Paintings of Wildlife & Nature by Rebecca Latham
This is a sketch of one of the paintings I’m working on right now. I have done a little work in color on it since this photo was taken. I’ll get a fresh picture of it online when it’s a little farther along.
I also started a large bird painting (30×40) a few days ago that is on my easel at the moment. I was so involved in the painting process for it that I forgot to snap a photo of the initial sketch for the blog, so unfortunately that piece will have to wait a bit before posting.
The past few days have involved walks on the beach for reference of Floridian species of wildlife – birds in particular. In addition to a variety of birds, we were joined by a number of dolphins as well.
Thanks to our friends for their help in directing us to popular wildlife hangouts for our studies. :)
A tour of Merritt Island today. Everything was just beautiful – and so many birds!! :) I have been to this area before, but hadn’t been able to spend adequate time in the refuge for more in-depth study. Truthfully, I would have liked to have spent a great deal more time than just today, but I do have to get back to the studio sometime to catch up on a few deadlines. :)
A visit to Sea World for some oceanic reference and study. I especially enjoyed seeing the polar bear exhibit where the water is kept at a specific temperature for the comfort of the bear – simulating it’s natural habitat. :)
We had a bit of a behind the scenes tour today of the wildlife at Busch Gardens here in Florida. All of their animals are so beautiful and well cared for — though, as nice as their enclosures may be, I do wish these animals didn’t have to be in captivity and were roaming free as nature intended. We were up early this morning as well to do some research of some of Florida’s resident wildlife. I was just asked to paint some specific species from this area, so I am focusing my studies for that request at the moment.
It can be quite exhausting to be out in the field all day for study and research. Thankfully, tonight I was able to get a little painting time in at the hotel room. I just started work on a miniature cat piece – it will be posted (in it’s color version) online once I get a little more time in on it. I would love to be able to take a ‘traditional’ Florida vacation and relax completely, but I can never seem to peel myself away from my work. Painting is a just part of me. :)
I spent the day surrounded by wildcats — simply breathtaking. :) We are working with Big Cat Rescue, gathering reference for new work through numerous hours of study. We have some fund raising work scheduled for the near future – I will be sure to post about that when plans are fully developed. Thanks so much to the keepers at Big Cat Rescue for their help!!
The organization is the largest in the world, and they are filled to capacity with rescued felines. I find it disturbing that a furrier would (and does) sacrifice twenty cats for a small patch of white belly fur to make one fur coat. One. Or how someone would think that an African lion would make a nice household pet. These are things that the Big Cat Rescue is working to change through their education programs. It is a very worthy cause and deserves support.
A number of our galleries have been doing quite well lately. I just received notice that one of my galleries has sold out of my artwork (so I have some work to do :) ). It is a good thing we have scheduled this research outing for new study. I always feel refreshed after closely observing wildlife to paint. The magical excitement of being so near to such magnificent creatures is exactly what I try to communicate in my work. It is a pleasure just to blog about it – though all the more eager to get going!! :)
I started work on a few new paintings today. I will post images of them when they progress far enough.
My print signing sessions have begun. I put a bit of time in autographing today at Maximum Graphics for the Ducks Unlimited Sponsor Print (only 4,500 more prints left to go!! :) ).