OCEAN / EARTH / AIR exhibition

Three of my nature-inspired, mixed media paintings were selected for inclusion in OCEAN/EARTH/AIR, an exhibition juried and hosted by the Surfing Madonna Oceans Project, a local pro-environment and arts group here in San Diego County. The dates are March 29th through April 30th at The Poway Center for the Performing Arts located at 15498 Espola Road. The reception is taking place from 1-4PM on Sunday, April 23rd and will feature live music and readings by this events winning poets. General gallery hours are Tuesday-Thursday 10AM-2PM, Friday 12-5PM and Saturday 10AM-3PM.

Robin Street-Morris. Fata Morgana IV (Catalina Island). Transparent watercolor and soft pastel on 300lb cold press paper. 14” x 19” (36 x 48cm).

Robin Street-Morris. Nighthawks with Waxing Gibbous. Transparent watercolor and soft pastel on 300lb cold press paper. 14” x 19” (36 x 48cm).

Robin Street-Morris. Phantasm (White Whale). Transparent watercolor and soft pastel on 300lb hot press paper. 13” x 21” (33 x 53cm).

Yeah, I'm talking about island foxes again...

I have educated guesses about good spots to watch for island foxes on various California Channel Islands. Not unexpectedly, they're creatures of habit to some extent like our mainland bobcat and coyote neighbors. I sat down low on the slope by Banning House Lodge hoping to capture a Catalina Island fox with my 100-400mm lens. When one padded through, there were quite a few people up top eating and drinking in the courtyard which is a shared space for guests to come and go as they please. It didn't take long for some of them to start squealing at the cuteness and conjecturing about what it was. "I thought foxes are black." What? "Oh, look! It's a baaaby!" Nope. "Is it going to come up here and give us rabies?" [sigh] Someone spotted me photographing this charismatic apex predator and tried to shush their crew, but the fox was already on its way down the hill, quite understandably wanting nothing to do with us unless we’ve left food out. If you know me, you're likely aware that my brand of polite in public is a smile and a "hey" before we go on about our respective business, me as quickly as possible. Public speaking is my idea of living hell and I don't enjoy being in large groups, particularly when observing nature, but the comments I heard inspired me to walk up the hill. The intensity of my fox watching was noted by a table of people and I proceeded to present Island Fox Natural History 101 which I only feel somewhat qualified to deliver due to lots of reading, attending online seminars about them and a growing bit of first hand observation. I wrapped things up with the suggestion that they do an Internet search for Friends of the Island Fox if they want to learn more about its life history and ongoing studies and conservation efforts. Hopefully even one of them will follow through with that and maybe even throw a couple of bucks for research said organization's way.

coastal pricklypear (Opuntia littoralis)

Catalina California Quail (Callipepla californica catalinensis)

Looking toward the California mainland past Ship Rock. Word on the street is that it’s a good spot for seeing larger great whites than the juveniles I’ve seen in San Diego.

I hung out inside this bait ball on one of my swims which is always a magical experience.

An old man wishing for younger days .

Hopefully see you again soon, fox.

The Conversation and Foxfire Oak

My two latest pieces were inspired by encounters with animals in places that are special to me. The pair of crows featured in The Conversation are regulars on our back fence. The flaming red moon, Mars and smoke (why the moon is that color) are also rooted in reality. Smoke was billowing from the Valley Fire to the southeast of us near Alpine, California. It isn’t intended to be a depressing piece, but to encourage thought about climate change and where we choose to build long-term dwellings and businesses. As with all art, it’s also o.k. in my opinion to simply enjoy the imagery and decide what, if anything, it means to you.

Foxfire Oak celebrates both another recent Catalina Island fox sighting (I adore them) and a shapely, old island scrub oak at Wrigley Botanical Garden in Avalon, California. I combined personal experience and folklore in this mixed media painting that’s primarily watercolor with a bit of soft pastel added toward its completion to punch up the cold flames in the tree hollows and the fox’s eyes. Despite being quite different in both the techniques used and the outcome, it’s a bit of an homage to my favorite piece of visual art, New Year's Eve Foxfires at the Changing Tree, made by Utagawa Hiroshige. I was fortunate enough to see an original woodblock print of it at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

If you’re interested in owning either of these originals, please send me a message here. Prints may be purchased through Pixels.com by clicking on the images of the paintings below.

Thanks for supporting living artists.

—Robin Street-Morris

Robin Street-Morris. The Conversation. 2020. Transparent watercolor and powdered soft pastel on 300lb cold press paper. 14" x 20" (36 x 51cm).

Robin Street-Morris. Foxfire Oak. 2020. Transparent watercolor and soft pastel on 140lb hot press paper. 13" x 19" (33 x 48cm).