Hello again Friends,

My April letter is just squeezing through!

It’s been a hectic month racing to get new bird paintings finished for a variety of exhibition submissions. The top two on my list are the San Diego International Watercolour Show and Artists for Conservation Annual traveling show. Deadlines are in early May and I’m still finalizing things.

Toad Watch

Who would have thought watching toads in their courtship would be so entertaining and fun! Especially from a kayak which offers a clear view of activity above and below the shoreline. I couldn’t help feeling a bit voyeuristic though and wondered if we should just leave them alone! “Data is important!”, I’m told “and invaluable when it comes to persuading developers to keep construction away from wildlife migration corridors”. Squamish Environment Society are amazing advocates for toads and birds in Squamish. Phase #2 will be observing the metamorphosis from eggs to tiny toadlet warriors and alerting the public when they start marching into the forest!
I made a short video from footage collected on my surveys (below).

Exotic Birds

My wild bird collection is generally inspired by birds found locally, around the Squamish Estuary and coastal British Columbia. Last year I painted a beautiful, exotic looking bird I’d seen during an artist’s retreat in Mexico - the Russet-crowned Motmot. My painting was successfully juried into the San Diego Watercolour Society International exhibition in October 2023 and sold on opening night. This year, I plan to submit a new painting of a bird I discovered in Costa Rica, the Montezuma Oropendola. Mum and my step Dad treated me to an unforgettable week in the rainforest for my 60th birthday - we stayed in a cabin high up in the canopy beside the Pacuare River, with a hanging bridge leading to a viewing platform. From there we could listen and watch for a myriad of local, Central American birds - it was pure heaven! The Oropendola is a large, rather fierce looking bird, with an incredible high pitched water-laser song. They’re known for living in large colonies and weaving metre long, pendulous nests high in the tree tops. I’ve tried to capture this nest idea in the painting (pic below).

BAG

The April Show at the Brackendale Art Gallery has been a huge success - thank you to everyone local who popped in and all who made the trip from Vancouver. It’s on for one more week, so there’s still a chance to see three of my paintings before they’re added to new private collections.

Hope you’re enjoying the longer, warmer days wherever you are. Feel free to drop me a line or come and visit if you’re near enough.

Otherwise, see you in May.

Zoë