Bold and Beautiful Blue ~ Portrait of a Great Blue Heron!
I’ve taken thousands of photographs of Great Blue Herons over the years. Believe it or not, they all don’t look alike. Don’t get me wrong, most of them are very similar in appearance, but occasionally one will stand out from the crowd. In my latest painting entitled Bold and Beautiful Blue, I painted a heron that was not only unusually handsome but also bold!
Bold and Beautiful Blue by William R. Beebe, 30 x 24, Oil on canvas, $5500
Jen and I have been birding now for roughly 15 years. We’ve seen Great Blue Herons in all kinds of settings, up close and from a distance. We’ve traveled to rookeries, to nature preserves, taken daily walks birding, with me gathering way too many gigabytes featuring the prehistoric looking Great Blue Heron.
The funny thing about this particular heron was that he landed right in front of our house at our pond, proceeded to walk the shoreline in search of food, and couldn’t have cared less that I was standing there with my camera getting ready to take a walk. He let me get as close as I wanted without even a moment of concern.
I had my 100-400mm zoom on my camera, but I sure didn’t need it. He let me take all the photographs I wanted, gave me a few different poses and finally I decided to leave the handsome bird alone. :)
I love that this bird came to me. It was as if he flew in and said, “I’m who you’ve been looking for! Paint me!” :)
Painting bird portraits is something I find very rewarding. I feel a connection to each bird I paint because we have usually spent a good bit of time together. Both of us standing in silence, until the bird becomes so comfortable that it goes about its business in a relaxed manner.
Bold and Beautiful Blue now joins my growing collection of bird portraits, including other birds like Great Egrets, and Brown Pelicans.
Thank you for following my art and for reading my journal! I have several commissions coming up that I’m looking forward to working on. I enjoy mixing it up. Commission work allows me to paint a variety of subjects I might not paint otherwise.
Thanks again! I appreciate all of your nice comments on social media! Stay safe!
“One of the joys of being an artist is having the freedom to follow my passion….”
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Drawing by William R. Beebe