Each animal is created entirely with a single color and only black and white to shade and tint.

The monochromatic wildlife series began with Cerulean Shadows. The 36x48 canvas was a gift and I kept it to the side for something special. I finally peeled the wrapper off and roughed in a large portrait of a wolf done in blue. I did not start out with the intention of keeping to one color but discovered that mixing the Pthalo Blue with alternating combinations of black and white created some of the most unexpected hues. After a bit of experimentation I managed to pull out all kinds of subtlety with just a single color.

I lined up all of my paint tubes and began to wonder which animals wanted to speak to me through which color. I took time to research, not just scientific studies, but poring over lore and mythical traditions. I didn’t necessarily want the color to match the animals’ physical appearance, like red for fox or yellow for canary. I tried to think about their inner beauty, their spirit and the legends and myths that surround them.

In some cases the color does match their outward appearance. The spirit of some animals is so intertwined with their outward markings that they cannot easily be separated without losing too much of their essence.

Each animal has a different message and I do my best to represent it. I hope you enjoy the series as much as I do and that you are moved or even pleasantly surprised by the colors through which the animals chose to speak to me.