From the Studio Easel

Haven't posted in some time, I have some catching up to do. I'll start with an oil painting I just finished on the easel here in the studio.

"The Squirrel Hunter - Red-tailed Hawk" - oil painting - ©Bruce A. Morrison

As I posted a year or so back, I have a friend who is a licensed Falconer and he had a Red-tailed Hawk he named “Whiskey”. After hunting with the bird out here and nearby for the winter of 2024-25, he released it back into the wild out here a year ago this month. 

It was great fun running around with Whiskey out at our acreage and I got lots of photos...fun poses anyway - they lent a lot of ideas for future paintings or drawings. 

I just completed one of those inspired ideas on the studio easel recently...it was amazing watching this male Red-tail dashing it's way through the upper branches of the trees out here!  

I had seen the famous "Pale Male" of Central Park years back.  If you're unaware of this bird, it was a pale colored Red-tailed Hawk in New York City's Central Park.  This hawk was well documented and quite the celebrity!  I remember watching in awe as this Red-tailed Hawk dove through branches of trees in Central Park, catching squirrels and even pigeons!  

"Pale Male", was a one hour documentary made for WNET on Public Television's "Nature" series back in 2004.  Another documentary was made of this bird in 2009 and at least three children's books were written about him as well.  Again - quite the celebrity!

Having outlived 8 documented female mates, this extraordinary Red-tailed Hawk lived to be 33 years old, passing away on May 16, 2023.  

Anyway, seeing Whiskey darting around through the thick treetop branches, and having witnessed an actual successful Fox Squirrel hunt by a Red-tailed Hawk when I was a teenager in the woods above the Des Moines River near my childhood home in Ft Dodge, Iowa; the scenario of a painting idea struck me...so there's the long version of how "The Squirrel Hunter, Red-tailed Hawk" came about!

 

”Whiskey” here on the acreage a year ago this month, after being released back into the wild! - photograph - ©Bruce A. Morrison

Red-tails are very good at chasing mammals around...usually rabbits and even smaller fare like mice, voles, etc...but if I were a squirrel, this vision of a Red-tailed Hawk, dashing through the branches, would have given me the willies!

In honor of “Whiskey” the Red-tail male - “The Squirrel Hunter - Red-tailed Hawk” - oil painting on mounted canvas - 12X24” - ©Bruce A. Morrison.

Thanks for stopping by! Please be good to one another - we’re all in this together.

(Artwork and Photography from Morrison’s Studio on Prairie Hill Farm - morrisons-studio.com)