Wild Things Artwork
by Patsy Lindamood

24" H x 36" W Pastel on Ampersand Pastelbord.

Since I only began painting in 2006, after dabbling with graphite drawings and then colored pencil drawings for a few years, I have tried to take advantage of workshops offered by professionals whose work I admire as a means to train myself. Many times, my husband will go with me. We will take our little camper and turn the workshop into an adventure.

When I studied with Alan Flattmann in June 2008, in Shreveport, LA, we stayed in a privately operated campground nearby that had access to a lake and a fair abundance of bird life. It also features a little on-site zoo! They have some peacock there who just won't stay in the enclosed area. Instead, they prance around the area near the entrance to the camp, and the male loves to spread his feathers for everyone's pleasure.

I wanted to paint him, but I needed a different, more interesting way to portray him than a bird in a field. I decided to use one of the closeup shots in tight crop to create something more like an abstract painting than a typical wildlife art piece. Anyway, I'm sucker for blues and greens anyway!