WOLVES AND UNICORNS

Akela

          Finally finished the painting of Akela; some of you may have seen it on Facebook before I added a few more brushstrokes and signed my name.  It's not for sale because I promised it to a friend who liked it before the painting was half way finished; he saw what I was seeing in the wolf's eyes; no doubt about it, he's the leader of the pack.  I'm going to paint a few more wolves shortly and I may or may not offer them for sale on my blog and Facebook but I'm certainly interested in anyone's thoughts regarding commissioning me to paint one for them or any other animal that they choose.  

          Wolves have always held a certain fascination for me and from what I've read about them, they've been given a very bad rap over the centuries, especially attacks on humans.  Now bears, especially grizzly and polar bears are a lot more dangerous in that regard - we're part of their menu.  When I lived in Calgary years ago, a friend of mine Jimmy Hughes (radio and TV DeeJay) were strolling through the zoo, when we met a man in a zoo uniform playing with what we considered to be a large dog.  As it turned out, the dog was a 6 month old timber wolf.  He allowed us to pet and play with the wolf too.  I can remember the wolf grabbing my arm, my hand entirely enclosed in his long jaws and when he let go, not one of his sharp teeth had so much as penetrated my skin; there wasn't so much as a red mark.  I've only seen one in the wilds and it was during a bus ride from Prince George, BC to Vancouver.  The bus was moving rather slowly at that moment and as I looked out the window, within the shadows of the forest alongside the highway, as if it was an integral part of the forest, I glimpsed a wolf standing and looking back at me (at least that's how it seemed).

Midnight Unicorn

          Since we call our 50 acres, which is located at the base of Green Mountain, in the semi-wilds of NB, Golden Unicorn Farm, I've decided to paint some of the illusive unicorns that are occasionally seen frolicking and cavorting around the property.   Like some of the other paintings I've done beforehand, I thought some of the readers of this blog might like to see the painting from start to finish.  So far, I've managed to sketch one of the unicorns as it daringly ran past my studio window (sure have to be amazingly quick with a pencil - forget the eraser; you either capture it at the moment or you don't.  Of course, since I doubt the unicorn could hold that pose, I now have a wide amount of artistic freedom to paint it as I feel.  Like many of my other paintings, I've used the moon and stars as part of the background so I'm still debating whether to do so or not.  

          Unicorns, like horses, have always been an important part of my life and when I started my advertising business many years ago in Calgary, I designed a unicorn for the logo.  The name of my Calgary based business was Unique Advertising, which I might add, was very successful in those days, when I was barely 30 years of age.  I also used the logo when I opened a gallery, The Golden Unicorn Art Gallery and when I self-published a book I wrote for a friend, I self- published it under Golden Unicorn Publishing.  Not in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would spend the remainder of my days in a place called Fosterville on an acreage that unicorns just seem to love; hence the name Golden Unicorn Farm.  Also, my wife Sarah and I put on an arts festival in August, called, you guessed it, Golden Unicorn Arts Festival.  Although I'm now, I guess what a person might call retired, I think I work harder building and caring for our critters; cleaning out a coop of over 100 chickens dropping their little loads all over the place, take my word for it; at age 71; it's a real job - fortunately, it's not a daily job.  Wow!  I think I just saw a white unicorn prancing across our snowy field - white on white - it was a little difficult to discern and they're very quick - like quicksilver!

          I recently designed something we're considering using for a poster or T-Shirt.  Due to the high prices I've been receiving in regards to using this design on a T-Shirt, I'm not sure if I can afford to get any printed, at least for re-sale.  I would appreciate any comments anyone has regarding this design and if you would consider wearing this sort of apparel, since it's a little tongue-in-cheek.  Also, how much would you be willing to spend on such an item; keep in mind the T-Shirt will be of good quality?  Since I've done a lot of silk-screening in my day, I even tossed around the idea of printing them myself - have to admit though - didn't take very long to discourage that thought.  Besides costing quite a lot of money to do such a thing, I think after miles of pulling a squeegee, I'm totally done with that art form.  Just thinking about silk-screening once again has worked up a powerful thirst - time to fetch me a cold beer - cheers, eh!