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

May 9, 2011

Oystercatchers #251, 252 & 253

Oystercatchers #251, 252 & 253 (each 20" x 16")

The fun, breaking news coinciding with Oystercatchergirl's 250th oystercatcher painting -- that I am taking the liberty of sharing with you, dear reader -- is rejection from the Moss Street Paint-In for the third consecutive year!

"We have reviewed all submissions, and unfortunately we are declining the opportunity to offer you a placement in this year's event. With all best wishes, Mary-ellen Threadkell, Coordinator"

SOLD

SOLD

They all go together ...

May 6, 2011

Oystercatchers #246. Click here for news article.

Oystercatchers #246, full version and excerpt (48" x 12")

May in May! Congratulations to Elizabeth May, Saanich-Gulf Islands candidate, for becoming Canada's first Green Party member of parliament.

Oystercatchers #248 (48" x 12")

Oystercatchers #248 (above, with well-wishing lyrics in green sky) has been given as a gift to Elizabeth May.

Here's Oystercatchergirl (holding Oystercatchers #250) with Elizabeth herself, the day before the election. Photo courtesy of Jacques Sirois, biologist extraordinaire.

Oystercatchers #247

Oystercatchers #247 (48" x 12")
close up, and full version

Apr 26, 2011

Oystercatchers #244: San Francisco oystercatchers

Oystercatchers #244 (36" x 60")

Apr 5, 2011

Thank you to all who visited the creations of Oystercatcher Central on the Oak Bay Studio Tour in April!

I am most grateful to Paul for the spacious Oak Bay studio, art transportation, beautiful garden venue, and for making the show a great success!

Lucky winners of the draw for a 6-pack of oystercatcher art cards are Angelique and Melissa. Oystercatchergirl will contact you.

Oystercatchers #245 (excerpt and full version)
18" x 72"

Announcing the sale of "Oystercatchers #200" on the Oak Bay studio tour. May these oystercatchers enjoy their new home.

Oystercatchers #200
36" x 18"

Feb 27, 2011

Here are some new, smaller oystercatchers ...

Oystercatchers #243 (20" x 16") SOLD

Oystercatchers #242 (excerpt). Entire painting (with red sky), below, is 48" x 12".

Jan 8, 2011

Oystercatchers #241 (24" x 12")

Oystercatchers #240 (20" x 16") SOLD

Oystercatchers #232 (20" x 16")

Oystercatchers #235 (24" x 12") SOLD

Oystercatchers #230 (20" x 16") SOLD

Oystercatchers #231 (16" x 20")

Oystercatchers #229 (20" x 16") SOLD

Oystercatchers #234 (8" x 10") SOLD

Oystercatchers #233 (10" x 8) SOLD

Oystercatchers #237 (20" x 16") SOLD

Oystercatchers #236 (24" x 12")
SOLD

Knitting up a storm at Oystercatcher Central!
Oystercatchers #221
"What would Emily Carr do?" about a developer's proposal to build 300 houses along the Juan de Fuca hiking trail (between Jordan River and Port Renfrew) -- and any number of other nutbar schemes to further degrade "the best place on earth".

Dec 17, 2010

Oystercatchers #226 & 228

Oystercatchers #228
36" x 6"

Oystercatchers #226
24" x 48"

Some cheery winter solstice words from a Guelph friend:
"Even though you're probably not all that crazy about holiday cards, I thought you'd like the bird theme [a dove]. Keep up the struggle! The human race is not worth it, but the birds are!"

Dec 9, 2010

Oystercatchers #224

18" x 72"

Nov 29, 2010

Oystercatchers #220, 222, and 223

These are:

Oystercatchers #220
48" x 30"

Oystercatchers #223
40" x 30"

Oystercatchers #222
40" x 30"

Oystercatchergirl presenting Robert Bateman with oystercatcher art cards at his book-signing, Peninsula Gallery, Sidney, BC

What would Emily Carr do?

Urban sprawl at China Beach! What would Emily Carr do? Please go to Anne's activist website, upper right.

Oystercatchers #221
48" x 30"

Indeed, that is a Steller's jay, which isn't an oystercatcher!

Nov 5, 2010

Oystercatchers in the Tulista Gallery, Sidney

Oct 28, 2010

Oystercatchers #218

Oystercatchers #218
48" x 30"

Oct 19, 2010

Oystercatchers #216

48" x 24"

Visits to Haida Gwaii continue to inspire!

Sep 17, 2010

The riot of colour inhabiting Oystercatcher Central

Oystercatchers #211 (left)
36" x 6" (sorry, not for sale)

The studio (middle)

Oystercatchers #214 (right)
72" x 18" -- a new size!

Aug 17, 2010

"My Body of Oystercatchers" returns, in three art shows!

Oystercatchers #209
48" x 12"

Art lovers saw a selection from "My Body of Oystercatchers" in each of these art shows.

BIRDS AT SEA Art Exhibit
September 7th - 11th
1st World Seabird Conference
Victoria Conference Centre
Victoria, BC

JAMES BAY ART WALK
September 11th & 12th, Victoria, BC

OAK BAY LIBRARY
Throughout September
1442 Monterey Avenue, Victoria, BC
10 am - 6 pm (closed Sundays)

Aug 9, 2010

Oystercatchers #206 & 207 (SOLD)

Oystercatchers #207 (SOLD) and #206 (both 36" x 18")

Jul 31, 2010

Oystercatchers #205

Oystercatchers #205
36" x 12"

This painting recently hung in the Emily Carr House in Victoria, as part of the James Bay Art Walk.

One of my first west coast rainforest encounters was on a kayak trip in the Broughton Archipelago, shortly after having moved across Canada to Vancouver Island. The green mystery, density, and abundance that surrounded me were so evocative of an Emily Carr painting that I was convinced that I had stepped “into” one of her canvases rather than into the rainforest itself.

Jul 20, 2010

Oystercatcher art at World Seabird Conference!

Oystercatchers #204
48" x 12"
SOLD

I've just been invited to show some oystercatcher art at the World Seabird Conference in Victoria, from September 7-11, 2010. Also see the fabulous work of artist Roberta Smith of Blue Lantern Studio in Vancouver, who is organizing the artwork. (Luddite me, I am having trouble here making these websites actually "link" for you, dear reader.)

worldseabirdconference.org
http://www.blue-lantern.ca/studio

Jul 12, 2010

The Lighthouse Oystercatchers

This artwork will be featured in Lighthouse Living, a group show with Artists in Motion at Coast Collective Gallery, 3221 Heatherbell Road (overlooking Esquimalt Lagoon), from July 22 to August 1st.

You are invited to opening reception: Saturday July 24th, 2-4 pm

Oystercatchers #204
48" x 12"
SOLD

Jul 6, 2010

Oystercatchers #201

48" x 12"

"If it wasn't for me, you'd be at "Oystercatchers #210" by now," says Anne's new boyfriend Paul, commenting on the recent work slowdown at Oystercatcher Central.

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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