Willow

I was in Maryland's Zoo last week and I met newborn baby giraffe. Her name is Willow. She was born 7 weeks ago and she is the first baby giraffe at the facility in more than 20 years. I guess she will have a lot of visitors this spring and summer.
Willow, I wish you happy and healthy life :)

Abstracts

Pet abstract portrait commission is now open. Please send me a note if you're interested. I'll be happy to help.

Backyard Hare

I painted this one from the photograph.  This time I used India ink first then I added watercolor paints. Complementary tones work well here. I used yellow ocher, light brown, little bit of red, Prussian blue and deep green. 

We have a lot of wild rabbits at our backyard. Whenever I'm walking my dog I keep my camera handy. The rabbits are not very fearful. I have a feeling that they figured it out that the dogs are on leash. 

The more rabbits there are, the more foxes can prey on them, so also there are lots of foxes in our neighborhood. They are rather hard to photograph because they are extremely shy.

Lynx

Here is my lynx on the abstract background. Not too many years ago, I would never expect me do the abstract painting and be happy with it. The abstract like this can be created in just a few moments. We can call it beautiful or ugly depending on our mood and time of the day. When I'm looking back at my paintings, I can see that they are rather neat and well planed. I'd like to add more spontaneity to my paintings. I wonder if loosening my style will lead me to something good.

I videotaped the painting process. You can see it on YouTube

White wolf on a cold winter day

I love snow days. They are like unexpected gifts. Here you are: suddenly I had plenty of free time and I could do whatever I felt like. I enjoyed every minute of it. I was watching my friends on Facebook. I photographed my daughter playing outside and Mr. Snowman she built. I was watching Olympic Games. Gee! These athletes are so fit and fearless. Congrats to Justyna Kowalczyk for the golden medal in 10K classical-style race. I cooked dinner and enjoyed the company of the whole family at the table. Then we went for a long walk with our dog. And I finally painted the wolf.
Oh, I also wasted some time playing Candy-crush. I quickly move up 3 levels. I can't figure out how to give up playing this stupid game.

During snow days we don't forget about wild animals. Especially birds which are the most vulnerable. To survive the cold weather they need to eat and unfortunately all the  grass where they can find seeds is covered under snow.