Framed oil painting

30 x 24 (image size) oil on linen

Livingston, I Presume ~ The Brown Pelican I’ve been looking for!

Whenever I get ready to start a new pelican painting I look for characteristics that stand out. I search through all my photographs until I find a pelican that I keep going back to. I chose this latest image to paint because the bird has a certain panache. His stylish tuft of feathers, his self-confident look posing with his head up and back, and the resemblance of a yellow ascot on his neck, all led me to believe this pelican was the one!

I posted the photo on Instagram and asked my followers if they had any suggestions for names. Some of the suggestions were Pete, Charlie, Archer, and Swift. They were all good names, but nothing seemed to fit. I usually don’t name a painting until I’m well into it. I figure it will come to me as I get to know the bird more intimately.

For a few days I kept mulling over names and I kept thinking that one syllable names were too ordinary for this particular pelican. Two syllable names didn’t do him justice either. Then it dawned on me that maybe a three syllable name would be more fitting.

Right at that moment, I heard the name Livingston! I immediately liked it but wasn’t sure why. I don’t know anyone named Livingston, nor have I heard the name in recent years. So I googled Livingston and the name is of Old English origin. It means “beloved friend”! I loved that.

I also looked up, “Dr. Livingston, I presume”, an expression that is used as a humorous greeting. The Scottish explorer David Livingston was presumed lost in Africa in the mid-19th century. A reporter by the name of Stanley located him and supposedly greeted him with “Doctor Livingston, I presume?”

Call me peculiar, but I look at pelicans as beloved friends. Like Stanley found Livingston, I did too! I found him after our long journey to Key Largo, Florida, where I was having an art show. One morning I took a walk with my camera down to the Ocean Club Marina, hoping to see some pelicans. There he was, waiting for me on a large piling. He was basking in the morning sunlight, casually preening his feathers until they were just the way he wanted them.

Out of all my pelican photographs Livingston was the one I had to paint next. I really enjoyed painting his portrait. I hope you find him charming, with an air of sophistication.