Sunday, January 11, 2009
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
FLORA & FAUNA IN PERIL
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEApXE580Zuc7JfxbuSyUkPoF__hB30kz4HtbhfIL6ZGCGpqgnO_WKIWVs7_ZWqpn3Pn85miFgaqHFAwvbKEXGydLmDxtyspx6ezgPDT52-FDO3YWkUYts15CpKfWOUZyCfOGV/s400/cpbvk-ayeaye+.jpg)
I'm afraid I dropped the ball on this one; I wanted to participate, but simply couldn't find the time to paint a new piece before the jury deadline. An article in the Washington Times seemed a bit short of flattery (the final sentence, in particular), but it provides a short slide show of works from ESFFIP. The decision to select Suzan Hamilton-Todd's painting of an Aplomado Falcon (below) to illustrate the article was interesting to me.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZIaq8ncif1gyoT3wdapjuee6yQWqPe4TXQpoJfWxrRhUqn9y21n27B4e0K5n9RB7evJkFV1i6Ap43Y_qmaWtZ8AyEdTCYrLbNMkL-kh0NmX83_S8-O3jumYSjjBq9snvdNb2h/s400/todd-aplomado.jpg)
These small chaparral falcons with long tails and legs are the most accipiter-like members of their genus. With their bold black belly-band, dark blue-gray upperparts (“aplomado” means “leaden”) and distinctive facial pattern, they are unmistakable. While it's a perfectly fine image in itself, exactly what Hamilton-Todd's Saker-like painting says about its intended subject eludes me. If you see something I don't please comment. Perhaps the editors liked its “post-realist” look, or maybe a deeper point was being made. Of the nine pieces in the slideshow, I regret to say that nothing strikes me as terribly noteworthy. It's hard to judge a show of 50 pieces on the basis of nine little jpeg images, but I see the very fact of this exhibition as a good thing. Hopefully it will encourage more artists to move in this direction, and it's bound to spark at least a bit of that all-important thought and conversation. It runs through February 7th.
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upper: AYE-AYE & GIANT LEAF-TAILED GECKO (1996) acrylic 18" x 24"
lower: Northern Aplomado Falcon painting by Suzan Hamilton-Todd