Artist & Painter Rebecca Latham’s Nature & Wildlife Art

I just finished a new wolf puppy painting "Bump on a Log".  The little wolf that is featured in the painting had a lot of personality and really enjoyed getting into trouble.  ;)   I tried to capture his mischievous tendencies in the expression of the piece. 

I will have the painting up for the show reception at Galleries West on Friday night. :) 

I just sketched out a few designs for some new paintings of western hummingbirds.  They have such a variety of them out here in the western states.  In Minnesota and the rest of the eastern US we have only the ruby throated hummingbird species visiting.  The two hummingbirds featured in my sketches in this post are the Allen’s hummingbird and the Rufous hummingbird. 

I did a little painting in the gallery this evening.  I am painting a little miniature of a cougar kitten.  I would say that it’s about half done or so.  I’ll be posting a picture of the painting a little later. :) 

Interaction with the animals that I paint is so important in my research for new paintings. I just had the opportunity to help bottle feed a litter of wolf puppies that were only a few weeks old. Two bottles for a litter of about half a dozen hungry little wolves makes for quite a bit of sibling rivalry. They were so sweet. A few of them even did a little howling for us. It was such a wonderful experience! This is a sketch of one of the little wolf pups that I was lucky enough to visit with.

A wildflower hike started off the morning for me today — of course, it wasn’t exclusively wildflowers. I was followed for part of my research trek by a little resident red squirrel. He wasn’t too thrilled that I stopped to study some flowers near his tree and voiced his opinion of it. I thought it was a wonderful to see this little creature defending his territory, even though I get to see red squirrels in my own backyard.

Spring is a wonderful time of year in the back areas of our national parks. There are so many wildflowers on display. Today was spent viewing habitat of the Rocky Mountain National Park. The seasonal conditions have not been the best in the area. However, in spite of that we were able to see a wide variety of wildlife.

The Rocky Mountain National Park is defiantly a beautiful and inspiring place for an artist. I have never been to this park before, so it is a new experience for me. I can already tell that it will certainly be featured in a number of my new paintings.

Here is the progress of my little rabbit painting.  I have been working on the miniature a little bit today and should have it completed soon.  :)  The painting size is 8" x 10". 

Here is the progress of my Bull Moose miniature painting.  I have some of the habitat yet to complete, but it is shaping up fairly well, I think.  :) 

I just put the finishing touches on this piece.  :)  I have a few of my other artworks in progress that are close to the final stages of painting as well, so I’ll have to get those on the blog as well.

The cougar painting is 11" x 14".  It has a very striking look to it, I think - like a predator on the prowl.  It will have it’s debute in Jackson Hole, Wyoming at Galleries West Fine Art.

No matter how well things are planned out, something always seems to mess it up.  It never fails.  Murphy’s Law, I suppose.  But somehow, everything always turns out just fine, or even better than we had hoped for.  Odd, isn’t it?  

This is a recent image of the fox painting that I’m working on right now.  I originally intended for the piece to debut at a miniature art exhibition that I was invited to show in.  Unfortunately, because of my earlier wildlife encounter and the number of sore spots that came with it, I have been unable to complete the piece and had to send other finished work for the show opening.

Not to worry. :D  I will be completing the piece for another exhibition later this year - at least if everything goes as planned. ;)  

It seems that summer has finally arrived here in Minnesota.  The aroma of blooming flowers is in the air and butterflies are dancing through all of the fresh blossoms.  I don’t think an artist can help but be inspired to paint something cheerful and bright with such influence around them.  :) 

I have been able to study and travel to many beautiful areas, and am very fortunate.  It is fantastic to have so many subjects to choose from. :)  Decisions, decisions.  I will post some of these new paintings that are being planned out in a bit. 

Aside from dreaming of new paintings and past outings and excursions, I have been making the final adjustments to my 11"x14" cougar painting, so I will be posting it on the blog soon.  :)  A photo of an earlier version of the color phase is in my online studio at the moment, for those who are interested.