This recent mixed media painting of mine was inspired by a visit to Tule Elk Reserve State Natural Reserve on the way to San Francisco for an art show I had work in. Tule elk (Cervus canadensis nannodes) are endemic to California and a conservation success story.
Robin Street-Morris. Tule Elk with Winter Sun. Transparent watercolor with soft pastel on 300lb paper.
My photograph titled Wave Skimmers (California Brown Pelicans) was selected for inclusion in Movement: A Moment in Time, a national photography exhibition. It will be on display Friday, January 17th through Saturday, February 22nd, 2025. The First Friday reception is from 5:00-7:30pm at the Santa Cruz Art League located at 526 Broadway in Santa Cruz, California.
The vantage point for this is the Guy Fleming Trail at Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve in La Jolla, California.
Robin Street-Morris. Wave Skimmers (California Brown Pelicans). Digital photograph.
The dot to the right of the grayish rock is Mars. I'm somewhat disappointed in myself for not staying up to watch the occultation, but am fried enough from catching this view after midnight. Time for more coffee.
Allen’s hummingbird with moonrise and bird of paradise blossom
Allen’s hummingbird claiming his perch
Winston Smith invited fellow artists to make work inspired by his classic bat logo for the Bat Show Redux at Studio Fallout in San Francisco. I riffed on it and my experience watching flying foxes in Australia to create this mixed media painting. The original is spoken for, but prints on a wide variety of surfaces can be purchased by clicking on the image of the artwork below.
Robin Street-Morris. Unshackled. Transparent watercolor and soft pastel on 300lb cold press paper. 9” x 9” (23 × 23cm).
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Going to the show gave me the chance to return to some of my favorite spots in the area. Everyone at the gallery was kind and welcoming, but I’m most content outdoors with my camera looking for wildlife and beautiful scenery.
tule elk herd (Cervus canadensis ssp. nannodes) at Tule Elk State Natural Reserve
a female Anna’s hummingbird (Calypte anna) visiting an Aloe arborescens(?) inflorescence at the San Francisco Botanical Garden
a mated pair of great horned owls (Bubo virginianus) duetting in Golden Gate Park
harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) at J V Fitzgerald Marine Reserve
I’m unsure of what banana slug species this is. I spotted three of them at J V Fitzgerald Marine Reserve which is the first place I ever saw one. I named my phone Banana Slug due to the color of its protective case.
Monterey cypress tunnel near sunset (Hesperocyparis macrocarpa) at J V Fitzgerald Marine Reserve
I captured a few photographs I like of last night's harvest moonrise and partial lunar eclipse. It was hazy over the mountains with some clouds here in San Diego. The atmospheric shot with the backlit sage is my favorite.
harvest moonrise over the mountains
harvest moon with last season's sage inflorescences
harvest moonrise with eclipse and kitchen reflections
partial lunar eclipse
partial lunar eclipse with city lights
Green Flash at Torrey Pines was selected for Vibrant San Diego, an exhibition of small artworks that will be on display at Artist & Craftsman Supply at 3804 Fourth Ave in the Hillcrest Neighborhood of San Diego September 1st through the 30th. The reception is Sunday, 9/1, from 2-4PM.
If you're local and able to stop by at some point, I recommend visits to nearby Crest Cafe and Babycakes; my favorites are Sam the Cooking Guy's Blueberry Biscuit Bundt French toast and the German chocolate cupcakes.
Robin Street-Morris. Green Flash at Torrey Pines. Transparent watercolor and soft pastel on 300lb cold press paper. 5.5" x 8.5" (14 x 22cm).
Please click on the image of the art above if you're interested in purchasing a print.
I stayed up for awhile last night to enjoy and capture this Epiphyllum hookeri (Hooker's orchid cactus) in bloom. The buds open after dark for one night and fade by sunrise. The flowers are large and wonderfully fragrant.
One of my favorite parts of Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve burned this week and is currently closed. I could see and smell the smoke from my home studio. The tears well up again when I see photos of what the Extension looks like now. When the crowds became too much for me in the larger part of the reserve (seen here in the distance), I'd walk from the top of that hill to where I was standing when I took this photograph. The cause of the fire hasn't been reported yet. However, since there was no lightning in the area that day and vegetation doesn’t combust spontaneously, I strongly suspect a person is to blame for this tragedy as is so often the case statistically.
Robin Street-Morris. Before the Fire (Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve Extension). Digital photograph.
The Extension was also the vantage point for this landscape/dreamscape where I chose to focus on the curves of Los Peñasquitos Lagoon and the iconic clifftop of Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve.
Robin Street-Morris. Lagoon II (Overlooking Torrey Pines). Transparent watercolor and soft pastel on 300lb cold press paper. 13" x 20" (33 x 51cm).
We all have our causes and I don't expect this to be everyone's, particularly if you're not attached to San Diego in some way. If you’re willing and able to help with a donation for restoration efforts, you can do so via the Torrey Pines Conservancy website: https://www.torreypines.org/extension50fire/
Alternatively, you can tap on the images of the photograph or mixed media painting above and purchase a print. I'll forward 100% of my profit from the sale to the Torrey Pines Conservancy. I don't make much money from the sale of each print, so a direct donation to the TPC may have a greater impact depending on the size of it.
A Torrey pine cone at the Extension temporarily in my hand.
Rising Comet with Morning Star is a mixed media painting I made inspired by seeing Comet Nishimura (P1 C/2023) from the vantage point of Catalina Island. It's been selected by artist/juror Calvin Liang for display in the 93rd Annual California Landscape Exhibition in Santa Cruz.
The exhibition dates are Wednesday, July 17th through Saturday, September 14th, 2024. The First Friday reception is August 2nd from 6 to 8pm. The Santa Cruz Art League is located at 526 Broadway, Santa Cruz, CA 95060.
Robin Street-Morris. Rising Comet with Morning Star. Transparent watercolor and soft pastel on 300lb cold press paper. 14” x 21” (36 x 53cm).
Watching the peregrine falcons at Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve is a favorite activity of mine. The water is warming up a little and felt pretty nice as it lapped my ankles while I was shooting.
There are four eyases visible in the large wind cave at center.
Slam!
Brown pelican just kept soaring
There were many squadrons hugging the cliffs.
An eyas strengthens its wings as its siblings watch with interest
I watched the weather forecast get worse as the big day drew closer. I cleaned my lenses the night before anyway and attempted to calmly sip a coffee in Bee Cave, Texas that morning knowing we’d either get our moment or we wouldn’t. We did. The frustrating yet beautiful racing cloud cover obscured some of the phenomena I’d have liked to experience and capture, but there was a parting during totality and for that I am so grateful.
Totality with prominences
There are many more on the way.
Narcissus bulbocodium
Freesia alba is stop-you-in-your-tracks levels of fragrant.
Narcissus 'Tête-à-tête'
Calochorus uniflorus
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rainbow over Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve
Pacific white-sided dolphins (Lagenorhynchus obliquidens)
Risso’s dolphins (Grampus griseus) cruising
possible mating behavior in this Risso’s pod
monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) congregating on eucalyptus at Monarch Grove Sanctuary in Pacific Grove
black-footed albatross (Phoebastria nigripes)
three southbound gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus)
southern sea otter (Enhydra lutris nereis)
Menzies' wallflower (Erysimum menziesii)
Debbie Downers are exhausting, yet I can't help but express dismay at the level of trampling by humans and their dogs in sensitive areas that are clearly marked with signs asking us to stick to the trails. I'd never seen it this bad at Asilomar in years past. Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve at home has become a free-for-all as well with rock formations cracked by our hooves and the flowers of threatened species that need to sow their seeds thrown to the sides of the trails. Plant blindness is a thing and one that’s detrimental to our own survival as a species.
Monterey pine (Pinus radiata) grove at sunset
The next six photographs document a predation event by a Steller sea lion on a bat ray.
This was another Steller sighting of a young bull in the company of California sea lions and cormorants near Moss Landing.
Note the massive difference in size between the California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) and the juvenile Steller male (Myliobatis californica) at right.
The Sun is out, but it’s not going to stay that way for long.
After being up late/early observing both a pair of barn owls considering their backyard nest option and keeping my eye on a SpaceX launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base, I chose to combine the two inspirations into one mixed media painting.
Robin Street-Morris. Taking Flight (Barn Owls with Rocket Plume). Transparent watercolor and soft pastel on 300lb cold press paper. 13" x 19" (33 x 48cm).
My dream of seeing killer whales (Orcinus orca) locally finally came true on December 25th, 2023. The orcas in my photographs are Eastern Tropical Pacific killer whales hunting bottlenose dolphins. They’re more often spotted in Mexican and Central American waters and they also visit Hawaii. For anyone who may see this post and be concerned by how close we were, I was shooting with a 100-400mm telephoto lens and when they approached San Diego Whale Watch’s boat, the Privateer’s engines were cut. Quite a few of my photos here are cropped while maintaining the territorial views that give the sighting some context.
Experiencing the Mexican free-tailed bat population waking up at Old Tunnel State Park and the annular eclipse on separate days led to daydreaming. I asked if any had stirred there when the sky was briefly darkened and was told they hadn't. I created my fantasy of the future total eclipse anyway.
Tapping on the image of the art will take you to my print on demand site. Please contact me directly for inquiries about the original mixed media painting.
Robin Street-Morris. Syzygy with Awakened Bats. Transparent watercolor, soft pastel and colored pencil on 300lb cold press paper. 14" x 19" (36 x 48cm).
My media painting titled Rising Comet with Morning Star was selected for inclusion in the 2023 Earth & Sky Exhibit at University of Michigan’s Matthaei Botanical Gardens. The exhibition will be on display Friday, November 24th through Saturday, December 30th. The reception is Sunday, December 17th from 2:00 to 4:00pm at Matthaei Botanical Gardens which is located at 1800 N. Dixboro Rd in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Matthaei is my alma mater's botanical garden where I took botany courses and fell in love with the orchids, cacti and succulents I grow in profusion.
I’m quoting myself here from a previous blog post about the piece:
“This mixed media painting was inspired by my sighting of C/2023 P1 (Nishimura) while in Avalon, California looking toward the mainland before sunrise. As always, I packed my DSLR, lenses and binoculars, but no tripod because I can be an idiot at times. I carried a sturdy chair from the hotel room to a high spot around 4AM accepting that I was being overly optimistic thinking it and a towel under my camera might reduce shutter shake enough for some long-ish exposures. I captured the green dot in focus once there was sufficient light in the sky to shoot handheld at f/2.8 with a high ISO. Still, the comet was there above the smog, more or less in the presence of ear-tipped feral cats and me before the din of golf carts and boat motors drowned out the lapping waves.”
Robin Street-Morris. Rising Comet with Morning Star. Transparent watercolor and soft pastel on 300lb cold press paper. 14” x 21” (36 x 53cm)
Sunspots were visible through the light cloud cover that dispersed in time to view the event at its peak.
The Sun shining through the Moon’s valleys moments before and after the central phase of a solar eclipse result in broken points of light, a phenomenon known as Baily’s beads.
Crowds gathered near and far cheered.
The trees cast dappled sunshine of a strange sort.
Texas live oak (Quercus fusiformis)
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Mexican free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) emerging to feed on insects at Old Tunnel State Park just north of San Antonio, Texas is a wondrous sight. In addition to having intrinsic value, bats are of enormous economic importance to us: “Recent studies estimate that bats eat enough pests to save more than $1 billion per year in crop damage and pesticide costs in the United States corn industry alone.”