TROGON QUETZAL

One of the Trogon species these beautiful birds range from South eastern Arizona to Argentina.

The Quetzal's habitat is rain forest from southern Mexico to Bolivia. The Quetzal was the sacred bird of the ancient Mayans. It is also the national emblem of Guatemala who's currency also happens to be the Quetzel.

For sheer beauty and gorgeous plumage few birds surpass this one. This is also a water colour painting from my 2009 series.

I suppose whenever I lack inspiration or cannot think of something to paint then I will always revert to painting these beautiful creatures. I get a lot of personal satisfaction and enjoyment out of painting birds.

The sheer number of them with all the amazing colours will ensure that I always have plenty of material to paint.

Work in Progress

This large painting of a Gemsbok (Oryx) drinking at a water hole is my current project that will probably keep me busy for the next week or two. The Southern Oryx is mostly a desert antelope found mainly in the Namib Desert of Southern Africa.

After doing a rough sketch from a small photo, you can probably just make out the sketch of the reflection of the two antelope in the water. I am now doing the background and will fill in all the details later. In this case the background details are mainly small rocks and stones which are not my favorite subject to paint so I will probably do them last.

Sadly!! because of their magnificent horns they are also a sought after hunters trophies. The female is often targeted for her longer thinner horns which is the only way to differentiate between the male and female. The male has long straight horns that can grow to about 85 cm, whilst the females thinner horns curve outwards and then inwards at the top.

About 100 of them were released into the Tularosa Basin in New Mexico in the United States in the late 60's and have multiplied to about 3000 antelope. So if ever you get to New Mexico then this Beautiful Antelope is worth seeing.

Blue Winged Pitta

Hi To All

No I have not just disappeared off the face of the earth, I am back in Africa and don't have a permanent Internet connection. Our local service provider can only provide me with adsl at the end of April.

I suppose that's Africa for you!!! No amount of begging or pleading can get them to install any quicker. So until then I just have to be patient and hope it arrives on due date.

Thank you to all of you who have continued to support my blog by dropping your ec cards.

By end of January 2009 I reached my 100k milestone in my first year of blogging and that is mainly due to my friends at EC. Thank you all very much!!!!

That does not mean I have been idle, so I am posting some of my recent works and one of my works in progress.

After a months break I have started painting again. As usual my love of birds was my starting point and these three are my most recent ones.

This is a small water colour about A4 size. I find that by starting with a subject that I love to paint it helps me get back into the swing of things.

The funny thing is I am not a bird watcher and most of my bird paintings are from photos either taken at a bird park or from books and magazines.

This little bird is called a Blue Winged Pitta and is generally found from South East Asia to Australia. They are forest dwellers who spend their time hopping around the dense forest floors foraging for food. They avoid flying as much as possible and only take to the air when they are forced to.