2014 WHAT A YEAR!

Thanksgiving has come and gone, Christmas looms on the near horizon.  My Art teaching career has been driving me like a runaway train across the frozen Antarctic lands where only penguins go-which means I am so busy i barely take a breath between 530 in the morning and 330 in the afternoon.  This teaching gig keeps me --stretched--and pulled in 20 or more different directions by art students craving HELP on their projects!  I cannot get to them all in a day, but i try...i try like a Mad Wizard with magic hands and flying pencils and brushes across stark snow-white canvas!

I still feel like this will be my best year of teaching and my wonderful students are producing artwork they can be proud of for the rest of their lives!  My ambition and passion for throwing so much work and imagination, inspiration and creativity demands upon them has also been the cause of my extreme workload.  My own ART work time has suffered but it is worth it for my kids.  

This year has been a wild and amazing ride.  From last January-when i held my SOLO show, Painted Jungles, featuring over 80 of my Wildlife Paintings, to my students winning an amazing 23 GOLD Medals at V.A.S.E., to the selection to be a featured Wimberley Boot Artist in the Texas Hill Country and to be a part of such a great group of Artists painting those giant Boots and to see mine installed in front of the Wimberley Visitor Center this past September, and the surprising honor, qualifying for the National Show for 5 years in a row,  to get the Gold Medal and become a Signature Member of the National Society of Artists and use the N.S.A. behind my name, and a special day as the invited Featured Speaker at College of the Mainland this past October, explaining my wildlife jungle travels around the planet and the writing journeys of my books.  What a year and only one month to go!  

I could not have done any of this without my fantastic beautiful supportive wife, Gayln.  She has read every page of every book in progress, has walked with me every step of the way-following Jaguars in Brazil, watching the bubble-net feeding of Humpback Whales in Alaska, stepping over Galapagos Marine Iguanas, being charged by elephants in Kenya and so many other adventures-she was once even attacked right here in Texas by an alligator!  We play soccer on three teams together and have for so many years!  Our lives are full and sometimes overwhelming but we are living life as full as we can, filling up each day with love and sharing, art and reading, writing, and hiking, birding and watching the sunset by the water.

I keep producing 100 to 300 pieces of art each year and trying to keep track of my son working in New York City for Frederator, making Adventure Time Cartoons, hosting 2 shows, Hungover with Cade and Toy Pizza, and now the Stupendous News, my daughter, Heather, is going to have a baby!  Gayln and I will take a new step in life and become the wild crazy Grandparents who love art and animals!

ALASKA Journal

Day One Anchorage, Alaska:  After a minor luggage delay---{my luggage was missing for about 20 minutes in the Anchorage Airport)---we get settled in our beautiful downtown hotel and start out walking in the rain searching for food.  A cafe presents itself--very small and no people-almost seemed like it was closed.  It took forever to get service and after a glance at the menu we decided this place was NOT for us.  The waiter never returned anyway, SO, out the door we ran!  Three blocks later we come across a Mexican Cafe called La Casada and we had a Puerto Rican Waitress bring us some delicious food!

Day Two:  We leave anchorage by the Alaska Railway-a glass domed train.  We traveled 8 hours in that train and got to observe Alaska's beautiful landscapes and waterways.  We also saw our first Alaska wolf, eagle, and moose along the trip.  In the marshes we passed a saw a few horned grebes and their babies.  AS we entered the thick forests I noticed that thousands of ferns covered the forest floor.  I found out that the ferns are supposed to be good to eat covered in Garlic and Butter, but isn't everything good covered in garlic and butter?  One of the Guides on the train, a collage aged girl, told us that if we come upon a bear during a hike we're should sing it a song, "Hey there, Mr. Bear..."   Dinner that night was near Denali at the famous Salmon Bake and after dinner we enjoyed an impressive Naturalist lecture about Alaskan wildlife.  We had a great sleep that night at our cabin by the Nenana River in Denali.

Day Three:  Up early for reindeer sausage and eggs and an 8 hour tour of Denali Nat'l Park.  The day was rainy and cold but we were determined to just put on rain-gear and protect the cameras and have a great time.  One Grizzly sighting started the trip and of course we saw the white dots high in the mountains, Dall Sheep.  Later we came up next to a large herd of Caribou with impressive antlers close to us.  Mt. McKinley loomed in the distance but the clouds never parted to show us the summit.  I found a rack of Caribou antlers hiking away from the tour and after picking them up realized how strong those Caribou are to carry such a heavy piece of equipment on their heads!  That evening after a great dinner of fried chicken wings  we watched a gold panning stream and Gayln got a "moose" penny.

Day Four:  The day of the LONG HIKE.  We left our cabin at about 10:30 am hiking into the mountains.  We followed the Triple Lakes Trail.  We began with heavy coats but soon it got hot and we were down to just a light shirt, of course the backpacks got bulkier with coats in them.  We hiked through white barked Birch trees with warblers and Juncos flitting about.  They were also a number of multi-colored butterflies along the trail.  We hiked down to the first big lake and encountered Beaver "chewed" trees and found a massive Beaver Lodge next to the bank.  After about an hour of our hike we saw a dark storm coming over the distant blue and white mountains.  A little while later after crossing a few creeks and small waterfalls in the rising elevations the first raindrops began to fall, at least disturbing the BIG Alaskan mosquitoes that seemed to like to fly right by your ears.  We quickly donned raincoats and for the next few hours were drenched and of course it was cold now.  At least in the rain we encountered  more creatures of the forest, red squirrels, gray jays, stellar jays, juncos, robins, white striped sparrows, warblers, and others in the the thick Spruce and Birch trees.  After three hours we finally decided to turn back and the rain stopped.  We heard a loud crashing in the wood and we thought it was either a bear or a moose.  I looked down and saw the fresh moose tracks in the mud.  It must have been slowly following us on the trail.  The hike back was long and we were exhausted, me more than Gayln, she is like the "iron woman."  We got back to the cabin about 5 pm and took a shuttle to the Nature Center for the rest of the afternoon.

Day Five:  Bus trip back to Anchorage.  A few wildlife sightings from the bus, moose, eagles, mountain goats, dall sheep.  The inlets and lakes through the mountains were like hidden facets in a diamond of beauty.  Our first encounter with Arctic Terns-a bird that flies farther than any other bird from North to South Poles.  We boarded our ship, the Oosterdam, that afternoon and attended a nature seminar, Furs, Fins, and Feathers.

Day Six:  Finally after a week of no gym workouts, we go to the ship's gym and get a good weight lifting session with a hot tub soak and a swim in the pool on deck.  The day was at sea so we explored the ship and attended shows and I had some of my favorite food, Escargot.  I also had to to sip hot chocolate and sketch the passing mountain and glacier scenery from the Crow's Nest of the ship.

Day Seven:  The islands and the passing seascapes and majestic blue and white scintillating mountains were breathtaking.  We scanned the cliffs and were rewarded by finding Dall sheep and Mountain Goats.  We spotted a few bear roaming along the shores.  A few of the small islands were covered in bright orange tan piles of "sausages" which were actually Stellar Sea Lions.  Sea Otters swam around our ship slowly.  We spotted whales blowing spray along the shores.  Today was my first ever sighting of Puffins!

Day Eight:  Haines, Alaska, my new favorite small town.  We take a 45 minutes trip past Mosquito Lake--well named because giant mosquitoes were everywhere.  We were now in thick woods, and the trees were filled with awesome, black as the pits of hell, Ravens!  We were greeted at an old wooden gate by a mountain man with a huge grey beard and longhair with a red tailed hawk perched on his hand.  We entered their woods and were treated to a day of amazing animal encounters, red and arctic foxes, lynx, wolves, grizzly, moose, caribou, minks, ermines, weasels, martins, and a Wolverine!  Later hiking the rocky shore of Haines we found a moose bone.  In Haines, we saw the world's largest Hammer!  At the Eagle Recovery Center we met Dylan -the blind in one eye- Screech Owl and then near the ship later watched pigeon Guillemots -black arctic birds swim in the water like crazy ducks!

Day Nine:  Juneau and the amazing Whale day!  Best tour guides and staff of the trip.  We encountered so many whales that day, along with Sea Otters and Stellar Sea Lions.  The highlight of the tour was discovering a "GAM" of 16 humpback whales and we watched for hours as they demonstrated "bubble netting."  The whales created a net of bubbles and then all at once would open their huge mouths and all break the surface at once engorging on smelt-little fish.  Even some of the humpback younger whales leapt high breaching in the air.  We also were lucky enough to spot the flukes of "Sasha"the icon Alaskan whale who has the letters " and K" on her tail and she is 14 years old the same as Gayln and I-wedding anniversary on this trip!  returning to Juneau with visions of leaping and blowing whales in our head we stopped by the famous Red Dog Saloon to see Wyatt Earp's pistol on the wall behind the bar.

Day Ten:  The 4th of July Parade in small Ketchikan, Alaska was fantastic.  We caught a bunch of candy from the parade revelers!  I loved the reindeer on a stick freshly grilled.  That afternoon we took a tour guide into the Tongass Nat'l Rain forest.  This guide was SO annoying!  She couldn't identify any of the birds, and would never shut her loud mouth so we could enjoy the serenity of the rain forest.  She went on and on about every plant and moss species, meanwhile we're trying to photograph the many birds around us.  Gayln found an eagle perched not 20 feet from us and what does the guide say, "hey you two you need to hurry up you're getting behind!"  The eagle enjoyed that and flew off.  Later we come out of the forest and find a small river with waterfalls and the guide was ushering us in hurry again, good thing we hung back because we spotted a bear and her 3 cubs heading down to fish in the river.  Of course the big lady loud mouth guide tried to take credit for showing the rest of the people the bear! Gayln got good photos and a snowy owl.  

Day Eleven:  At sea again.Many Eagles flying by in the :Inside Passage" and we watched one eagle resting on a floating piece of ice.   The mountains and seascapes on each side of the ship were magical and were streamed with blues and violets and mists of grey and white, reflecting in the water and the deep green of the spruce trees were like spires of emeralds as we glided by.  

Day Twelve:  Vancouver, Canada city tour.  We have been here before but once again it is a beautiful city with many Eagles and a wonderful Aquarium.  Alaska was an incredible experience but I would not want to be there in the winter!  

This week I leave for Wimberley, Texas to get started in the Blue Hole studio working on painting 14 Texas bird species on the six foot tall acrylic boot to be installed in front of the Visitor Center.  Saturday my ink piece, "Bass, Crappie, Perch" will be delivered to the Nat'l LSAG show in the Woodlands and this month I am teaching a "Wine and Wire Trees" workshop.  

July 26th we will be in the Bahamas for my beautiful daughter, Heather's, WEDDING!!

SHORT STORY: The Artist's Cats by Doug Hiser

The Artist's Cats

Doug Hiser

The warehouse is big and spacious and full of odd gusts of breeze from unknown origin. I've slept half the Sunday away. All I do is paint. Make art. I once sold something and got a lot of money.

That was long ago. I still have the money. It was good for one thing. It allows me to eat, sleep, and create. I lost my last girlfriend three months ago. She wanted more in life than to live in a warehouse with hundreds of paintings stacked everywhere. I bought this warehouse because it was isolated, miles from buildings and people, down a dusty or muddy road in the back woods. I had deer and badgers for neighbors. I am by myself, no family, no friends, just a rambling story of wasted years. There is a bright white new canvas waiting for me by the window.

My cats, Felicity and Theseus, come running when my feet hit the cold concrete floor as I slowly get out of bed. The cats purr and rub against my bare legs. I look at my melting clock and see it is already three in the afternoon. I must have drank too much hot chocolate last night. I put on my oldest pair of shorts, the ones with the worn out elastic so that I have to constantly pull them up, and slip into my ragged sandals, heading slowly outside to check the mail, since I haven't since last Wednesday. The walk to the mailbox is at least half a football field and I am glad the trees in my part of the woods are tall and shady because it is early summer and already the sun is bright and hot. The mailbox is full and I have to clean a spiderweb from the handle to get the mail. I don't like spiders. As I walk back to the door an upside down squirrel watches me clinging to a thick tree. I reach for the door and notice the note taped to it.

The note was hand written in purple ink, “I came by last night. I only started to knock or call you but I didn't have the courage. We are over. We both agreed but I keep thinking about you living up here in these woods with no one but those evil cats. I miss you, If you need to talk call me. Pamela.”

I went inside and left the door open to allow more of the cool breeze to battle the heat of the day. The new white canvas stares at me. Waiting. Wanting my time, my energy. I go over to my long row of record albums and pull out the faded black one with the prism and pyramid on the cover. I can hear the crackle of the needle as it follows the familiar grooves of the black vinyl and the sounds of Pink Floyd fill the many speakers hung in strategic places all over the warehouse. The music soothes me like a loving massage. I make some hot tea and stare at the note.

Felicity and Theseus are reclining on the rug near the big windows where the sun comes in and lights up their fur like white feathery flames. They sleep like bats in the daytime and I can tell they dream of hunting as I watch their long tails twitch. I think about her. Pamela was here last night. Dark red hair, almond shaped eyes of purest green, freckled skin like a jungle cat, she was standing right outside that big iron door. She must have stared at that door. I was asleep dreaming of nothing and a red-haired girl was at my door.

As I listen to the sound of “Us and Them” I let it get inside of my emotions and think of red hair and freckles. The cats sleep and dream and I get up and find my favorite paintbrush. The canvas is like a lost lover that is insistent and hungry. I haven't even brushed my teeth or combed my wild hair. All I feel is the music and that white pure canvas enticing me to join it in a dance that only I can feel.

That day and that night belong to us. The white turns to magic, to colors, to something new. The record ends and another drops on the turntable, Rick Wakeman, sounds of grandiose magnificence and I become ferocious with creativity. The canvas and I, into the night and my front door still stands open. The cats have gone out hunting. I sit down on the edge of the bed and stare at the note. But all I read is, “Pamela.”  

Summer Art Blockbuster!

That's right Summer is here and it is going to be a SPLASH!  First News is that my ink work, Bass, Crappie, Perch, first place in the NSA Art Show qualified and will be featured in the National Art Convention at the Woodland Waterway Marriott June 18-19 2014.

The Six Foot Tall Boots for Bootiful Wimberley will be arriving any day and the 20 artists will start painting their designs in an art gallery space in Wimberley Texas.  My BOOT, The Birds of the Hill Country, will feature 14 species of birds and will be stationed at the Wimberley Visitor's Center this July.  I am excited to begin the painting of the birds on that giant boot.

My wife and I will be traveling to Alaska and Denali National Park for a North American Safari.  we searching for Grizzly Bears and salmon action, Moose, Caribou, Elk, Dall sheep, Wolves, maybe Musk Oxen, foxes, and any other creature we might encounter.  Dog Sledding, Whales, and Kayaking--hiking and then we follow the safari up with a 7 day CRUISE to relax!  

I am posting the steps to my POND SLIDERS painting.  This painting made me reflect and realize things about my art, about why i create, and why i do not want to compromise my style to just be accepted or to fit into someone's category or genre.  I am unique.  I didn't ask to be.  I wanted to grow up and be normal like everyone else but it didn't happen.  I am self taught in almost all things.  I even taught myself to tie my shoes---and my method of tying shoes is not your normal way either.  My lifelong obsession with art is also a self taught journey.  I mix media constantly because I do whatever it takes to create the image i am searching for in my zen-like state of creating.  Take a look at the variety of galleries on my website, doughiser.com, and it will seem that many different styles of artists created all that art.  The same goes for my writing, my novels, and stories.  I write romance, sci-fi, adventure, mystery, young adult, fantasy.  You cannot put me in a category and that is what makes for a conundrum.  The best fit for me is wildlife artist and prolific writer.  I LOVE wildlife art, all of it, even though most of it looks too much like a photograph.  I like realism in animal art too, but I also want my art to reflect me and my view.  The recent Turtle painting, POND SLIDERS, reflects this attitude.  The pond sliders I saw in the water recently had shells covered in algae and moss and they had muddy feet and mud on their shells.  I want to make my art real but go beyond that and make things bright, more colorful.  I used baby turtles to get the bright shells and dynamic patterns.  As you see in the painting my turtles are brilliantly patterned and colorful.  Not like real life but more hyper-real as if they were the turtles that swim in iridescent rivers in Heaven.

Many artists work has a similar look to it.  I take pride in my evolution as an animal artist that my work looks like no other artist---so i do not compromise--and I hope you like it because I LOVE creating animal ART!

Animals and Art - Hiser's World

The school year is coming to a close and the summer time for more art and writing is fast approaching.  My students attended the Texas State Visual Arts Event and had a great day in College Station.  We enjoyed seeing the best High School artwork in the state.  I taught an ink workshop to so many young talented young artists.  My new friend and fellow artist, Anat Ronen was there, creating amazing sidewalk art!

The National Society of Artists held there annual art show and my new ink piece "Bass, Crappie, Perch" took 1st in the drawing category professional, while "Fish Market" the giant river otter and kingfisher painting took honorable mention in professional watercolor.

Tonight is the Mainland Art Show and all three of my pieces made the juror judging, "Mara Elephant" ink, "Jaguar Pantanal" and "Hyacinth Macaws"

April 29th will be the Houston Gateway Spring Art show where my students will showcase over 300 pieces of their art and win over 20 prizes of medals, ribbons and art supplies.  I am super excited to see who will win the awards.  It has been a successful year in Art with my students and I have enjoyed leading them into their imagination and talent on their journey into the arts.

Enjoy my 2 new inks and new watercolor paintings.

Until next time thank you for reading my blog!  DOUG HISER

Spring Break Arts

A busy Spring Break, full of creating art, working on my art career plan, delivering art to the upcoming shows, preparing and choosing Art festivals, and so many other endeavors--so much stuff that my Spring Break is really SPRING WORK!!
NEWS:  My Jaguar Pantanal painting was accepted in the juired show "TEXAS Artist"s--only 29 Artists made the cut--in Old Towne Spring.
NEWS: I will be entering 3 new paintings into the Texas City Art Show next month!
NEWS:  I will also be entering three more new paintings into the National Society of Artists Show next month.
NEWS April 5th I will be taking my Art Students to attend State Visual Arts Event in College Station.
NEWS: Hopefully my NEW WEBSITE will be up and running next month!
I have so much writing to get done this summer--working on two novels--The "Island of the Moala Komo" and my sequel to Montana Mist-Winter of the White Wolf"---Montana Night-Winter of the Black Wolf"

With the world spinning around me, my daughter is getting married in the Bahamas--a few weeks after our Alaskan Denali Wildlife trip this summer, and so many things potentially up in the air with speaking and shows---i just keep my head down under the swirling cloud and keep making art.  SO little time and so many animals!!  Thanks for following me and reading my words!  I'll keep making art about animals--you keep caring about the beauty of animal life in the world.   Doug Hiser

PAINTED JUNGLES HISER ART SHOW

THAT'S RIGHT!!  
THE WILD ART BY DOUG HISER.............................................
 PAINTED JUNGLES ART SHOW IS ON...JAN 7TH running through FEB 2nd at the Brazos Center of the Arts and Sciences, located at Brazosport College in Clute, Texas.""""""""I recently enjoyed a few moments on "AIR" on localliveHouston Radio show -Stiletto Radio with "CATZILLA" last Thursday evening and it was a fun and enjoyable interview!""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""The Art show opening reception was Jan 10th and we were lucky to have large crowds and many art buyers there.  I enjoyed meeting so many new animal lovers and art enthusiasts!  Thanks to all that showed up and had a grand time buying my art and listening to me ramble about my wildlife adventures around the world.  I liked telling the animal encounter stories behind the paintings.  My wife and I love tracking and observing animals in the wild and I can think of no better way to relive these adventures than through my heart by producing vivid compositions of the beautiful and mysterious wildlife in a wild and natural habitat of one of my watercolor paintings or a detailed ink or pencil illustrations.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>This summer of 2014 we will journey NORTH----to Tongass National Forest and Denali National Park in Alaska.  We look forward to exciting observations of Grizzly bears and salmon, black bears, Elk, Caribou herds, musk ox, wolverines, wolves, foxes, dall sheep, bald eagles, orcas, humpback whales, porpoises, sea lions, otters, and more.........................................................Enjoy the steps of my latest Brazilian Pantanal painting--Palm Tree Hyacinth Macaws--the largest and most endangered macaw on planet Earth.  We have many stories of them flying over us and all around, chattering above us in the tree tops, but most of all they always seem to be smiling at you!  I wanted to capture that in my painting.  Thanks for tuning in on my artistic wildlife journey! Doug Hiser