OYSTERCATCHERGIRL: Struggling to keep pace with worldwide demand for oystercatcher art since 2007

Jul 13, 2012

My Oystercatchers will be in the Bowker Street Brush-Up on Sunday August 12th, 11:00 - 4:30

Oystercatchers #337
20" x 16"

Oystercatchers #339

20" x 16"

Oystercatchers #337, 338 & 339 together

Jul 10, 2012

Jul 9, 2012

Oystercatchers #335

Oystercatchers #335
20" x 16"

Oystercatchers #334, 335 & 336 go together like this:

Jul 8, 2012

Jul 4, 2012

Oystercatchers #329

Oystercatchers #329
16" x 12"

See the peeking oystercatcher!

Jun 4, 2012

The oystercatcher is mightier than the sword.

In defense of the oystercatcher and its habitat, I am hand-writing an art postcard to over 200 Canadian members of parliament, urging that they work across party lines to put the brakes on proposed legislation (Bill C-38) that will further gut our social fabric, economy, and environment. So troubling are these proposed laws, that several former cabinet ministers from all parties have written an open letter of concern.

What is Oystercatchergirl up to these days?

I am busily preparing for a Rocky Mountain and prairie trip (June 10-30).

Oystercatchergirl's kayak art cards are now available at Ocean River Kayak, 1824 Store Street, Victoria, BC.

My Oystercatchers were exhibited in Darwin's Cafe at Tofino Botanical Garden throughout May. Also on display were Peter Clarkson's very creative works made from beach-found objects.

In August, a new crop of oystercatchers will appear in the Oak Bay Library.

Oystercatchers #318

Oystercatchers #318
20" x 16"

Oystercatchers #328

Oystercatchers #328
20" x 16"

Oystercatchers #326

Oystercatchers #326
16" x 12"

Oystercatchers #324

Oystercatchers #324
16" x 12"

Oystercatchers #320

Oystercatchers #320
20" x 16"

Oystercatchers #321

Oystercatchers #321
20" x 16"

May 31, 2012

Oystercatchers #322

Oystercatchers #322
20" x 16"
SOLD

May 22, 2012

Oystercatchers #317

Oystercatchers #317
20" x 16"

May 19, 2012

Here's to painting all colours of kayaks ...

Oystercatchers #316
36" x 24"

Oystercatchers #315

Oystercatchers #315
36" x 24"

Oystercatchers #315 & 316 fit together.

May 1, 2012

Oystercatchers and bicycles: two of my favourite things!

I'm submitting these three (Oystercatchers #312, 313 & 314, and Varied Thrush #1) to the Community Arts Council of Victoria's call for bicycle art, to be displayed in June. (The earlier Oystercatchers #244, also on the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge theme, is much bigger and was a gift for a loved one.)

Oystercatchers #314
40" x 30"

Apr 28, 2012

Oystercatchers #313

Oystercatchers #313
30" x 40"

Oystercatchers #313 (close-up)

Apr 25, 2012

Oystercatchers #312

Oystercatchers #312
30" x 40"

Apr 23, 2012

Varying our artwork with a Varied Thrush!

Varied Thrush #1
40" x 30"

This is one of the views when one is biking to Oak Bay or Cattle Point to see oystercatchers! Few-flowered shooting star is in profusion right now. This artwork will be submitted to a bicycle-themed art show in May.

Apr 17, 2012

Oystercatchers #309

Oystercatchers #309
30" x 30"

Oystercatchers #309 won Honourable Mention at the annual LOOK group show, put on by the Community Arts Council of Greater Victoria. Show runs until May 12th in the Bay Centre, downtown Victoria.

Thank you to all who joined the Oak Bay Studio Tour

Thanks for your support for the oystercatcher arts! Thank you especially to Paul, for the generous studio space, art transport, and oystercatcher encouragement.

Apr 8, 2012

Don't miss Oystercatchergirl's Oystercatchers on the Oak Bay Studio Tour, April 14 & 15, Victoria, BC.

Oystercatchers #311
36" x 12"
SOLD

Welcome to the Oak Bay Studio Tour.
When: April 14 & 15, 2012, from noon to 4:30
Where: 2260 Dalhousie Street (at Dryfe), Victoria, BC.

Most paintings on this "website" are for sale. Thank you for looking.

Apr 6, 2012

Oystercatchers #306

Oystercatchers #306
48" x 24"

Oystercatchers #308

Oystercatchers #308
16" x 20"

This is the view from one's bicycle in the summer, looking at the oystercatchers on the islets in McNeill Bay.

Oystercatchers #307. The new "oystercatchers & kayaks" series

Oystercatchers #307
12" x 36"

Oystercatchers #298, below, is my favourite so far in the oystercatchers & kayaks series.

Mar 25, 2012

Oystercatchers #305

Oystercatchers #305
36" x 36"

Mar 20, 2012

Oystercatchers #304

Oystercatchers #304
28" x 22"

Mar 19, 2012

Oystercatchers #303

Oystercatchers #303
28" x 22"

Mar 13, 2012

Oystercatchers #302

Oystercatchers #302
48" x 30"

On a roll (no pun!) with oystercatchers and kayaks. Stay tuned, as Oystercatchergirl returns to her sidetrip to other bird species, started a couple of months ago.

March 2012: Four big oystercatcher paintings at the Artist's Corner, Main Branch of the Greater Victoria Public Library

March 2012: See Anne's Oystercatchers at James Bay Coffee and Books, 143 Menzies Street, Victoria, BC.

April 14 & 15, 2012: Oystercatchers will be on the Oak Bay Studio Tour.

Oystercatchers #301

Oystercatchers #301
48" x 30"

Feb 27, 2012

The 300th Oystercatcher!

Oystercatchers #300
48" x 30"

Feb 22, 2012

Oystercatchers #299

Oystercatchers #299
48" x 30"

Feb 21, 2012

Oystercatchers #298

Oystercatchers #298
48" x 30"

Feb 15, 2012

Oystercatchers #297

Oystercatchers #297
48" x 48"

Feb 8, 2012

Oystercatchers #293

Oystercatchers #293
48" x 30"

This painting arose from my first visit to the legendary Fisgard Lighthouse, last fall.

Oystercatchers #296

Oystercatchers #296
20" x 20"
SOLD

Jan 3, 2012

Oystercatchers #294

New oystercatcher paintings to start off 2012!

Oystercatchers #294
20" x 20"
SOLD

Oystercatchers #295

Oystercatchers #295
20" x 20"
SOLD

OYSTERCATCHERGIRL VAN GOGH

"So enjoyed meeting you yesterday and viewing your fabulous art. Makes a piece extra special when you have met the artist in person. Hung the (print of) Red Sky In The Morning in the kitchen so I can enjoy it every day." -- arts patron, Parksville, BC (April 2016)

"Congratulations on your recent sales! You astound me with your productivity. You paint more in a month than I do in a year." -- Vancouver nature artist (November 2014)

"Thanks for the amazing experience that your art brings to us and our patrons." -- Librarian, Esquimalt Library (January 2014)

"That is totally strange. Your art is so much more interesting than some of the stuff I saw there." -- L.C., Victoria BC (July 2013), commenting on the 2013 Moss Street Paint-In

"I just want to thank you for the article that has been published this week. It is great and I have had many positive comments from viewers. You can certainly write!" -- James Bay Art Walk artist (June 2013)

"You are blessed with many gifts including time management, a great ear as well as a good eye. I'm sure all appreciate your quiet leadership and intellect. Thanks from all of us." -- James Bay Art Walk artist (April 2013)

"I absolutely adore the one with the two jays, the salmon and their associated habitat." -- PA (March 2013)

"I have always loved your work and have great respect for what you are doing here." -- DR (January 2013)

"I was impressed with your demo at Opus, that you were completely poised, relaxed and able to both paint and communicate with the audience." -- KS (March 2013)

"I still adore your Bruce Peninsula painting! I just had to let you know again." -- Oystercatchergirl art patron in Ontario (March 2013)

" ... Between your work and the other visiting artist at Victoria in March (Brian Buckrell), our customers are in for a real treat. Beautiful work! I wish I was in Victoria to attend." (Crissy of Opus Art Supplies, in planning for Anne's in-store demonstration on March 9, 2014).

"Your hooded mergansers are just as remarkable as your oystercatchers." -- JS, Victoria, BC (January 2013)

"Great work thinking up this action! You're the only painter who also knows how to write great activist press releases, too." -- KW, Victoria, BC (January 2013)

"I'd pay $400 for a bald eagle, but not for an oystercatcher." -- Oystercatcher arts patron

"Are those seagulls? Birds are fun. I have a cockatiel." -- art event visitor (September 2012)

"Are you still doing those ducks?" "I thought they were twisted cormorants." "Are they gulls?" "I thought you were making them up." -- a choice selection of keen observations (August 2012)

"You are freaking awesome! Your bio/statement is beyond words. Love it! And I'm shocked by the large number of exhibitions you're having." -- Angela, Toronto (August 2012)

"Oystercatchers #59, with a touch of yellow sky, is a masterpiece. It illustrates the grandeur of the Strait of Juan de Fuca as Oystercatcher Central, the way I see it." -- Stud Puffin, Victoria, BC (August 2012)

"You look to be a very successful artist, and that is probably a tribute to your vision, style, and perseverence." -- MR, Pender Island, BC (April 2012)

"Your paintings capture both the sublime nature of the BC coast and the 'oystercatcherness' of oystercatchers." -- Cynthia, patron of the Oystercatcher arts (April 2012)

"Your jays are stellar and the quail quivering with life. Good for you for branching out." -- Kate, Victoria, BC (December 2011)

"California Quails #1" is a masterpiece if one is to dare painting a painting 18" wide by ten kilometres in length." -- Mendelson Joe, artist (December 2011)

"What did you paint when you lived in Ontario -- smokestacks?" James Bay Art Walk visitor (Sept 2011)

"I first learned about the glorious oystercatchers through your work! Now I look for them all the time -- even in the Oak Bay Library." -- Maria, attending the Oak Bay Spring Studio Tour (April 2011)

"You are the most beautiful oystercatcher painter who I have ever met." -- Anne's boyfriend (July 2010)

"Anne Hansen is an ornithological Emily Carr on mescaline." -- Mendelson Joe, artist

"Your blog has evolved into a colourful, poignant and entertaining place to visit for a refreshing drink of inspiration." -- JC, Victoria, BC

"These are fabulous! You have totally captured the black oystercatcher's, ummm, oystercatcheriness! It is lovely that you have focused on an underrrated west coast bird (i.e., not an eagle) and shown how beautiful it, and its environment, are. The colors and the lines are great. I like how you do vertical panels when an oystercatcher's world is so horizontal, or so it seems to me. I love your kelp, too. How often does one admire kelp? ... And if you are truly addicted to oystercatchers, I hope you never seek treatment." -- Chris Earley, Interpretive Biologist, Arboretum, University of Guelph, and author of "Waterfowl of Eastern North America" and other field guides

"I remain very impressed with you. No other local artist paints our fantastic coast fantastically like you." -- biologist Jacques, Victoria, BC

"Oystercatchers? I've never heard that expression before." -- James Bay Art Walk walker (Sept 2010)

"Those are rooks that you paint." -- Victoria resident

(The rook is a member of the crow family, inhabiting Britain and Ireland, and eats earthworms, insect larvae, fruit, and cereal grains.)

"We have reviewed all submissions, and unfortunately we are declining the opportunity to offer you a placement in this year's event." -- Moss Street Paint-In, Victoria, BC (second year in a row)

Great show, Anne. I always sense a subtle theme in your work, but can never quite put my finger on it." -- Gallery visitor (June 2010)

"Being here is like visiting Vincent Van Gogh!" -- artist Jane Gray, patron of the oystercatcher-arts, speaking from Anne's studio (January 2009)

"I'm sitting at the Moka House in James Bay right now and I couldn't help but notice how terrible your paintings are." -- J. Raath, Victoria, BC. (September 2008)

"I love how your work has evolved and in fact has galloped along with abandon since the first inspiration!" -- Judith Rackman, BC artist (April 2010)

"What is it about crows that you like so much?" -- ornithologically-challenged gallery visitor, September 2009

"You are never one to be idle, but holy oystercatcher! They are fantastic. They have just been waiting for you all their little lives. I'm so glad they found you!" -- Clover Woods, Guelph, ON (March 2010)

"Love your bold colors and oystercatchers as a west coast icon." -- James Bay Art Walk visitor

"Oh, Anne, I love your penguins!" -- discerning art lover

"I was thrilled to see a decided lack of bears, eagles, and whales in your work, and that you chose an overlooked and underappreciated bird such as the oystercatcher to focus on." -- Victoria sculptor (Oct 2009)

"Thanks for showing us Oystercatcher Central. I think they're really going to take off." -- Gail McCormack, civic activist extraordinaire, Guelph, Ontario (January 2009)

"Your website is absolutely fantastic. It makes me supremely happy just to look at your paintings, and the oystercatcher photos are amazing." -- Gail Littlejohn, editor/publisher, "Green Teacher" magazine

"Your art is beautiful, and radiant! -- Sue Z, Ann Arbor, MI, USA (June 2009)

"I notice you have black birds in all your paintings. Is there some significance to that?" -- viewer at James Bay Art Walk

"Dear Anne: I am afraid that the members of Collective Works didn't feel that your work is the right fit for the direction of the Gallery ... you have a nice personality ... " -- gallery spokesperson

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