Road Life

Series finished and shown at Gallery C, Raleigh in Oct 2007
giclee prints available in limited edition of 100

            These paintings were a pleasure to work on. I love these ordinary, wild creatures that still have a place alongside us humans and our architecture. I researched each animal, as well as employing Bill Emory’s photographs and some of my own. Most of the subjects presented themselves on my road. The painting borders include real, visual information about roadscapes, cars and sometimes stories related to experiences with animals. The borders are paintings themselves. To me, they illustrate how much dimension exists peripherally.
           
            When I returned to painting after a bad bicycle accident, I wanted to honor the animals that live with the dangers of our automotive landscape. The eastern US is now a tight network of pavement; there is not much space for undomesticated life. I walk nearby roads, watching the woods and small worlds up close that we so often whiz by. All of us have seen most of these animals. All of us have at least injured a wild creature while driving. They have not evolved to comprehend our speeding vehicles. Most recognize the danger, but don’t grasp the timing required to safely cross a stretch of pavement.
           
            My son Emmett did a week’s internship at the NC Zoo’s Valerie H. Schindler Wildlife Rehabilitation Center for service credit at his school. I came along and found we have a wonderful resource in this state, where vets and trained caretakers attend to injured wildlife. Gallery C and I decided to offer a print of Moonlight whose proceeds still benefit this fine group.

            We have a statewide network organization, WRNC, Wildlife Rehabilitators of NC, which educates individuals to become licensed to take in and care for wildlife. There are practicing members in most of our counties.

Thumbnails

Snake
Dog
Possum
Chipmunk
Groundhog
Deer
Squirrel
Frog
Bunny
Skunk
Chickens
Crow
Turkey
Owl

Two sets of cards are available, six cards per set. One includes six images from the Road Life series. The other contains nature paintings from earlier work. They cost $8 per set and are available upon request.