The Arabian Oryx Ink piece FINAL

SO It is finally done! The Arabian Oryx ink piece -which took many hours of tiny dots and squinting for these old eyes is my newest piece of art and one of my largest ink pieces in the last few years. I took the refeence photos from a zoo and then recreated my Oryx herd in a made up desert setting. The Phoenix Zoo is credited with saving the Arabian Oryx from extinction. In 1962 they started the first captive-breeding herd in any zoo. Starting with only 9 animals, the Phoenix Zoo has had over 200 successful births. Oryx were sent to other zoos to start their herds. By 1990, the number of Arabian Oryx had increased to over 1300 including 112 captive bred ones which were reintroduced back to the wild in preserves in their native lands. That the Arabian Oryx was extinct in the wild but have been saved by a zoo is impressive! That is one of the reasons I chose this animal instead of the other speices of Oryx. I also have read that early explorers would mistake the Oryx for a unicorn in profile view across the desert heat waves. Early Oryx sightings could have started the unicorn fable. These animals are shy and do not let people get very close at all, dashing away at top speed. This past weekend I attended the State Lone Star Art Guild convention in Bay City with three pieces of art while Gayln delivered two of my other works to The Art Alliance At Clear Lake. The convention was well done and I attended a few demos. The Best of Show winner was a portrait painting and it was excellent -I'm just not a fan of portraits. My favorite -of course-was a BEAUTIFUL Egret painting on Masonite by Sherry Hogan! Last bit of NEWS--14 DAYS till we LEAVE for AFRICA!! Thanks for reading my stuff....Doug Hiser

Rocky Mountain Bighorn Duo

I finished the Rocky Mountain Bighorn Duo watercolor painting. Here are some of the photos of the progress. I am also about a third of the way through the large 22x30 Arabian Oryx ink piece. Next month at this time I will be on my way to Kenya and the Masai Mara, the Great Rift Valley and watching Wildebeasts and Zebras in their great migration. I think I am more excited about Africa than I was last year going to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. Speaking of Zebras I am now also working on a pair of rival zebras fighting-also a watercolor painting. For those of you on Facebook you can always see much more art on my Doug Hiser Artist page. Yesterday I took a group along one of the trails in Seabrook along the Gulf Coast Birding trail. It was a very rewarding trip encountering, beautiful close up observations of Little Green Herons, Snowys, White egrets, Blue herons, red shouldered hawks, black vultures, white ibis, and many more species! A tiny birder's paradise lies along that trail along the coastal waters. Thanks everyone for tuning in and save a bird, save a tree, save a piece of land, and save our planet's best resource: Wild Nature. Doug Hiser