Signature Member NOAPS

 I have received Signature Member status in the National Oil & Acrylic Painters Society.

My road to signature member status started in the spring of 2020. I saw an open international online competition with NOAPS. Since I didn't have to be a member I thought why not enter. I wasn't paying attention to the date when one hears if her piece is accepted and was surprised when I received an email congratulating me from an artist who I did not know.

That was quite nice of him and so obviously I got in. Wondering who I knew who was accepted I had to wait a few hours until I could check out the details on the NOAPS web site. To my surprise, my painting Ice Bear had won Best in Show! So that was why the artist emailed me.

 

  Ice Bear

 

It wasn't long before I spent more time on the NOAPS web site. The quality of art was impressive and varied - this is an organization I wanted to be part of and I became a member. I have been accepted in to their shows since, both gallery Best of America shows and online ones and received:

Award of Merit, Best of America Small Works 2024

Award of Excellence, Spring Online 2022

Award of Merit, Fall Online 2021

If you haven't perused the National Oil & Acrylic Painters Society web site, take a look.

https://www.noaps.org/

 

My painting Squabble of three roseate spoonbills is in the National Oil & Acrylic Painters Society Best of America 2024 show at the Beverly McNeil Gallery in Birmingham, Alabama. The show runs October 10 - November 9, 2024

 

Squabble

Finished

 

Northern Gannets Nesting

18" X 14"

Original Oil 

 

 

 

 This painting is a testament to the inventiveness of the creatures who share our world. I feel fortunate that I was able to witness the incorporation of fisherman ropes in to the nesting materials of this arctic bird. 

 

 

 

Nests and Ropes

 

Little did I know how difficult nest building would be. Granted, I didn't have to pick out the sticks, ropes, and small buoys and fly in with the material, but it is a challenge to paint them. 

 

Northern Gannets are pretty amazing birds. While their wingspan of over 70 inches is impressive, it is their diving ability which I find remarkable. With waterproof feathers and various anatomical adaptations they can dive as deep as 72 feet! Most dives are much shallower, but 72 feet - wow!

 

 

 

Rocks and Ropes

 

  To me, rocks are not just amorphous blobs, they have form and substance. (My Master of Science degree in geology comes in handy.) Some portions of the rocks in my painting were not in my reference photos which focused on the northern gannets. But, I could extrapolate what the next section would look like and move the rocks around to complement the painting design without destroying their integrity.

 

  One of the aspects which fascinated me about this colony I didn't see until the boat was a bit closer. And even then, we were far enough away (so not to disturb the birds) that my telephoto lens captured the detail. The gannets had used thick fishing ropes and some buoys to help build their nests. The teal and orange ropes were a revelation to me!

 

 

Bird Islands off North Cape, Norway

  On my recent trip to Norway I had a chance to take a boat ride to the island nesting areas off North Cape, Norway. Gjesvaerstappan is home to an impressive number of bird species. This very northern tip of Norway where the warm and cold ocean currents of the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans meet is a haven for birds looking to feed their young abundant fish. Puffins, razorbills, cormorants, black guillemots, and one of my favorites, the majestic Northern Gannet, nest and feed here.

   A rather dramatic gannet nesting colony was perched on some impressive metamorphic rocks which I think make a perfect backdrop for a painting.