American Realist Animal Paintings

Artist Comments
Artist Emil Morhardt photographed this goose from a small boat on the Multnomah Channel in Portland, Oregon. "It was serenely paddling along just a few feet a...

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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...

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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...

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A majestic white stallion takes a refreshing sip from a river in artist Guigen Zha's realistic piece. The pristine water ripple around the gorgeous water lili...

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Artist Pamela Hoke displays a monochromatic portrait of a highland cattle. She captures the serenity of a majestic yet gentle and b...

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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...

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"Great horned owls spend a lot of time sitting and intently watching, rotating their heads to look at whatever interests them, including me," shares artist Emil Morhardt...

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"The Galapágos hawk (Buteo galapagoensis) is the same genus and size as the North American Red-tailed Hawk, but a little darker," explains artist Emil Morhard...

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Artist Emil Morhardt captures a sanderling scurrying along the edge of incoming surf. "In a second, he'll turn around and follow ...

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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...

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

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"Who knew that Snowy Egrets at the beach hunted beetles?" says artist Emil Morhardt. "This one was stealthily sneaking up on some...

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Willets are usually at the edge of the surf, poking into the wet sand as they follow each wave in and out. This one, when I came on him, was standing above th...

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"These two glowing marbled godwits are painted at the edge of the surf on a soft late evening on a Santa Barbara beach," sh...

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"These two long-billed curlews are gazing at us with an unmistakable curiosity," says artist Emil Morhardt. "Like many shorebirds, when I sat on the beach qui...

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A brown colt quenches its thirst from a pristine lotus pond in artist Guigen Zha's symbolic piece. Part of his Dreamland series high...

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A ceramic camel sculpture and a vase with lotus flowers settle on the surface of artist Guigen Zha's realistic piece. These ornaments called Tang Sancai radiate vitality in the painting. "The reference of the Bactrian camel...

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A realistic rendering by artist Emil Morhardt of a calm but vigilant crow on a powerline in the early morning sun. The bird is pa...

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"The two nearer whimbrels look to me," shares artist Emil Morhardt. "They look as though they might be discussing whether or not to let junior fly to Florida ...

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Sometimes these handsome ducks, who feed at the Santa Barbara Bird Refuge by plowing through the water with their bills open, take a break from shoveling and ...