The Holiday Season is COMING!

YES! My friends! The Holiday Season is approaching rapidly. Cooler weather has arrived, finally. If you have art in mind for a gift for someone special get your commission orders in NOW-ASAP! For existing prints just let me know sizes and mat preference and I will get those ready quickly. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Most of my art time lately has been devoted to demo and creating art projects for my High School Students but I did finish the intricate watercolor painting, "Brazil Fish Market"--featuring a Giant River Otter and three Kingfishers. That is the 3rd Brazilian Pantanal painting in the 5 painting series I am working on. The first painting was the Brazilian Tapir and baby, the second was the Water Buffalo and waterfall, the fourth I am currently working on is the Jaguar stalking above the river and the final painting, yet to be started will be Hyacinth Macaws!___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I am hurrying to complete the Jaguar painting because the recent huge art show deadline is November 30th! All five paintings will be seen in January and February in the Brazos Center for the Arts. MARK your Calendar--JANUARY 10TH IS THE opening OF MY BIGGEST ART SHOW ever IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD---featuring 80 paintings, inks, drawings, sketchbook pages little notes and stories and all of it on display at the awesome huge museum space at the Brazos Center for the Arts!!! The opening Show is called: PA I N T E D J U N G L E S WILD ART by .... DOUG HISER--YOU are invited to an evening of Wild animal Art --music food and drink --come out and have some great conversations about art and the animal. .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

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Autumn Art !

Hello friends, Here on the Gulf Coast of Texas Summer is still hanging around but Autumn is sneaking in slowly-maybe in a few more weeks She will kick Summer out and take over fully! The egrets and herons are plentiful here on the Bayou and i enjoy watching their escapades each morning. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________- I am so busy teaching art to my High Schoolers I haven't had enough time for my own art and my writing has just STOPPED. I currently have art spread out in three different galleries and the Fall Art Festivals are approaching. I must be getting lazy or just too busy because this year I decided not to attend the Word Wrangler Fest and the East Texas Book Fest-two Author Festivals that I have not missed in years! _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________---- I'm sad about that but i missed the deadlines and just wasn't excited enough to do anything about it. So that means that next year I will have to redouble my efforts and blast onto the scene with more stuff! _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________- Speaking of next year, January 2014, Brazos Center for the Arts, 80 pieces of Art, one man show gallery opening: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________----- DOUG HISER-PAINTED JUNGLES-WILD ART. This will be the MOST Art of mine in ONE place Ever! Excited as an any artist would ever be! Thanks for tuning in my friends! Doug Hiser

BACK from BRAZIL

Hello everyone........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................I've been away from the blog for a few months! Traveling to the Brazilian Pantanal and then coming back and going right into teaching High School Art again---It was a whirlwind including a few art shows in there too. I'm getting a handle on managing my time once again now that the free time of summer is over.**************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************Many of you have seen the dozens of photographs from Brazil of the wide variety of wildlife we encountered at close range but the highlight of our trip was the four JAGUAR encounters. Three males each larger than the one we saw the day before and finally, our favorite, "Patricia" the female JAGUAR that was tailed and observed for over two hours as she hunted along the river banks. We were only a few feet away when she stalked and attacked a six foot Caiman and fought it in the water. She also ate a Cormorant while we watched and then jumped off a huge tree branch over the river not ten feet from our small boat on to a four foot Caiman, which she lost in the deeper water. Imagine how lucky we were to experience such amazing events with such an elusive magnificent animal. The other amazing animal encounters were the many discoveries of the families of Giant River Otters and NeoTropical River Otters.*******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************I hand delivered the "TAPIR and BABY" painting to SOUTHWILD PANTANAL and now my painting will be hanging at the Eco-Lodge in the Brazilian Pantanal. I am also currently working on more of our South American Wildlife paintings, including, A Giant River Otter with two species of Kingfishers painting and a Brazilian invasive species-the Water Buffalo and rain forest painting. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Other NEWS: MY "Rhino and baby" painting won an HONORABLE MENTION at the National Lone Star Guild Art Show at the WOODLANDS WATERWAY back in JULY. I've rotated some of my Gallery paintings at the Melange Gallery in Friendswood and have a few pieces in the upcoming Humane Society Festival booth. In September I have two paintings, including my SCARLET MACAW on METAL, in the NSA competition at the Brazos Center for the ARTS. The FALL ART FESTIVALS are approaching and I am making decisions on which ones to attend. Hope to see some of you at some of those events coming up. Thanks for reading my ramblings. DOUG HISER

Alligator Attack and hiking South Texas Refuges

June has been a HOT and exciting month so far. Last week we were attacked by an underwater lurking 8 foot long ALLIGATOR at Sea Rim State Park near Sabine Pass, Texas. The Alligator attacked twice but luckily we were fast enough to get out of the way and escape unharmed. Texas Point Wildlife refuge seemed like a nice place to hike until we were SWARMED by hundreds of biting DEER FLIES! ....McFadden Wildlife Refuge offered up glimpses of resting Nighthawks, plenty of Cliff Swallows, a rare look at an immature Orchard Oriole, we also had great views of Willets, Sandpipers, American Avocets, Stilts, assorted gulls, snowy egrets, great egrets, little green herons, double-crested cormorants, big boat-tailed grackles, and of course RED Winged Blackbirds... ... ... A day tour of Brazos Bend State Park always yields great birding and plenty of alligators! In fact we found many baby alligators in the shallows. The big alligators were feasting on fish, slapping the water with their large jaws! Gallinules and Coots were followed by their fuzzy chicks in the marsh grass. ... ... ... We also made a stop near Beaumont, Texas at GATOR Country as seen on Gator 911 on CMT. Once they saw my wildlife art we got to have some close up encounters with their reptiles! These guys were great pulling out every reptile from its enclosure to let me hold and get up close. Decided I will send them a free art print for their nice showing! I had a sixteen foot python wrapped around me, got to hold assorted lizards, monitors, and a TEGU, and get up close and personal with a monster Alligator Snapping turtle they pulled from a pond for us! GREAT PLACE GATOR COUNTRY!!!.... .... ...NEXT month we leave for Brazil and the Pantanal south of Amazonia in search of the elusive amazing spotted cat, THE JAGUAR. Here are some of my latest art endeavors:

New Author Website !

http://batraptorrz.wix.com/dougwhiser Click the link and check out my newly created Author site with links and info about many of my books. My first full summer week off from teaching school and I have been busy! Dropping off artwork to more shows this month and framing and scanning paintings, designing logos, working for a new sub-company with retail artwork designs, designed my new author -book website, many paintings in the works and working out regularly each day. Below are the many steps to the Red and Gold Macaw painting, enjoy. Thanks for keeping up and following me---share my page friends!

SUMMER 2013 ART NEWS

The last month has been a whirlwind of Art, Art Shows, soccer, and trip planning. The HGA Spring Art show was huge with over 35 awards presented to my art students. I won six awards in the last few shows and qualified for the Nat'l show in the Woodlands in July. ************************************************************************************************************************************************** ON a Quick note I have some new additions to my little zoo---i rescued some tiny dark tadpoles from a dried up ditch and have raised them into cute little frogs. I thought they were Toad tadpoles but now as some progress and lose their tails i am happy to see that they are Green Tree frog tadpoles-sticking already to the sides of the terrarium!! Cannot wait to watch them grow and release them into our gardens!!************************************************************************************************************************************************This month I'll be going to New York City and spending some time hiking in the upstate forests and also visiting my son, Cade Hiser, host of "Hungover with Cade" on Cartoon Hangover--the show that produces Adventure Time cartoon and Bravest Warriors.****************************************************************************************************************************************School is out!! Summer is time to workout-play soccer--Do LOTS of ART--explore nature and photograph animals-AND with that news---The end of July will bring about our journey to find and photograph the elusive big cat of the Amazon, the JAGUAR. That is correct we are going to Brazil and the Pantanal in search of jaguars, giant river otters, huge storks, caiman, tapirs, assorted monkeys, and more---some of our time will be spent on horseback, in boats, hiking the jungles, and also on a river boat called the Jaguar Flotel--when we go into the most remote places to find Jaguars. I am still doing plenty of inks and paintings from our thousands of photos from Kenya and now i will have a huge library of photos that Gayln and i will be taking in Brazil--where we should find over 700 species of birds and tons of other wildlife.****THANK YOU for reading and following-please share and enjoy my ART of animals!! Doug Hiser

April Art Shows 2013

Hello! ...Saturday night, April 13, is the Brazos Center for the Arts Gallery opening, which includes my large watercolor painting, Rocky Mountain Bighorns. ...I can announce the Houston Art Society show results: The Rhino and Baby watercolor took, fist in watercolor under glass, Second Best of Show and Best Landscape, while the Mara Elephant took first in Drawing and the ink African Wild Dogs took second. ...The Mainland Art Show featured my Scarlet Ibis ink, Oryx painting and my Kenya Triptych took Honorable Mention. ...The National Society of Artists show to be held at the League City Longhorn Museum in May will include my Kenya Triptych, the Margay Cat Jungle watercolor painting, The African Crested Eagle ink, and the African Wild Hunting Dogs watercolor painting. ...I have enjoyed the Spring weather and the trips birding and hunting alligators. We've journeyed to the Aransas Wildlife Refuge, the Rookery at High Island, and Brazos Bend state Park. Gayln has taken many great photos and I am steadily working on new paintings. ...Here are some of the of the newest art, Thanks for checking it out! Doug Hiser

The Spring Season of ART 2013

Hello! The Spring season has officially arrived and Art is blossoming all around us just like the trees and the flowers coming to life! My teaching has gotten hectic with Visual Art Event over but the State VASE event coming up in April for two of my students and I. We'll be in Bryan College Station in April.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.........In the last few months i have finished many pieces of art, more than usual. I hope those of you on Facebook have gotten to check out the latest art. I also did a couple of commissions and they turned out looking better than i could have hoped. Using my imagination for my jungle backgrounds is my most rewarding attribute and I love creating the trees, and roots, and rocks and vines.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111........IN the coming months I have 9 Art Shows. I have already delivered the Rocky Mountain Bighorn painting to the Brazosport Center for the Arts. Next Saturday I will be delivering three pieces, (probably the Kenya triptych, the Oryx painting, and the Scarlet Ibis) to the Mainland Art Show and also be in Northwest Houston with pieces ( The Masai Mara Elephant ink, African Wild Dogs-maybe the Rhino and baby painting)) in the Houston Artist Society show. The other shows will be named later.*****.................................................................................................On the writing side of my world, my new book has been through some delays-and it is also a small book-less pages than most of my other ones, but called, TEN SECRETS of LOVE and with four Cover Art revisions we have settled on a final cover. Everything else is ready to go except the back cover. Interior work is final. Below is a photo of the cover artwork. Thanks for keeping up and taking the time to read my words, I really appreciate it. If you read this tell me on Facebook what painting i delivered to the Brazosport Center for the Arts and I will mail you a FREE print of one of my animal artworks! BYE for now! DOUG HISER

Spring Art Shows are COMING!!

I know it is only February BUT March seems closer than ever! I have Art shows lined up March 23, March 30, April 11, April 29, State VASE for my student's April 5-6 in Bryan College station. SO I have been producing pieces for these shows and planning our big summer trip to the Brazilian Pantanal -hopefully-anticipating Jaguars, Giant River Otters, Giant anteaters, Maned Wolves, Tyras, Storks, Caiman, Anacondas, Howler Monkeys, Ocelots, maybe even a Margay?!?! _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I just finished the Mara Elephant ink piece, almost finished with Maggie Gray's professional Wildlife photograph of a Rhino and i added the baby Rhino, added the newly repainted Margay detail painting and finally i got a beautiful scan of my Arabian Oryx painting-which is very large!--And last week Famous Wood Sculptor Tree Artist JIM PHILLIPS visited my Art Classes and Demonstrated carving out a sea turtle ALL DAY LONG with chainsaws and other instruments of carving! He was a huge success for my students who garnered autographs on pieces of carved out wood! Thank you JIM!_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________One bad thing about Spring Art Season is that it is also SOCCER season! and those TWO EVENTS always Conflict with ME! With me playing Soccer games on weekends and having Art Events---Art has slowly been winning that war as each year I get Older! I look forward to sharing good news after all these art shows so I'll cross my fingers and rub a rabbit's foot for luck as these next few months come upon us!______________________THANK you FOR READING and SHARING my WORDS AND ART! __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________D O U G H I S E R

Visual Art Event !

What a weekend! My school just experienced a successful Visual Art Scholastic Event, competing at Area UIL competition. 55 High Schools attended the event with over 1700 pieces of art. We had 20 entries from my school's students. The art is judged in 4 categories, Div 1, 2, 3, and 4. @ pieces from ALL of the Art from each categories are chosen for the State event sending a total of 8 pieces to STATE. My students did well, receiving 12 GOLD medals and 2 STATE MEDALS. of the 8 going to State- TWO are from our school, Houston Gateway Academy. I am super proud of my student's hard work and dedication to their own artwork.################################################################################################################################################ The SPring ART SEASON is just around the bend! I have Art shows and engagements lined up and will post more info as i get it on the blog. SO far I have League City Art and Wine Fest march 23,Houston Art Show March 30, Galveston Art Show April 29, April 11 Longhorn Museum Show, and also in March in Texas City is the Mainland Art Fest show. I have also been invited to several other shows but have not worked out the details yet for Old Town Spring and others...................................................................................................................................................AND so EXCITING to take two of my ART Students to Bryan college Station this Spring to the State Visual Arts Event!.........................my novels The Honey Bee Girl and Montana Mist continue to break new ground and the last two months were new best selling months for both books! My time for writing has been extremely limited and it looks bad for the near future for me to find time for working on the new novels until June or July.*************************************************************************************************************************************************More news later on the new large ink piece featuring a solitary elephant and an Acacia Tree in the Masai Mara- I have finished the planning sketch and layout and should start this week on inking in the first layers of technique. Until I find time for more news THANKS for TUNING IN! Doug Hiser

dreaming of Africa

Last night my dreams returned to Africa. The place where the earth became a new discovery. When we are children almost ever day is new. Remember that first time you visited a zoo? Each new animal filled your heart and mind with fresh wonder, awe and inspiration. The first time you felt a tug on a fishing line and you pulled up your first catfish, gills gasping, tail twitching and flopping, you felt such an amazing thing. You only get that sense of wonder so many times in a lifetime. I keep wanting to find that sense of wonder and it is why my heart calls me to travel to those places to find it. I remember standing in Yellowstone at the edge of this massive waterfall. I stood there for almost an hour, my feelings overwhelmed by the immensity and grandeur of such a spectacle of beauty. The first time a child sees a goldfish in a bowl is such a feeling, never having seen a goldfish before they watch it for hours, days, until the feelings numb and finally become adjusted. That is the way of it. Lucky for me the EARTH is too big and too complex and wonderful-even though our destruction of it increases by horrible bounds each day-and i am compelled to seek out each new places

-each new discovery for my own soul.************************************************************************************************I remember waking up in Kenya, stepping a few feet outside out tent in Samburu and finding pizza pan sized footprints in the sand. Elephants, like silent gigantic ghosts in the night, walked a few feet from where we slept and dreamed of the immense beasts. As i look each morning at our bayou, here in Texas, I remember those brief but memorable visits to the jungles of Costa Rica and the savannahs of Africa, the elusive views of toucans and spider monkeys in the canopy and the giant elands on the night drives and I realize and sadly imagine this same bayou winding from the bay like a sleek green twisting and turning anaconda, its banks filled with huge sun basking alligators and hundreds of herons, egrets, ducks, rookeries of white and colorful plumage, bobcats, ocelots, and red wolf packs hunting along the forest edges of the waterway. I think about this as I gradually wake up to the day. These thoughts are usually what compel me to make art of animals and instill in me a burning desire to leave this place of too many people too much destruction and travel- move- follow what is left of the earth..in search of new discovery--that feeling-that I found in Africa that never leaves once discovered-that feeling that my years melted away in that place and each morning I woke up a child-full of wonderment and promise. ************************************************************************************************I have been planning our next trip and it a year long process just to find and figure out where and when we embark on our journey of discovery. In the next few months i'll figure it out and keep creating and dreaming of the animals that are trying to survive- My small contribution is in directing my art students in their Endangered Species Art Project next month! Until the next time-thanks for reading my words and share my blog ---DOUG HISER