What does a kingfisher, sea otters, and an octopus have in common?

What does a kingfisher, sea otters, and an octopus have in common?

They all ended up in paintings by me this month!

I feel like it’s been a productive month at the studio. Though, to be completely honest, my studio at this point is a tiny room that I use for painting, office stuff, making all those wood-mounted prints, and it’s also where Miette the cat lives, so it’s beyond “cozy” at the moment.

(Note cat in lap at the bottom of the photo… she just forced her way there. Cats!).

We’re so close to finishing construction on the amazing light-filled studio in the backyard! I snuck in last weekend to work on a portrait painting.

So what’s new?

After many requests, I added a lovely Belted Kingfisher to my little bird collection. I went wild and made two new colorful creature paintings: an octopus and a pair of sea otters.

In case you want to see an octopus get out of a jar with a screwed on lid, click here.

I also finally finished my latest Wayward Whale painting. This one took quite a bit of time because, well, turns out painting the tiny little spines on a patch of cacti takes quite a bit of time! But I’m quite pleased with the result, and I hope you enjoy it as well.

Anywho, scroll on down to see the new art!

~ Maggie

P.S. Not sure if I’ve mentioned this before, but I have a youtube channel where I’ve posted some process videos of my paintings (and maybe a couple of videos where my dogs and cat have made an appearance). Have a gander over here (and feel free to subscribe :)).

Two New Colorful Creatures

Wayward Whales in the Desert: Finished!

Wayward Whale Painting by Maggie Hurley

At some point, I reconciled with the notion that I was going to have to paint some of the many cactus thorns.

I can sometimes be impatient with a painting. You see, I try really hard to be a “loose” painter. I want to be able to play with abstraction a bit. And I do tend to get really fussy and precious. But I think with this painting, I managed to keep things fresh while still getting in some nice level of detail.

The original of this piece is available here. You can also see more detail on the photos over there…

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