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

2013 A NEW YEAR for ART!

As I write this I am back teaching the 2nd semester of High School Art Students and almost TOO busy to ever get any of my own artwork accomplished. The Visual Arts Scholastic Event is coming up for my students in 3 weeks and I will be totally embroiled in preparations for the event up until that time.*****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************With that explained I'll share the last few paintings I completed in December and the new one I finished today. This new one, an american Kestral, which I used to call a "Sparrow Hawk" I used a technique I just invented and I sort of like the way it turned out. I used a blue-black BIC pen and Derwent color pencils. It almost has a metallic strong finish to it. Kind of like a Heavy Metal Little Hawk! **********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************Those who follow on Facebook might have seen the Mara Hippo or the Barn Owl and maybe even the steps in the other hawk. During the holidays I had some ups and downs, mostly ups-seeing my daughter and son come home and spending time with my family. I did spend some time out in nature and had some really great encounters with local wildlife. I spent about 20 minutes only a few yards away from the most beautiful Loggerhead Shrike I have ever seen. That bird was not even afraid of me-and I didn't have my camera! I also got to watch two White-tailed Kites flying above a lake for some time. I have been having visits from three Pied-billed Grebes here on the bayou in my backyard this winter-seems like they show up every year at this time. I also have had plenty of Kingfisher visits and lately brown pelicans have been cruising down the bayou. ************************************************************************************************The Art Show season has been slow lately but in a few months the Springtime will pick it back up! One last thing My 2 bestsellers, The Honey Bee Girl and Montana Mist keep on finding their way into the reading public with the help of many good reviews showing up on Amazon.com. Now if you haven't discovered my FAVORITE Book that I have written, Tropical Calypso, order one today! AND stay tuned I'll soon be announcing when my new book will be ready for sale, Ten Secrets of Love! Thanks for staying with me, Doug Hiser

MUTT Online - Arts Community, empowering those in the arts from around the world to reach their full potential

MUTT Online - Arts Community, empowering those in the arts from around the world to reach their full potential

CHRISTMAS in the HISER world!!

Okay so it is almost Christmas and the Christmas break began with the END of the WORLD. These next two weeks should be spent with family, watching the new movies, football and soccer games, getting some serious art time AND some SERIOUS NAP TIME!!***********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************Our Christmas Art Show at HGA went well and now my students will be getting ready for UIL Visual Scholastic Arts Event in Feb. I will be finishing my Aplomado Falcon gigantic 4 x 5-ish ink piece! Below I have added 3 steps to my close up Kenya Hippo painting--which i will also be finishing soon. Still working on the different cover versions for my new BOOK due out in a few months: TEN SECRETS OF LOVE************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************During these two weeks I will also be scheduling my Art and book appearances for the upcoming SPRING ART season! I hope to see many of you soon! Thanks for reading my words and checking out my ART! Doug Hiser