Waterbirds
“Competition at the Fishing Hole”
Belted Kingfishers
Archival giclee signed and numbered limited edition (500) from a gouache and pencil original
“Unexpected Guest”
A female but one too many male wood ducks, a turtle, frog, dragonfly and a mayfly.
Archival giclee signed and numbered limited edition (500) from a gouache and pencil original
“Waterside Portraits”
Great Blue Heron, dragonfly, fish, red-eared slider (turtle) and tree frogs.
Archival giclee signed and numbered limited edition (500) from a gouache and pencil original
“Soul Searching”
Great White Egret
Archival giclee signed and numbered limited edition (500) from a gouache and pencil original
“River Woody”
Male Wood Duck
Archival giclee signed and numbered limited edition (500) from a gouache and pencil original
“Homeward Bound”
Great Blue Heron - several critters hidden in the pencil work
Archival giclee signed and numbered limited edition (500) from a gouache and pencil original
“Larry, Moe and Curly Joe”
Brown Pelicans
Archival giclee signed and numbered limited edition (500) from a gouache and pencil original
“Cold Shoulder”
Male and female Green-Winged Teal in water iris - obviously he said something wrong!
Archival giclee signed and numbered limited edition (500) from a gouache and pencil original
“A Resting Place”
Canada Geese
Archival giclee signed and numbered limited edition (500) from a gouache and pencil original
All of the prints are archival giclees produced by us and in our studio. The term "giclee" refers to the printing process. This process provides wonderful color accuracy and detail without the dot pattern of an offset lithograph. David scans the original and uses photoshop to correct colors. Color correcting is a skill and can go quickly or take days of trying. We have a large format Epson printer and use Epson's archival inks on acid-free Somerset Velvet paper. The inks are light-fast and under normal household conditions will not fade for 100 years.
Arkansas is home to the southern part of the Ozark Mountain range with wooded mountains as high as 2,700 feet. Clear rocky waterways thread through the mountains in a rush or slow into deep blue pools. It’s beautiful country blessed with a big national park to protect it. I’m not an ocean girl. The movement of rivers and creeks with boulders and bluffs is more interesting to me so kingfishers and great blue herons are my waterbirds - though I know they inhabit coastal areas too.
The great blue heron is my favorite bird to paint. He is just elegant with long lines of neck and legs, wispy feathers off his head and breast and I love the blue, white and orange combination of him. On a river, I’m trespassing into his world where he is aloof, regal and displeased. He will spread his giant wings to leave and croak. What a croak! Reminding me - we all have our weak points and it is often better to keep your mouth shut!
My fishing husband watches the kingfishers for advise. They are experts in the art and there are wonderful underwater photos to prove it. They plunge in headfirst to snatch up a fish leaving just a trail of bubbles. Kingfishers are all over the world in different sizes and colors. Ours is the belted kingfisher, named for the broad rust colored belt across the female’s chest. They’re a chunky bird that moves fast with an almost constant rattle of a call as they charge down river.
If you ever visit Arkansas you must canoe the Buffalo River. The Buffalo is our nations first scenic river and a treasured part of the Arkansas landscape. The Buffalo’s clear water curls though our mountains past limestone bluffs 200 feet high - wonderful.