Showing posts with label Gambels Quail. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gambels Quail. Show all posts

Sunday, September 27, 2020

King of the Whole Wide World

King of the Whole Wide World: Gambel's Quail is my latest painting.

It also happens to be the title of a song by Elvis Presley that he sang in his movie, Kid Galahad. I always liked the title, tho' and somehow it seemed appropriate for a male quail calling out to the world.

Size is 08" x 10" / 20cm x 25cm, acrylic on panel. I think I already have a buyer for it!!

male Gambels' quail painting



Tuesday, June 25, 2019

Diorama Doings


Work continues on the diorama I'm making for the Hi Desert Nature Museum in Yucca Valley, CA. Unfortunately, the process of trying to sell our house and buy a mobile home has greatly slowed me down, which is quite frustrating. But I work as best I can. It's hard, too when I'm airbrushing some vegetation -- I have to do it in the garage, and it's been around 100°F / 39C lately. That's when I find out how much I can sweat!!

The diorama isn't quite finished yet, but here's how it looks so far. The glass front is in place -- sorry about the reflections!

Joshua Tree National Park, diorama,museum,taxidermy,desert animals, coyote, Gambels quail, painted backdrop
 

Friday, July 22, 2016

Finished a New BIG Painting...FINALLY!!


I FINALLY finished a painting that's been bogging me down for months! Not because it was all that complex, but because I just couldn't seem to force myself to work on it. I guess larger paintings intimidate me a bit...more than they used to. And I never really liked working on big stuff anyway.

 
Mt,Mount,San Jacinto,cloud,enshrouded,clouds,desert,yucca,flowers,desert dandelion,Fremont's pincushion,animal,animals
Mt. San Jacinto from Morongo Valley      60" x 48"


The scene shows Mt. San Jacinto (west of Palm Springs, CA) as one sees it from the northern end of Morongo Valley. The piece features many of the plants and animals that live in this small rural community. (OK, you're not likely to see white doves there, but there's a reason why I included them).

Here are the animals that appear in the painting. Some are easy to find, others require more searching:

desert,animals,critters,cottontail rabbits,bunny,bunnies,lizard,Gambel's quail
Animals of Morongo Valley
This is obviously not a complete pictorial of every critter that inhabits this area. But these are examples of animals that live there.

Now, the white doves... This painting is being donated to a church (Church of the Lighted Cross) in Morongo Valley. White doves often symbolize the Holy Spirit, so it seemed appropriate to include a small flock of them.

Also, I normally would have painted this artwork in a horizontal ("landscape") format rather than vertical ("portrait"), but it needed to fit in a particular space. So vertical it is!

I hope the painting will be a blessing to the people of the church, the population of Morongo Valley and -- perhaps -- to the entire world!

 

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Aren't They Cute?




A male Gambels quail on the left seems to be scoping out the cute female on the right.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Wahttizzit???


Confused arrows trying to point the way???

Dinosaur footprints???

Mysterious symbols left by ancient extraterrestrials???

Abstract art???

Nah. These are just tracks left by some Gambels quail in the snow.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Cute Quail



Besides bunnies, I really enjoy the Gambels quail we have in the desert. I love their rounded forms, cute little topknots on their heads and--preferring to run rather than fly--feet that move unbelievably fast when they're on the move. And apparently, quail don't need to bob their heads back and forth as most other birds do when they walk or run.

Quail have some habits that remind me of chickens. Males will charge and jump at each other with wings open, although fighting is relatively rare. When they're looking for seeds or other goodies to eat, they'll scratch the ground --just like chickens. (They scratch three times with one leg, then once with the other).

I noticed if a coyote comes through, the quail will follow along behind at a safe distance, sort of chirping and "wimpering" as they go--in other words, not being particularly inconspicuous. A book I have about quail mentions this peculiar behavior, too, and no one knows why they do this. (They sure don't follow ME around like that!)

As with bunnies, I like to include quail in paintings, although admittedly painting a quail is more involved than painting a bunny. Sometimes it depends on how much energy I have left by the time I get to the point of inserting a desert critter into the desert.