Watching nature in Matagorda

Thanksgiving is over and the food was great and the family interesting as always. We took time out on the way from Galveston county driving 2 hours to Port Lavaca, Texas, for my Wife's family gathering and took a detour in Bay City, Matagorda Wildlife Refuge. We have stopped here many times and the birding is always rewarding.***************************************************************************************This time the adventure included my wife, Gayln, getting extremely close to a beautiful Red-shouldered Hawk. The photos are below. We also were very lucky to sit and watch a belted kingfisher catch a fish too large to swallow. For twenty minutes, he slapped and pounded that silver fish against the tree branch on the other side of the Colorado River. It was so awesome, because Kingfishers can be such elusive birds to watch.*************************************************************************************************We were lucky to encounter a trio of gorgeous wood ducks and buffleheads. Other species we got good views of were Brown Thrashers, chasing each other in and out of the foliage, egrets, a lone Roseate Spoonbill, flycatchers, yellow rumped warblers, vireos, and many others. We also took the easy photos of those swamp dwellers on logs, red eared sliders and other assorted turtles. This was the first time we failed to see any alligators but the day was slightly chilly.***************************The swamps, the woods, the ponds and river foliage, and the many vines and interesting trees all have spots in my mind's reference eye for future paintings. I did some sketches later in the weekend and I am pondering my next painting this week. Christmas is on the horizon and this time of year gets too busy for me and puts a damper on my art time. Hey guys, Thanks for READING!! Doug Hiser

San Antonio Art Conf 2012

Hello!********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************I am back from three days at the San Antonio Art Teachers Conference, the Riverwalk, and the ZOO! I have to say that each conference workshop is a great experience with learning and pushing boundaries in my art realms. The most rewarding experience is that many art teachers are also artists and the conversations seem to be so gratifying. The best thing about the event is that I always come away with so many NEW ideas about teaching art and so many different styles for tweaking my lesson plans. Being around so many good teachers and artists is what I miss most about being the only artist on my campus. On the other side of that coin is the difference of opinion that i have from some of the other art teachers. For example--there is an OLD School way of thinking about art and a New Age of imaginative thinking and the OLD School is still pushing their philosophy against the rising Tsunami of the NEW WORLD of Imaginative ART. I think the ART world Academia are still pushing their Agenda and they do control the Art Education world in college and school, for now. SO I am STILL a REBEL, i guess because, even though I have a college art education I do not follow their beliefs. I could write an entire novella on this topic but I'll stop here and just say---it is better to keep quiet about your opinion on "HOW to teach and What to teach" when in the company of ART Academia. I will let my ART speak for itself instead and my student's art speaks loudly too. :) ***************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************Here are some of the many different and unique examples of stuff I did in workshops---> Thanks for reading my words! Doug Hiser

Art Festival Season and a BABY RHINO!

I have had a busy season of 2012 so far after returning from our trip to Africa. I had a few art shows squeezed in with the Bay area Art Walk, the Word Wrangler Fest, The East Texas Book Fest, Galveston Artoberfest, Seabrook Art Fest and the Santa Fe Heritage Fest. Next week I will be in San Antonio for the Texas Art Educators Conf. Thursday through Sunday. So far I have not been persuaded to do any Art Fests or shows in December but that could change. I will be featuring my student's Christmas art at the HGA Christmas Program on December 21st.*********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************As far as producing ART. I am going at WARP speed. I finished my baby Rhino today and will share it with you below. I am steadily working on a large 36 x 40 Aplomado Falcon and starting a painting of a fight scene between a white tiger and a 'regular' haha tiger.**********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************Please, my friends, share my blog and my art and it helps us to grow and reach more people who love art and wildlife, who care about conservation and saving our planets precious animals! Thanks for tuning in again. Doug Hiser

Seabrook Arts Fest Awesome!

Last weekend I enjoyed a windy but satisfying day of selling ART and BOOKS to the Avid art lovers of Seabrook, Texas. Canvas sales, matted prints and all sizes in between, the people who attended the FEST seemed to LOVE ART!! ..............................................................................................In TWO Weeks, November 10th, Saturday, I will be set up at Runge Park in Santa Fe, Texas--for the annual Heritage Festival. I haven't been to it since I was a little kid. The event should be a fun time and I am hoping to introduce so many new readers to the Santa Fe amazon bestselling novel, The Honey Bee Girl.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The following weekend, November 15,16,17, 18th- takes me to the Texas Art Educators Conference in SAN ANTONIO, Texas. I am very excited to attend my 6th annual conference. Last year my African Cape Buffalo took third place in the Texas teachers Art Show. I have more art entered this year.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I am so close to finishing the IBIS and PALMS ink piece and barely begun to work on the gigantic ink of the Aplomado Falcon. I'll share so older works of shorebirds here: