I welcomed 2022 with a new painting, “Avoiding the Photographer”. The girls—two does from the small herd that lives in our back yards—were hiding behind my scruffy little hemlock while I was hovering around in the snow in the back yard trying to get their photo on a snowy, sunny morning the previous February.

It’s a watercolor, 12″ x 18″, that had been on my list to paint since I took and shared the photo, and we know how those plans often go. Less than a year is pretty good!

They are always trying to hide from me, and just like my cats they seem to think that if they can’t see me, I can’t see them. Not so, and in fact that often makes them a more interesting subject. We had about six inches of snow and lots of sunshine. The little American hemlock in the corner of my yard is an understory plant, not tall and not dense, just enough to shade the ground and provide cover for birds and other small creatures. It is not adequate cover for two adult deer, though they huddled behind it nonetheless.

Winter is often dark and brownish and with all the trees in our joined back yards the deer tend to blend in, which is also nice. But I love the blue shadows in snow, the patterns of twigs and the sun’s reflection on the tiny needles of the hemlock and wanted to capture all that and the deer without a tedious amount of detail that would not have added to the image. Loose and graceful brushwork and snow shadows like wave upon wave, lots of fun spatters and drips, and likely the first of several paintings of those deer. If they ate all my vegetables and flowers, that’s the least I can get out of the deal with them.

 

Purchase the Original Painting or a Print

The original painting is double-matted in a walnut frame, and various other prints are always available. Click here for information and to purchase.

More like this

Visit my galleries of Wildlife Artwork and Landscape Artwork.

Other items with the same art or design To find all items on this site with the same art or design, use the search box for the name of the artwork and you'll find all that's available.

Don’t miss any new items or opportunities!

“Follow” the Portraits of Animals blog with the link in the upper left. Sign up to receive posts in email, or in your favorite reader using the links in the right-hand column.

Sign up for e-newsletters

You can also sign up for my monthly e-newsletters to receive special discounts and find out where I’ll be with my artwork.

Click here for the Creative Cat Preview E-newsletter, for feline and animal-specific products and information.

Click here for the Art & Merchandise E-newsletter, for landscapes, nature, urban scenes and more.

For art, photos and writing as I develop it, visit my blogs.

See feline art and photos as they happen on The Creative Cat, along with feline news, health, welfare, rescue stories and more.

See daily photos as I post them on Today.

Read poetry, short stories, essays and more on Paths I Have Walked.

. . . . . . .

© 2022 | www.PortraitsOfAnimals.net | Published by Bernadette E. Kazmarski

All images used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in using one in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of this image or a product including this image, check to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit “purchasing” for availability and terms.