Paintings of Wildlife & Nature by Rebecca Latham
I just sketched out a few designs for some new paintings of western hummingbirds. They have such a variety of them out here in the western states. In Minnesota and the rest of the eastern US we have only the ruby throated hummingbird species visiting. The two hummingbirds featured in my sketches in this post are the Allen’s hummingbird and the Rufous hummingbird. 
I did a little painting in the gallery this evening. I am painting a little miniature of a cougar kitten. I would say that it’s about half done or so. I’ll be posting a picture of the painting a little later. :)
Interaction with the animals that I paint is so important in my research for new paintings. I just had the opportunity to help bottle feed a litter of wolf puppies that were only a few weeks old. Two bottles for a litter of about half a dozen hungry little wolves makes for quite a bit of sibling rivalry. ;) They were so sweet. A few of them even did a little howling for us. It was such a wonderful experience! This is a sketch of one of the little wolf pups that I was lucky enough to visit with.
I hope to begin on a few new miniature paintings in the next few days. Our exhibition opens tomorrow in Jackson, Wyoming at Galleries West Fine Art, so I will be painting on some of the pieces in the gallery during the show. :D
A wildflower hike started off the morning for me today — of course, it wasn’t exclusively wildflowers. ;) I was followed for part of my research trek by a little resident red squirrel. He wasn’t too thrilled that I stopped to study some flowers near his tree and voiced his opinion of it. I thought it was a wonderful to see this little creature defending his territory, even though I get to see red squirrels in my own backyard. :)
Today I am finishing a number of paintings for our show at Galleries West out here in Jackson Hole. I am a bit anxious to get to Jackson Hole, anticipation for the show I suppose. :)
I am doing quite a bit of painting out here in the Grand Teton National Park, but I did find the time to peel myself away from the easel a few times to walk around a bit in the park. There is always a lot to see on hikes in this area. I spotted a Townsend warbler pair along a trail in the park today while doing a little research. :D
Doing a little sketching today. :) I have some ideas for some new paintings and am just getting them drawn out in pencil. It has been thunderstorming on and off all day today, as weather often is in the mountains, so it has been nice to do a little work inside.
I just arrived in the Grand Teton National Park for some research for new paintings as well as a little painting in the parks – both Grand Teton and Yellowstone. I have a bit of work to do. :)
Spring is a wonderful time of year in the back areas of our national parks. There are so many wildflowers on display. Today was spent viewing habitat of the Rocky Mountain National Park. The seasonal conditions have not been the best in the area. However, in spite of that we were able to see a wide variety of wildlife.
The highlight of the outing would definitely have to be the Bighorn Sheep. Our studies brought us to the alpine areas of the park, where a stag party of the sheep were gathered sunning themselves on the side of the mountains. Most of the time seeing wildlife like this requires high powered scopes, lenses, and other visual equipment, but this group of bighorn seemed to find us a little interesting. They made their way across the roadway, some of them only a car-length away from us, and marched their way over the top of the mountain. Beautiful. A little later we also came across several ewes and their lambs feeding in the cliffs. The lambs couldn’t have been more than a few days old.
The Rocky Mountain National Park is defiantly a beautiful and inspiring place for an artist. I have never been to this park before, so it is a new experience for me. :) I can already tell that it will certainly be featured in a number of my new paintings. :D
The Arts for the Parks exhibit tour held it’s opening in Estes Park this evening. We attended the exhibition premiere — one of my Mom’s paintings is in the top 100 show tour that is on display. It was wonderful to meet all of the artists that came to the event. Thanks to the arts society for their efforts in hosting the event.
I just finished up a painting that has been in my studio for a while. It is my 9×12 rabbit painting in a spotty grass patch. It is already sold and will be leaving for it’s new home shortly. :)