detail work to be done and then the little Red Fox to be added. I have added a squirrel's nest and eventually there will be some birds involved as well.

Step 5: ( and a bit extra )

I moved ahead on the graphite and then went straight into the acrylic paint work. I've been using acrylic paint in a couple of my recent pieces to help in presentation of snow. Acrylic paint works well with the graphite and because of it's consistency, extremely small and fine work can be obtained. This work was done with a Wallack's 975 Aqua Gold size # 4 brush.

I have also added the red fox running along the shoreline as well as some crows in the background. The next and final step will be to have this piece framed ; however I have decided to add an "Artist's Remarque" to the matt of the original. This will not only help to distinguish it even more from future prints, but will also allow me to present a somewhat larger image of a red fox. Once this is done the final framed piece and it's remarque will be included on this page.

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"Anticipation"

Size: 36"W X 43"H

This new piece will be the largest one that I have done to date. It has also been a piece that I have wanted to do for some time now and is a relatively new concept that is referred to as "ceiling art". Simply, it is art that can be hung from the ceiling to exemplify the concept of looking up into the sky.

Step 1:

The layout of the piece has been done and I started with the left section simply to try and reduce the problems of smudging. Since this is a large piece, I've also fixed the paper to a hard board to reduce the possibility of creasing the paper. It was difficult enough to try and find a piece of paper at the store this size without creases already in it do to the difficulty of handling pieces this size.

I also started some of the brush work that will represent the clouds behind the birds. There will be two vultures in this piece and perhaps a couple of very small ones soaring much higher.

Step 2:

Further brush work has been done - it's not quite as dark as the photo shows, but it will give you a idea of where I am going with the piece.

Step 3:

The second vulture has been added and quite a lot of the initial layout and first layer of graphite has been put down. Also the desired composition is starting to come together. The area in front of the second vulture will be left white or cloudless to give the bird an area to "fly" into.

Step 4:

More work has been done and substantial graphite has been layered on. It's starting to become more difficult to stop the smudging. I've been working from each of the four corners to try and reduce the problem.

Step 5: The Final Step

This is the final piece and what has been taken to the scanners. Once the scan is obtained I'll add an image here as well as to my gallery. This piece will be entered in the 2009 Art for Conservation competition.

The Final Image: