Monthly Archives: March 2010

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Crows Going, Going…

Each evening I see them, about 25 to 30  – northwestern crows, all heading someplace for the night. As the sun sets behind the Olympic Mountains, this bunch comes out of Chimacum Creek estuary, goes right over our meadow and moves on to someplace only known to the crows. As they go by, they’re constantly exchanging hoarse caws and croaks. I imagine it to be something like “What did you do today?” or “Boy that cockle was sure good, and I got it and not you, caw, caw, caw!” Or possibly “Who decided we had to head this direction every evening? Who’s in charge of this murder of crows anyway?”

Northwestern crows are a different species than the normal American crow. Slightly smaller and completely focused on the saltwater shorelines of the Pacific Northwest, we often see these birds doing what they’ve learned to do to make their living. At low tide, northwestern crows rummage around beach rocks until they find an unsuspecting clam. Dislodging it, a bird will fly straight up about thirty feet and let it drop onto the rocks below. It may take more than one try, but once the shell has broken or even just cracked, the crow has dinner. It’s evidently a learned trait that young crows are taught, because we’ll see adults showing the kids how to go about it. Dinner on the half-shell.

This ORIGINAL painting is acrylic on paper board, 5″ x 7 1/2″ and is $85 unframed.
This wood frame and a double mat makes it a total of $125 and shipping adds just a bit more depending on your zone or if you take the frame. This is the original painting, NOT a print. Other mats and frames are also available.
Email us for details.

Thanks for reading this week.
While I painted this in my studio back home, we’re currently in Hawaii on Oahu’s North Shore – and watching some amazing waves. Thanks, Jeff! Your kama’ina home is lovely. I’ll try to send some photos of these in a few days. It takes some kind of crazy person with a death wish to go out there and ride those monsters – and I sure wish it were me!

Larry Eifert

Click here to go to our main website – packed with jigsaw puzzles, prints, interpretive portfolios and lots of other stuff.

Click here to check out what Nancy’s currently working on with her photography.

New Painting Post

Carson River Mural Unveiling

This week I finished up another large-scale habitat mural for a new visitor center along the Carson River in Nevada. This vibrant place, just below the High Sierra front and southeast of Lake Tahoe, has always been important to wildlife, and to me. I consider it one of the most beautiful and interesting places in the West.

As the winter snows melt off these great mountains in spring, this water runs off into the valley and eventually out into the Great Basin where it evaporates with summer heat. Along the way, vernal pools and backwater pockets are filled with rushes and cattails, providing fabulous habitat for birds that make wildlife-watching wonderful. I’ve gotten to know this area pretty well, as I’ve also painted another, similar painting just north of this for the Lahanton Valley National Wildlife Refuge. In some small way, I’m always hoping my work will open some eyes, change some hearts and minds and possibly, just possibly, make it so these beautiful landscapes (and fictitious paintings) will both continue past my lifetime.

I wrote two other posts for this one as the project progressed. Here’s the original sketch (these open in separate browser windows) and here’s the half-way image showing the development of details. It’s kind of fun to see all three stages because things always change as I go along. For example, I added a yellowthroat and a Savannah sparrow to the final – and they’re not in the second stage painting.

And below is the initial reference photo I developed the painting from. Supplied by the client (and, thank you, Anne), you can see how far from reality these big paintings stray. Still, there are basic elements here that remained the same, making it a recognizable place. I like to say this photo was the launching pad, but where the final painting landed, no one knew – especially me!

Thanks for reading this week.
Larry Eifert

Click here to go to our main website – packed with jigsaw puzzles, prints, interpretive portfolios and lots of other stuff. To see more than 50 other murals like this, click here.

Click here to check out what Nancy’s currently working on with her photography.