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Posts tagged ‘animals’

Apr 1

Dutch Delft Lion Charger
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ArtSmart Roundtable – Trust me, that’s a lion

The monthly ArtSmart Roundtable brings together some of the best art history-focused travel blogs with a post around a common theme.  In honor of April Fool’s Day, April 1, were looking at funny, weird or optical illusions in art.  You can find links below to all the group’s examples this month.  Enjoy!

With zoos and photography, we all know what exotic animals look like and certainly take that for granted.  But what if you lived 500 years ago?  If the you are trying to tell a story that required an animal you’ve honestly never seen before, then what do you do?  Well most artists just made it up!  Whales, leopards, and eagles can all look way off.

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Feb 11

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Urban Wildlife: Red-Tailed Hawk

I live in an urban neighborhood but have noticed a few red-tailed hawks around, either gliding gracefully spying prey or perched watching pedestrians.  These birds of prey can be found throughout North America.  Audubon depicted this animal as strong and aggressive showing two fighting over a freshly killed rabbit.

John James Audubon - Red tailed Hawk

Apparently these birds have always been aggressive. John James Audubon, “Red tailed Hawk” from Birds of American

Walking around this weekend to admire the snow, I saw one of the neighborhood hawks catch and eat a pigeon!  It was an unexpected but beautiful example of nature in an otherwise urban area.  I watched the hawk for some time and found that Audubon didn’t come close to capturing the subtle coloring or fluffy under-feathers of this gorgeous bird.

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Jan 31

Photo of the Week – Garden Creature

Peacock in the garden planters (Photo: DaydreamTourist)

My New Years resolution was to try to carry a camera with  me more often. I was pretty quickly rewarded for this in 2012!  After finishing up tasting at the Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery in Woodinville, Washington, I came outside to see this peacock perched on some planters.  While I am still getting use to my new camera, I like the composition and colors of this photo.

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