Large Animal Paintings

Artist Comments
Artist Guigen Zha paints a giant blooming peony in lush shades of pink. As the national flower of China, they represent prosperity and nobility. A silhouette of a deer stands in the foreground, silent and majestic. The animal is a symbol of peace and happiness in Chinese culture. Together, they express sources of noble associations and interpretations. Guigen explores the sublime parallels between humans, animals, and nature.

About the Artist

Words that describe this painting: healing, peony, deer, animal, belief, landscape, floral, poetic, oilpaint, flower, surrealism, animals, nature, surrealism, oil painting, pink

One Blossom One World...

Artist Comments
"These raucous birds arrive at my Santa Barbara feeder in flocks," shares artist Emil Morhardt. "They shoo away sparrows and hous...

Artist Comments
Artist Kira Yustak blends impressionist and primitive approaches in her portrait of a blackbird amongst tall cattails. She draws inspiration from observing them in waterways and marshy areas nearby. Kira paints it larger than life to highlight the feathers and make a bold statement. Her style bears influence from natural history illustrations...

Artist Comments
When artist Jo Galang moved to Vancouver many years ago, she and her family settled in the city near Stanley Park. "On frequent visits to the park, we would o...

Artist Comments
A whimsical and dramatic portrait of a stylish figure posed with a lion. "I wanted to create a striking fantasy, playing up the sophistication of the model ag...

Artist Comments
In this fantastical jungle scene, artist Miranda Gamel uses tigers as a symbol of strength and leadership. "Placing the tigers in the fire is meant to bring c...

Artist Comments
With a determined expression, a Pointer leaps out of the water over a colorful beach ball. Artist Jeff Fleming describes his painting style as kinetic impressionism. He started the piece with a pencil sketch on the canvas, then with gloved hands, he applied oil paint using his fingers. Details were later added using brushes. Once these layers of paint dried, he moved the piece to his studio floor. "At this point, I whisked paint in random but authoritative strokes - a speckling technique which replicates water splashing."

About the Artist
Artist Jeff Fleming uses fingerpainting to create exuberant portraits of dogs. Growing up in Southern California, Jeff was first introduced to fingerpainting in kindergarten. He painted through high school and college and won several art awards, including Best of Show in a city wide student competition. After graduating with a degree in journalism and advertising, he went to work as an art director. For the next 40 years, he created print, radio and television ads for a number of top agencies. "After retiring in 2019, the clouds of stress and pressure cleared and allowed me to set my creative energy free," says Jeff. He began developing new techniques focused on the excitement and energy of painting. Today, he uses a variety of methods and tools, including fingerpainting wearing nitrile gloves, traditional paint brushes, bamboo shish kebab sticks, kite string, spraypaint and splattering. While working, Jeff always listens to music, including Broadway musicals, dance music and rhythmic Hawaiian tunes.

Words that describe this painting: Pointer, dog, impressionism, Iris Scott...

Artist Comments
Artist Emil Morhardt depicts an Elegant Tern and a Forster’s Tern hanging together in the winter shallows of the Santa Barbara beach in California. Their evening reflections ripple above the water highlighted in gold, silver, and copper leaf. "While the Elegant Terns show up in huge flocks, the much smaller Forester’s tern is uncommon in Santa Barbara, and so a treat to see."

About the Artist
Emil Morhardt is an acrylic painter from Santa Barbara, California who expresses his passion for birds through realistic acrylic paintings. He paints at home in a studio room that has large windows and a north-facing view of the mountains. He observes the animals from this window, watching roadrunners, foxes, bobcats, deer, and coyote run by. Surrounded by this wildlife, Emil paints bird portraits reminiscent of those by artist John James Audubon. He bases his paintings off hundreds of photographs he takes of birds in the wild and at wildlife recovery centers. Emil captures the freedom and inquisitiveness that birds display in the natural world. Before painting birds, he painted landscapes of San Francisco and the Eastern Sierra. Emil was raised in the high desert of California and learned to paint from his father, who was one of the early California watercolorists...

Artist Comments
"No bad days with a dog, a ball, and a beach!" states artist Jeff Fleming. He describes his painting style as kinetic impressionism, embodying action, color and fun. "I started with a pencil sketch, then with gloved hands, applied oil paint using my fingers. Later, I added details using brushes and string. Once dried, I moved the piece to my studio floor where I whisked paint in authoritative strokes - a technique that replicates splashing."

About the Artist
Artist Jeff Fleming uses fingerpainting to create exuberant portraits of dogs. Growing up in Southern California, Jeff was first introduced to fingerpainting in kindergarten. He painted through high school and college and won several art awards, including Best of Show in a city wide student competition. After graduating with a degree in journalism and advertising, he went to work as an art director. For the next 40 years, he created print, radio and television ads for a number of top agencies. "After retiring in 2019, the clouds of stress and pressure cleared and allowed me to set my creative energy free," says Jeff. He began developing new techniques focused on the excitement and energy of painting. Today, he uses a variety of methods and tools, including fingerpainting wearing nitrile gloves, traditional paint brushes, bamboo shish kebab sticks, kite string, spraypaint and splattering. While working, Jeff always listens to music, including Broadway musicals, dance music and rhythmic Hawaiian tunes.

Words that describe this painting: dog, animal, impressionism, Iris Scott...

Artist Comments
Artist Heather Foster encountered this inquisitive subject while painting en plein air. "This nosy California girl wanted to be front and center to see what t...

Artist Comments
Long-Billed Curlews, some of the largest of the shorebirds, often hang out together, milling around at the edge of the surf, then wading in to feed. I spotted...

Artist Comments
This painting was inspired by my view from a hotel balcony in Paris. I captured the motion and texture of the moment in my signature style to inspire the view...