Musing over birds

Occasionally, I make paintings in response to memorable encounters I’ve had with particular birds while spending time in nature. My goal is to capture the essence of these moments in my art rather than document them.

Some of these pieces are available; please contact me if you’re interested. Prints of any of them may be purchased after clicking on an image. Thanks for supporting living artists.

—Robin Street-Morris

Barred Owl Moon. Transparent watercolor on 300lb cold press paper. 13" x 21" (33 x 53cm).

Qui Vive. Transparent watercolor and soft pastel on incised 300lb cold press paper. 9" x 14" (23 x 36cm).

Torrey Pine Remains with Raven. Transparent watercolor on 300lb cold press paper. 12" x 17" (31 x 43cm).

Little Owl. Transparent watercolor and powdered soft pastel on 300lb incised hot press paper. 9" x 14" (23 x 36cm).

Reclamation (Santa Cruz Island Ravens). Transparent watercolor and powdered soft pastel on 300lb hot press paper. 13" x 19" (33 x 48cm).

Crows Above Basilica. Transparent watercolor and soft pastel on 300lb hot press paper. 15" x 20" (38.10 x 50.80cm).

Oration. Transparent watercolor and soft pastel on 140lb cold press paper. 10" x 15" (25 x 38cm).

Los Peñasquitos Canyon VIII (the Swallows Return). Transparent watercolor and soft pastel on 300lb cold press paper. 13" x 19" (33 x 48cm).

Raven Pair with Diurnal Moon. 2015. Transparent watercolor and soft pastel on 300lb cold press paper. 13" x 19" (33 x 48cm).

Ocean of Glass with Seabirds. Transparent watercolor and soft pastel on 300lb hot press paper. 13" x 20" (33 x 51cm).

Raven with Torrey Pine Branch and Cold Moon. Transparent watercolor on 300lb cold press paper. 14" x 19" (36 x 48cm).

Unbounded (Crow Over Tijuana Estuary). Transparent watercolor with metallic gouache and soft pastel on 300lb cold press paper. 12" x 19" (30 x 48cm).

Canyon Denizen II (Great Horned Owl with Eucalyptus Branch). Transparent watercolor and soft pastel with iridescent medium on 300lb cold press paper. 12" x 18" (30 x 48cm).

Departure (Crows at Dawn). Transparent watercolor and soft pastel on 140lb cold press paper. 13" x 19" (33 x 48cm).

Nesting Great Horned Owl. Transparent watercolor on 300lb cold press paper. 12" x 21" (30 x 53cm).

Sentinel (Great Horned Owl in Cottonwood Tree). Transparent watercolor on 300lb cold press paper. 16" x 21" (41 x 53cm).

Pueo Encounter (at Haleakalā National Park). Transparent watercolor and soft pastel on 300lb hot press paper. 14" x 20" (36 x 51cm).

Three Birds and Evening Star. Transparent watercolor and soft pastel on 300lb hot press paper. 14" x 19" (36 x 48cm).

Hunting Moon I (Great Horned Owl). Transparent watercolor and soft pastel on 140lb hot press paper. 8" x 13" (20 x 33cm)

Hunting Moon II. Transparent watercolor and soft pastel on 140lb hot press paper. 9" x 13" (23 x 33cm)

Hunting Moon III (Great Horned Owl). Transparent watercolor and soft pastel on 300lb cold press paper. 9" x 14" (23 x 36cm).

Hunting Moon V (Great Horned Owl). Transparent watercolor on 300lb cold press paper. 13.5" x 20" (34 x 51cm).

Walking Among Barn Owls. Transparent watercolor and soft pastel on 300lb cold press paper. 14" x 20" (36 x 48cm).

Canyon Sunrise

My latest mixed media painting is both energetic and apocalyptic in feel.

Canyon Sunrise. 2020. Transparent watercolor and powdered soft pastel on 300lb cold press paper. 13" x 19" (33 x 48cm).

Plastics Free California initiative

Please join me in helping this initiative make it to the ballot if you reside and vote in California: https://plasticsfreeca.org/#features4

These photos were taken at a beach in La Jolla. The California sea lions, harbor seals, fishes, sea birds, sea turtles and other wildlife who call this home shouldn’t have to live with our garbage.

Gossamer lair

Fog and rain reveal the beautiful homes of funnel spiders in shrubs and ground covers. Agelenidae are pretty harmless unless you happen to be an insect or another spider that wanders into their lairs. I enjoy seeing our resident spiders and appreciate the balance they help maintain in the garden.

Winding down

After spending most of the day pruning and weeding, my body told me it was time to slow down and just enjoy the flowers. The California poppies had closed most of the way. Their spring show has tapered off, but there’s still a nice ring of them flowering around Agave schidigera 'Shira Ito No Ohi'.

Unfurling

The blossoms of sacred datura (Datura wrightii) are fragrant even when they’re beginning to open. This one is growing in our moon garden and came to us as a seedling from Annie’s Annual & Perennials.

Ferocactus townsendianus

After purchasing this beautiful barrel cactus in Tucson at Desert Survivors Native Plant Nursery last year, I remember putting it out on the balcony of our hotel room and watching in delight as broad-billed hummingbirds visited its flame-like flowers.   I'd enjoy setting aside a slow afternoon just to see if my local hummingbirds here in San Diego do the same.  

An old orchid friend

This Dendrobium lindleyi (formerly aggregatum) once hung in a west facing window in downtown Detroit, an east facing one in the Central West End of St. Louis and now lives outdoors in San Diego under a queen palm. This species blooms more prolifically with a winter rest from about Thanksgiving through spring which it doesn’t really get around here because of our winter rains. I do withhold fertilizer until I see new growth on it in the spring, though. It’s pleasantly fragrant.

Rainblow

I’m getting back out on the water this weekend for the nonrefundable day trip I booked before the pandemic hit the U.S.. The original date was understandably punted by the whale watching company in question from northbound gray whale season to blue whale season. Yes, there will be a face covering involved. This shot of a humpback whale exhaling was taken in February somewhere between Dana Point and Catalina Island, California.

Argentine ants strike again

Saddened but not surprised is how I'd describe myself this morning after finding the Anna's hummingbird nest I'd been watching overrun by Argentine ants.  I'd been hoping for the best and mentally preparing myself for the worst as is advisable when observing nature closely.  She was still on her nest yesterday evening with no peeping coming from it.  There was clearly a horror story unfolding near the house sometime between then and getting up to make coffee.  They've been known to drive the parent off of the nest if they discover it in order to attack and feed on the baby birds.  They also farm honeydew-producing sucking insects like scale, mealybugs and aphids that have decimated many of my established native plants.  I'm hoping to save the rest by employing knowledgeable nurseryman Greg Rubin's approach to combating this invasive species; it's linked to in this informative blog post by the California Chaparral Institute.  I also found this article from the University of California Riverside Center for Invasive Species Research helpful in gaining a better understanding what we're up against. 

World Tree with Ignes Fatui

One of the reasons I began a (nearly) daily blog of an image of my art or a photograph that celebrates nature is to revisit work that I didn’t give much attention to after making. I’d rather move on to making more art than talk about it. This is how it ends up lying in my flat file waiting for wildfires to rage westward during a Santa Ana wind event and consume it rather than hanging on a patron’s wall being appreciated.

Trees pervade my work. Often their outlines are only alluded to in my dreamscapes, other times they’re more defined like in this piece. It’s all about what I feel like working on in the moment and how. Like most of my tree-inspired art, this was a take on a particular live oak I’ve paid my respects to repeatedly. It’s growing in Tecolote Canyon Natural Park near downtown San Diego. Clearly I took liberty with the piece and added ignes fatui (foolish fire), or will-o'-the-wisp, known for leading travelers astray in some folklore.

The original mixed media painting is available and prints on a variety of surfaces may be purchased by tapping on the image if you’re interested.

World Tree with Ignes Fatui. 2014. Transparent watercolor and powdered soft pastel on 300lb hot press paper. 14" x 18" (36 x 46cm).

Refuge

I’ve taken to checking the bromeliads for Baja California tree frogs (Pseudacris hypochondriaca) and am often rewarded with an adorable sight. Queen’s tears (Billbergia nutans) seems to be a favorite. I’ve also found them under the spines of cacti multiple times…there are many options around here for hiding from predators and strong sunlight.

Embrace

Belding’s orange-throated whiptail (Aspidoscelis hyperythrus ssp. beldingi) is a striking lizard subspecies that calls southern California and Baja California, Mexico home.  I was in the right place at the right time today (and with a telephoto lens on) to witness multiple stages of mating behavior between these two.  I also saw one that's regenerating its tail.  They like foraging in the leaf litter under the plants that's putting nutrients back into the soil as it breaks down.  I do maintain things a bit in that respect with fire safety in mind, but having a picture perfect garden in the traditional sense is at odds with my goal of creating habitat for wildlife.  Sightings like this one often make my day.

A first bloom

I saw Matilija poppies in bloom for the first time years ago at a trailhead in Rose Canyon here in San Diego and my jaw dropped.  Miniature flowers that I have to keep my nose down to find and appreciate hold a special place in my heart, but the attention this giant poppy commanded was undeniable.  I germinated some seeds given to me by a botanist friend, rushed their move into the ground and they didn’t survive.  This nursery acquired plant is blooming for the first time today after two years of being planted and another will follow shortly.  Its fragrance is reminiscent of roses. 

Flight

Vanda (formerly Neofinetia) falcata ‘Unkai’ is filling the evening with its suburb fragrance. I purchased this small beauty from a dear friend in Manchester, Michigan who owns New World Orchids.

Coast cholla (Cylindropuntia prolifera)

This is my favorite cholla species. Yes, I have a favorite cholla species. The one I purchased from Moosa Creek a few years ago bloomed for the first time this spring. This photo is of one growing in situ near the waterfall in Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve.

You can learn more about this plant here.

Dolphins with Bioluminescence and Anthropogenic Starlight

My latest mixed media painting is the third I’ve made in response to San Diego’s 2020 red tide event that lit up our beaches. There were a few moments enjoyed during multiple visits to appreciate this phenomenon late at night when few others were around when I thought, yeah, I have to make a painting inspired by that. Dolphins, sea birds and California sea lions making big splashes in the water resulted in the bioluminescent glow emitted by Lingulodinium polyedra, a dinoflagellate species. In this dreamscape rooted in reality, I’ve shown the light pollution trapped by the marine layer in contrast to the subdued glow of nature. It’s dark over Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve to the right of the composition and the open ocean to the far left due to humanity’s more limited physical presence in these places.

Dolphins with Bioluminescence and Anthropogenic Starlight. 2020. Transparent watercolor and powdered soft pastel on 300lb hot press paper. 14" x 20" (36 x 51cm).

Conflagration included in 'OCCCA@40'

My mixed media painting titled Conflagration was accepted into the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art’s invitational exhibition celebrating their 40th year. It’s an online event for obvious reasons.

Conflagration. 2019. Transparent watercolor and powdered soft pastel on 300lb rough press paper. 15" x 20" (38 x 51cm).

Mariposa lily

When I first saw Weed's mariposa lilies blooming years ago in Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve, I was struck by their unique beauty.  Mariposa is the Spanish word for "butterfly" and it's easy to see how they earned that common name when one witnesses them fluttering in the breeze.  As with too many of my favorite species that have a limited range in our southern California and Baja California region, its conservation status is vulnerable due to habitat loss from development.  

Weed’s mariposa lily (Calochortus weedii var. weedii)

White Dove

Echinocereus pentalophus ‘White Dove’