![](https://1daaf9.p3cdn1.secureserver.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/hole-in-the-wall-gang-march-19-2020-for-ws.jpg?time=1722058070)
21 Mar Hole in the Wall Gang rides again!
Posted from Seattle WA on March 20, and updated on April 5th, 2020 in the time of Corona
![](https://1daaf9.p3cdn1.secureserver.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/hole-in-the-wall-gang-march-19-2020-for-ws.jpg)
My friend Paul (not Newman) likes to go out to Cape Alava and spend a few nights. He and his cousin were at hole-in-the-wall when they witnessed a gang of 4 River Otters running along the beach. They got some video. The movie, though taken from a distance, manages to convey the utmost exuberance that few animals including humans can seem to possess more of than River Otters.
![](https://1daaf9.p3cdn1.secureserver.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/River-Otters-island-with-hole-P-Stricker-photo-for-ws.jpg)
Here’s one of the photos Paul took. I used the poses from this one. This is the first time I’ve looked at the ref shot and the painting side-by-side so to speak. Maybe I should use the sea and sky atmospherics of the photo as is and not run a sunset in it. I have lots of time now that the store is closed. Also, maybe I should try to get the beach to run at a diagonal, as it is in the photo.
![](https://1daaf9.p3cdn1.secureserver.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/hole-in-the-wall-gang-for-18-x-24-april-5-2020-for-ws.jpg)
This is April 5th now, what the painting looks like now. I put this up on the computer now, but it’s possible I should keep on real-painting it for a while longer before computer-painting on it. Computer-painting is much slower, surprisingly, at least the way I do it.
![](https://1daaf9.p3cdn1.secureserver.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Red-crowned-Parrots-March-19-2020.jpg)
I’m still putting time in on Red-crowned Parrots, the endangered species that has taken up residence in Brownsville Texas but is having great difficulty in it’s mountain homeland to the south.
![](https://1daaf9.p3cdn1.secureserver.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Bear-family-for-18-x-24-March-10-2020-for-ws.jpg)
Bear Family is at first-finish and will be out in 6 x 8 print for 8 x 10 mat soon. I am waiting for ideas to make the mountains look more realistic. The scene is based on Ptarmigan Ridge near Mt. Baker.
![](https://1daaf9.p3cdn1.secureserver.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Paradise-for-18-x-24-March-21-2019-no-cb-for-ws-1.jpg)
I’m still moving forward at glacial speed on Paradise, now being published with “Mt. Rainier” rather than “Paradise” as the poster title. I just finished the book “The Good Rain” by Timothy Egan. Maybe I should put one of the Tribal names for the mountain on the poster.
![](https://1daaf9.p3cdn1.secureserver.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Caspian-for-ws-march-20-2020.jpg)
I have a new painting that I have high hopes for, in fact which is intended to be my masterpiece. That is not a seagull in the painting. (It’s a Caspian Tern) I think a print or two have sold in the medium 6 x 18 size but now the store has been shuttered.
![](https://1daaf9.p3cdn1.secureserver.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/seattle-night-ptg-for-xl-march-9-for-ws.jpg)
I am also bringing out a version of Caspian Tern without the Tern and at night. I have to continue “turning on” more lights. I think I’ll call this print “Seattle at Night.” I never claimed that all my titles were brilliant.
![](https://1daaf9.p3cdn1.secureserver.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Stella-March-19-2020-for-ws.jpg)
The name of this painting is undebatable. It is “Stella.” Meet Stella, a French Bulldog. I do not do commissions and I do not paint domestic animals, that’s a rule I follow assiduously.
Stella is something of a hero-dog who may well have saved a life. Stella and I have met. I maybe did break a rule but if so: Blame Stella, not me.
![](https://1daaf9.p3cdn1.secureserver.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Costa-Rica-for-14-x-18-April-1-2020-for-ws.jpg)
I’ve been working more on Hummingbirds of Costa Rica in hopes of offset-lithographing it sometime this year or 2021. Everything is getting moved back these days, here’s hoping the postponements aren’t eternal.
![](https://1daaf9.p3cdn1.secureserver.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Short-eared-Owl-old-painting-from-Jenson-access-April-4-2020-for-ws.jpg)
This is a 20 year-old-painting I have been working on intensively. I am very happy with the fixes that I’ve made on the perspective, the atmospherics and the plumage of the owl. It’s a Short-eared Owl at North Fork Access in the Skagit Wildlife Recreation Area. I’m printing it soon as an 8 x 10 and in other sizes later.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.