Category Archives: Artists

Barry Van Dusen – Finding Sanctuary

Join Barry Van Dusen for a virtual live book launch of his new book Finding Sanctuary on June 24, 2020 at 7 pm. This is a free event.

MOOD is an elusive quality in a painting, and I never know if I’ve expressed a strong mood until after a piece is finished.   Even then, I’m not always sure just how I did it!  One thing I love about watercolor is the wide range of effects and moods that can be achieved.  Watercolors can be soft and ethereal or bold and crisp.  I urge my workshop students to think about their intentions before lifting a brush – consider what you love about the subject, how it makes you feel, and what you want to express about it. 

One way to refine your intentions is to consider the key that will best suit what you wish to convey about the subject.  Key is a term artists use to describe the predominant value scheme of a painting, i.e. the overall lightness or darkness.  You may decide on deep, jewel-like tones that will add a sense of mystery, or, you may prefer to use a predominance of light tones that will supply a bright, airy feeling.  The mood I get on a sun-drenched beach at noon is very different from how I feel in a shadowy hemlock grove at dusk.

high-key painting is one that has a predominance of light values, with a lesser amount of darks.  A low-key painting may have some lights, but will feature mostly dark values.  Note that each type of painting can have a full range of light and dark tones, but the proportions are what matter. 

Let me show you some paintings that explore this aspect of painting.  These are all watercolors from my new book FINDING SANCTUARY.

Piping Plover and Shore Flies

Sub-adult Iceland Gull

These are both high-key paintings and they are both coastal subjects.  There’s usually lots of light at the seashore, and if the surroundings are light colored (e.g. beach sand), the overall effect can be very bright.  In the plover painting notice that the seaside goldenrod leaves are quite dark.  By supplying contrast, they enhance the overall well-lit effect.  In the Iceland Gull painting, the dark notes are minimal – confined to the bird’s eye and the tip of its bill. 

Here are some low-key examples from the book:

Rutland Brook

Rutland Brook – now I’m in that hemlock forest I mentioned earlier.  It’s cool and dark and shadowy, and the only light notes are highlights in the running water.   Dark tones are more challenging to handle in watercolor than light tones.  Watercolor passages always dry considerably lighter than when they are wet, so the artist must compensate and paint boldly with a brush carrying lots of pigment.  

Barn Swallow on Nest

Barn Swallow on Nest – these birds always nest in shadowy places: on interior barn rafters or under overhangs.  The brightest notes here are the areas of whitewash below the bird’s nest.  The majority of tones are dark to convey the shadowy environs of the nest.  

Contrast can play a related role in creating mood.  Foggy, humid or snowy conditions reduce the contrast in a scene, while dry, clear days accentuate contrasts and call for crisp, clearly defined shapes.  You can choose to enhance contrasts in your painting or suppress them.

Summer on the Concord River

Summer on the Concord River – this was a warm, humid day in summer, and the moisture-laden air over the river suppressed contrasts and supplied an inviting softness. 

The Horse Barn in a Spring Snowsquall

The Horse Barn in a Spring Snowsquall – likewise, the moist, dense air on this snowy day created soft edges and close tonalities.  

Rough Meadows

Rough Meadows – a clear, dry day in autumn makes for strong shadows and crisp edges. On a day like this, even the distant tree line is quite dark, and stands out in relief.

In all of these examples I have deliberately used artistic concepts to help me arrive at a specific mood or feeling, or to express a particular hour, season or weather condition.  As an artist, YOU are in command of your picture, and you should take full advantage of these tools to get your message across.  By thinking ahead about what type of mood you wish to convey, and using these artistic concepts to support your intentions, you may find the mood of a painting not so elusive! 

Art Views: Colleene Fesko on Frank Benson

Frank Benson, a giant of the Boston School of Impressionist painting, is also the standard bearer of modern sporting art in the United States. Fellow printmaker John Taylor Arms wrote that Benson “has achieved the distinction of founding a school—that of the modern sporting artist.  In this, his followers and imitators have been many, his equals none.”

Left: The Duck Marsh by Frank W. Benson, oil on canvas, 1921. Mass Audubon Collection, gift of Agnes S. Bristol, 1972. Used as the frontispiece for John C. Phillips’ A Natural History of the Ducks, Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1922.

But his second career as a printmaker specializing in sporting material would not begin until he reached middle age. Born in Salem, Massachusetts in 1862, Benson spent his early years studying at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and at the Académie Julien in Paris. In 1889, after a few years of travelling and holding various teaching posts, Benson began his long tenure as a teacher at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts.  During these years his stature as an artist constantly grew and he accrued numerous awards and commissions. 

Using family members as his primary models, Benson bathed them in a diffused atmospheric light. These paintings show the artist’s early interest in Impressionist plein air scenes of leisure, realized through broken brushstrokes and a light-infused palette.  As with many of the American Impressionist artists of the period, he acknowledged the complete dissolution of the figure as seen in French Impressionism, but never lost his interest in a composition grounded in realism and structure.

Benson left his teaching position at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in 1913—coincidentally the same year that the Armory Show in New York shook up the art world and formally ushered in the  new style of Modernism. 

Over Sunk Marsh by Frank W. Benson, drypoint on paper, 1920. Mass Audubon Collection, purchase, 1989.

Soon after leaving teaching behind, Benson started his career as a printmaker specializing in sporting material. Interested in ornithological illustration since he was a boy, Benson brought to his prints a love of nature and the outdoors as well as the “nurturing” experiences of a classically trained artist.

These prints also incorporate his interest in Modernism. In his spare, understated handling of the scenes, the birds—always identifiable—are depicted as calligraphic accents in elegant, almost abstract, compositions. In 1915 Benson had his first exhibition of sporting prints, and they were immediately in demand. 

I’ve had the opportunity to handle the sale and marketing of numerous paintings, prints and watercolors by Benson. I greatly appreciate his tour de force Impressionist paintings, but I find the sporting prints very compelling as well. They have a timeless appeal to past and present collectors alike.

SUPPORT OUR WORK and Donate to the Museum of American Bird Art

Our guest blogger Colleene Fesko is a Boston-based fine art and antiques appraiser and broker, and a friend of MABA. She is frequently seen on the hit PBS television series Antiques Roadshow.

Nature in a Minute – American Kestrel

Guest post by Julianne Mehegan

American Kestrel and Prairie Falcon by David Sibley, gouache on Bristol board. Mass Audubon Collection.

On my afternoon walk I spotted an American Kestrel. This handsome bird was doing what kestrels do, sitting on an open perch, hunting for insects and small rodents. Seeing the kestrel was a huge thrill for me, it really lifted my spirits.

Back at home I got out the Sibley Guide to Birds to refresh my knowledge about kestrels.  Kestrels are the smallest and most widespread falcon, ranging throughout North America. The kestrel I saw was a male. Its wings were bluish gray, the back and tail feathers were rusty-red, the breast speckled. When perched, the kestrel pumps its tail to maintain balance. The illustrations in the Sibley Guide show both the female and male kestrel and how the bird looks in flight.

David Sibley’s original art for this illustration in the Sibley Guide to Birds is in Mass Audubon’s art collection at the Museum of American Bird Art. To see more of David Sibley’s art, and to read about his new book, What It’s Like to Be a Bird, visit his website. MABA’s exhibition of original art from the book is expected to be on view again when the museum reopens to the public.

Julianne Mehegan at Arches NP

Our guest blogger, Julianne Mehegan, is a wonderful friend of MABA, a birder and a naturalist.

Art Views – Julianne Mehegan on Flight Over the Dunes by Cindy House

Art Views is a fascinating series of personal perspectives on bird art, generously contributed by artists, collectors, MABA staff and other art enthusiasts. Read more Art Views here.

The painting Flight Over the Dunes by Cindy House was purchased for MABA’s collection in 2014.

Flight Over the Dunes by Cindy House, pastel, 2009. Mass Audubon Collection.

Cindy House wrote: The last step in my pastel painting is to add the birds.  In Flight Over the Dunes, they were the small flock of flying Mourning Doves. I found the landscape incomplete without the birds that happened by when I was in the field.  Birds have an inexplicable way of bringing life to the landscape. 

Cindy considers the greatest gift given to her by her mother, a natural history teacher, was the ability to see and observe the splendor of the natural world. She now uses that gift to express herself with pastels and occasionally oils.

In 2009 MABA was honored to host an exhibition of Cindy’s work, Landscapes Discovered: Pastels of New England by Cindy House. To see more of her art, visit her website.

SUPPORT OUR WORK and Donate to the Museum of American Bird Art

Julianne Mehegan at Arches NP

Our guest blogger, Julianne Mehegan, is a wonderful friend of MABA, a birder and a naturalist.

Art Views – Sherrie York

We are delighted to introduce a new series in our Taking Flight blog, Art Views, a fascinating collection of personal perspectives. Artists, collectors, MABA staff and other art enthusiasts have generously agreed to write about bird art that is meaningful to them. Posts may be about how an artist approaches their work, profiles of artworks in MABA’s collection, or whatever catches our guest bloggers’ fancy. Keep reading, share your comments, and enjoy!
~ Amy Montague, Museum Director of the Museum of American Bird Art

Trunk Show by Sherrie York

Trunk Show, Sherrie York

I’ve always been a fan of the “shoulder” seasons. Each day of spring and autumn is dynamic and exciting; migratory birds come and go, flowers and trees blossom and seed, and the balance of day and night waxes and wanes.

Although I now live in Maine, I grew up and spent most transitional seasons in Colorado, where spring is slow to arrive and high country autumns are intense and fleeting. In September, acres-wide stands of aspen trees quake with color as they turn from bright green to brilliant gold (and sometimes red!), but their show can be over with one strong wind or an early snow.

One of my favorite haunts during Colorado autumns was an area called, appropriately, Aspen Ridge. Every time I explored the ridge I was drawn to the cluster of large-trunked trees depicted in my linocut, “Trunk Show.” In fact, these same trees have been the subject of several sketches, paintings, and linocuts over the years.

Of course I’m not the only one who liked to visit this grove. Aspen stands are important in the west because they support a greater diversity of bird species than the surrounding coniferous forests. Woodpeckers, nuthatches, chickadees, warblers, flycatchers… they all rely on aspen.

When I moved to Maine just over two years ago I looked forward to discovering the rhythms and colors of seasons in the northern hardwood forest. I was delighted to find a few familiar aspen trees in between the oak, birch, and spruce behind my house, but even more comforted by the presence of some of the same bird species common to aspen groves. The woodpeckers and chickadees in particular are constant companions. 

As a printmaker my first quest is always for a strong composition and graphic elements. These must be decided upon and resolved before block carving or ink rolling can begin, because carved areas can’t be erased or painted over. The vertical white trunks and dark “eyes” of the aspen tree are just such elements, and the shapes and patterns of the leaves offer a great opportunity to play with color and texture. 

In the world of fashion, a trunk show provides an opportunity for designers and wearers to meet in a more personal and intimate way. In the larger world of nature, time spent with tree trunks allows to meet our neighbors and discover all the ways in which we are connected.

My linocuts are most often developed using a process called reduction printing. All of the colors in an image are printed from a single block of linoleum in successive stages of carving and printing. “Trunk Show” required 14 individual stages of carving and printing. It’s too much to share in a single post, but if you’d like to see how the entire piece developed, I documented all the stages on my blog, Brush and Baren.  The series begins here: https://brushandbaren.blogspot.com/2016/09/linocut-in-progress-autumnal-endeavor.html

Taking Flight: An International Youth Bird Art ONLINE EXHIBITION featuring students from the Pagosa Peak Open School in Colorado

We are so inspired by the amazingly talented young bird artists that are exhibiting in this year’s Taking Flight exhibition. Since we all have to be isolated to stay safe, we wanted to bring you a virtual exhibit and a little background about the artists. We still hope to have a physical exhibition of the original art, but we want to share this wonderful work now.

Today, we are featuring three young artists from the Pagosa Peak Open School in Colorado. The young artists are Wynnie Buchner (Age 6), Jayelle Lee (Age 5), and Tevye Zissman (Age 8). Learn more about the school in this wonderful news article featured in the Pagosa Springs Sun.

Rocky Mountain Bluebird Family by Wynnie Buchner (Age 6)

Hummingbird by Jayelle Lee (Age 5)

Hummingbird by Tevye Zissman (Age 8)

Students at the Pagosa Peak Open School Creating Art

Enjoy these pictures from the art classes at the Pagosa Peak Open School in the art class taught by artist and art teacher Karla Parker Choat.

Taking Flight: An International Youth Bird Art ONLINE EXHIBITION featuring Eleanor Smith

We are so inspired by the amazingly talented young bird artists that are exhibiting in this year’s Taking Flight exhibition. Since we all have to be isolated to stay safe, we wanted to bring you a virtual exhibit and a little background about the artists. We still hope to have a physical exhibition of the original art, but we want to share this wonderful work now.

Today, we feature Eleanor Smith and her artwork, Northern Harrier. She is 16 and lives in Utah.

Artist’s Message

“Without a doubt, there are relatively few animals more majestic than birds of prey. Whenever I watch Northern Harriers fly overhead, I am captivated by their graceful beauty. I wanted to convey this power and gracefulness in my piece, ‘Northern Harrier’.” ~ Eleanor Smith

Eleanor Smith (Age, 16)

I’ve been making art since I was just little, but I didn’t really get serious about it until middle school. One of my favorite things about art is exploring new media.

I love to experiment with new and unconventional art forms like paperclay sculpture or block printing. 

Growing up in Utah has given me access to a unique natural environment. I love being outdoors, and most of my art is influenced by the nature around me. I especially love drawing birds; when I was in elementary school, I would spend hours walking around the lake near our house and looking for sandhill cranes and pheasants. My dad, an avid birder, would help me identify different birds, and I would use field guides to draw the birds I saw. Even today, I’m fascinated by the diversity and beauty of wildlife.

Taking Flight: An International Youth Bird Art ONLINE EXHIBITION featuring Mackenzie Casto

We are so inspired by the amazingly talented young bird artists that are exhibiting in this year’s Taking Flight exhibition. Since we all have to be isolated to stay safe, we wanted to bring you a virtual exhibit and a little background about the artists. We still hope to have a physical exhibition of the original art, but we want to share this wonderful work now.

Today, we feature Mackenzie Casto and her artwork, Blue Majesty. She is 14 and lives in Massachusetts. Learn more about Mackenzie at her website and facebook page.

Blue Majesty by Mackenzie Casto (Age 14)

Artist Message about Blue Majesty

“I find the Boat-billed Heron fascinating! I love how the Boat-billed Heron has such vibrant blue-blackish colored feathers. This bird is unusual because it is one of very few birds that are nocturnal. This bird also has a powder down special type of feather that never molts and grows continuously! For all these reasons this is one of my favorite birds!” ~ Mackenzie Casto

Artist Statement

I believe that art has the magic of bringing people together and making them happy. Even though I am only fourteen years old, I feel that I can make a positive difference in life through my artwork. I think the most important thing for me to do as an artist is to give people a feeling of strength when they look at my artwork and a feeling of being taken away from their troubles even if just for a minute. I like to paint animals because I think animals are full of love and are really interesting. I hope to someday help animals and people with my artwork.” ~Mackenzie Casto

Taking Flight: An International Youth Bird Art ONLINE EXHIBITION

We are so inspired by the amazingly talented young bird artists that are exhibiting in this year’s Taking Flight exhibition. Since we all have to be isolated to stay safe, we wanted to bring you a virtual exhibit and a little background about the artists. We still hope to have a physical exhibition of the original art, but we want to share this wonderful work now.

Today, we are featuring Caroline Pollan and her artwork, Resplendent Quetzal. Caroline has had her excellent artwork exhibited in Taking Flight for the past three years.

Resplendent Quetzal by Caroline Pollan

Caroline Pollan (Age 14)

Artist’s Message: “One of my favorite species of bird is the Resplendent Quetzal. These birds, who are native to Central and South America, are considered one of the most beautiful in the world. And though their bright green plumage may stand out in captivity, they are extremely well camouflaged in their forest home. I used colored pencils to get the detail of the feathers and to have the amazing colors of the quetzal in my artwork for the bird itself. For the sky in the background I used acrylic paint.”

Artist Profile: Caroline Pollan

Enjoy these photographs of Caroline making art.

Bird and Nature Drawing Resources for Young Artists

Secretary Bird, Noah Chan (Age 8)

The Museum might be closed, but we’re still accepting submissions for Taking Flight, our youth bird art exhibition. Not sure where to get started with drawing birds? We’ve got you covered!

The goal of the Taking Flight exhibition is to create a greater awareness, conservation, and appreciation for birds while fostering the development of young artists and sharing their work with the public. Submissions will be accepted until June 15, 2020. Click here for more information.

Sandpiper, Maris Van Vlack (Age 16)

Getting Started With Nature Drawing

Advice for Young Bird Artists from Barry Van Dusen

Barry Van Dusen at Felix Neck, Martha’s Vineyard (Photograph by Sean Murtha)

As part of our annual Taking Flight youth bird art exhibition, Barry Van Dusen – an international acclaimed wildlife artist and a former artist in residence at MABA – has a wonderful blog post offer advice on how to get started for budding young artists.

Advice and guidance for artists from John Muir Laws

John Muir Laws has written several books on nature drawing. Here’s his introduction to drawing birds, from his blog. This is a great place to learn about drawing realistic, detailed birds.

Let’s Draw Birds with John Muir Laws

How to Draw a Bird with Oil Pastels for Kids

It’s springtime, so we’re always on the lookout for bluebirds. Here’s a video that’ll show you how to draw one with oil pastels.

How to Draw Birds for Beginners with Watercolors

Itching to pick up a paintbrush? This video has some beginner-friendly ideas for how to get started painting simple birds with watercolors.