Author: Heather O'Connor

A wandering illustrator with a few sketchbooks... and recently created pastels, oils and watercolors. I mostly now am committed to lifestyle changes to continue to be personally healthy along with keeping the planet healthy too. That means going whole food plant based.

Bird show month…and exhibit…

On By Heather O'ConnorIn acrylic, animals, colored pencil, exhibits, Morro Bay Art Center, watercolor2 Comments

In January, Morro Bay puts on a Winter Bird Festival. Because of the king tides pushing the birds on the bay close to the boardwalk where I walk, it was spectacular. People took trips to see birds at the Carrizo Plains, Owling at Night, Birding by Bicycle, Osos Flaco, Sweet Springs and did a Big Day and Little Big Day bird count !

EXHIBIT
I recalled many years ago as a child, I had painted a Ruddy Duck for my grandmother. (Listen to podcast) I was about 10 years old. In honor of that time, I decided to paint a Ruddy Duck in courtship mode slapping its bill against its chest making a myriad of bubbles. You may see it on exhibit at the Morro Bay Art Center on Main Street.

Courtship
Courtship

I, also, entered a Common Loon with a Chick riding on its back and a California Quail which I have yet to photograph, but you may see them all until they take the show down on the 6th of February 2017.

Common Loon with chick on elk hide
Common Loon with Chick on elk hide

Until the next sketch…peace, Heather

Wrapping up 2016…

On By Heather O'ConnorIn pastel, seascape2 Comments

After many days doing other things*, I went to Sunny Acres*, a place where people live, farm, chop wood and grow pumpkins, to paint a John Deere 510. Sometimes machinery can have grace and charm. This one did.

John Deere 510 at Sunny Acres
John Deere 510 at Sunny Acres

Then off to see the sea… a view into the glaring light at Avila Beach, CA.

Glaring light
Glaring Light 

Then a view from the top of Black Hill in Morro Bay, one of the nine volcanic peaks forming a string of mountains going into San Luis Obispo.

Bright Light
Bright Light from Black Hill

Until the next sketch…peace, Heather

*things – Recovering from the shocking 2016 Election results and planning my focus on having lots of work to do on healthy lifestyle and healthy planet for all of us. My view is to live and vote with a 100 year perspective in mind.

* Sunny Acres is a clean and sober living facility located on the beautiful Central Coast of California. It sits on a 72-acre ranch at the edge of the city limits of San Luis Obispo, CA.

Smile with holiday shopping…

On By Heather O'ConnorIn mediumLeave a comment

Some of you who visited my studio in October at the Open Studio Tour and made a purchase of my artwork. 25% of sales went to the Pacific Coast Peregrine Watch, an educational nonprofit, 501(c)(3). Your money went to a CalPoly scholarship for a Biology student. You can still do more. Please continue donating to our Pacific Coast Peregrine Watch… while doing your Holiday shopping.

So easy by using the link below. Amazon Smile will send us a donation if you use the link below. We’d be ever so grateful.

Smile with holiday shopping

Exciting report…

On By Heather O'ConnorIn exhibits, scholarshipLeave a comment

The grand total raised for the Pacific Coast Peregrine Watch is $316.25. It was made up of 25% from my sales of pastels, watercolors, notecards and a painting of a great horned owl on elk hide which equaled  $161.25.   Add in the PCPW table sales of $155 for mitered corner dinner napkins, peregrine pins and stuffed falcon toys.

I am so pleased! You all made it possible. Thank you.

If any of you still would like to make a $20 donation plus tax and receive a set of two, mitered corner dinner napkins, please contact me.

Mitered corner dinner napkins
Mitered corner dinner napkins

I have two sets of gull napkins, two sets of dinosaur napkins, two sets of perching birds on white napkins and three sets of chicken napkins. Let me know what you’d like.

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My commitment is to have students be curious, love the sciences and be good scientists to expand our knowledge and care of our planet. There most certainly is a lot to take care of !

Until the next sketch… peace, Heather

 

Success… Open Studios Tour

On By Heather O'ConnorIn acrylic, ArtsObispo, exhibits, oil painting, pastel, plants, seascape, skyscape, watercolorLeave a comment

My first chance to participate in the Open Studios Tour turned out pretty well !  Lots of visitors including friends, neighbors, mothers with artistic children and many new people who just decided to see what I was creating.  If you have the desire to see any pastels, notecards or mitered corner napkins, to purchase for holiday gifts, please contact me in the form below my signature.

One of the most exciting things was that I raised $155 for the Pacific Coast Peregrine Watch on sales of mitered corner napkins, stuffed peregrine toys, peregrine pins, hats and t-shirts. People understood that 25% of any sales I made would go to the Pacific Coast Peregrine Watch which is a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit who gives a $1,000 scholarship to a Cal Poly Wildlife Biology student.

Pastels and watercolor on display
Pastels and watercolor on display

People loved my pastels of seascapes, Morro Rock, the CalPoly Arboretum and were fascinated with my birds painted on elk hide for wall hangings.

img_5095
My studio

The view out of my small studio over our raised bed garden with the Pacific Ocean in the distance was a pleasant surprise to many visitors.

Oil paintings in the studio with feathers
Oil paintings in the studio with feathers where I work

Until the next sketch…peace, Heather

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Interview on KCBX.org

On By Heather O'ConnorIn acrylic, animals, ArtsObispo, exhibits, pastel, seascapeLeave a comment

Just in time for the Open Studios Tour, I was interviewed by two artists who have been participating in the Tour for years. Below is the link to our PBS station to hear what I had to say.

http://tinyurl.com/hr574on

As I continue to prepare for the first day of the Tour, October 8th, everything is coming in line…many pastels are mounted in frames, others are matted and put in clear bags, a Common Loon with a Chick riding on its back has been framed for the exhibit at Central Art Supply, 1329 Monterey St., San Luis Obispo. Please come to this reception on Friday, October 7 from 6-9PM.  I’ll be there!

Common Loon with chick on elk hide
Common Loon with chick painted on elk hide*

Please know that any purchase you make of my work, a 25% donation will given to the Pacific Coast Peregrine Watch. http://pacificcoastperegrinewatch.org

Peregrine with new chick Photo by Cleve Nash
Peregrine with new chick                                               Photo by Cleve Nash

Bob Isenberg is at Morro Rock to educate the public about the life cycles, personalities and antics of these peregrine falcons, the fastest animal on the planet! This organization is close to my heart and keeps us in touch with the fragility of all lives in the natural world. Always a good way to keep us informed about how to take care of our planet.

Morro Rock, home to two pairs of peregrine falcons
Morro Rock, home to two pairs of peregrine falcons

Until the next sketch….peace, Heather

* Elk hide – Hunters who hunt for meat for the winter often will have the hide tanned to be used in many ways. My first elk hide was given to me by a Shoshone friend in Ward, Nevada after I showed him my sketch books. The majority of hides are often discarded by hunters who don’t bother to use the hide only to have them retrieved from the trash by the Native Americans and carefully tanned and used in a more thoughtful manner. I’m now participating in this by making artistic use of all pieces and the scraps. Knowing this, my son gave me one of his elk hides after providing meat for his family.

Open Studios Tour 2016…

On By Heather O'ConnorIn acrylic, ArtsObispo, exhibits, landscape, pastel, seascapeLeave a comment

This year, a very exciting opportunity presented itself. The ArtsObispo Open Studio Tour happens every October and I jumped at the chance.

postcard
Postcard invitation

Word got around that I was new to this, so I was interviewed by Crissa Hewitt and Steven deLuque for our local PBS station KCBX.org. They are artists in their own right and were so nice to ask me questions that truly took me to the source of why I make pictures. You may listen live at 1PM Wednesday, September 7. To hear it later search my name (Heather O’Connor) at KCBX.org for the interview.

Crissa Hewitt and Steve deLuque Photo by Heather O'Connor
Crissa Hewitt and Steve deLuque        Photo by Heather O’Connor

You may take a tiny peak into my tiny studio… in the upper left corner !

A friend, Alyce Broome, is joining me in displaying our artwork. Her oil paintings are aerial views of the California landscapes. Just like a bird would see when flying over our planet!  Visit both of our entries in the ArtsObispo Directory. Just enter Alyce Broome’s name or mine (Heather O’Connor) and you’ll find what we posted for this year’s tour. Be sure to click on my “orchid” to see my other entries.

My acrylic bird paintings on elk hide will include 2 Common Loons, one with a chick on her back, a Painted Bunting, a Canyon Wren, and a Harlequin Duck.  Others may be custom ordered and will benefit the Pacific Coast Peregrine Watch.  25% will go to a CalPoly  Biology Scholarship.

Birds on elk hide
Birds and a Monarch butterfly on elk hide

My pastels include a series of seascapes including marine layers, kite festival, rough winter waves and offshore views from Montaña de Oro CA State Park and landscapes of the Nine Sisters in springtime and gnarly trees of the California Central Coast.

And please come visit me at my studio October 8-9 and 15-16, 10AM to 5PM.

Wild Trees
Wild Trees – pastel

Until the next sketch… peace, Heather

Marine layers…

On By Heather O'ConnorIn landscape, pastel9 Comments

This summer has been quite delightful if you like fog. Growing up in New Jersey and Southeastern Pennsylvania, I did get to experience fog frequently, but it’s quite different here in Morro Bay, California. All summer long as the inland valleys swelter, the Pacific Ocean cools the Central Coast of California.

Cold Pacific Ocean water and hot air over the land collide to produce vapors that hang around for at least a half a day.

Morro Bay Estuary
Morro Bay Estuary                                                                                                                      © Pastel 12″x16″

It sneaks fingers of soft white over the rolling hills, the Morro Bay Estuary and two or three of the Nine Sisters Peaks within a few miles of the coastline.

Marine Layer Covered Cabrillo Peak Pastel 12"x16"
Marine Layer Covered Cerro Cabrillo                                                                                    © Pastel 12″x16″

It looms over Morro Rock like a halo or fluffy bonnet, but sometimes smothering it almost completely.

Morro Rock in The Marine Layer Fog
Morro Rock in The Marine Layer Fog                                                                                    © Pastel 12″x16″

Looking towards Los Osos over the bay, I saw cool air and warmer water colliding in the early morning making a very mysterious  floating vapor that transfixed me for quite a while. I just had to get my pastels to see if I could capture the vapors rising. In the distance, the landscape rose into more of the morning mists.

Steaming Pickleweed Marshes Pastel 12"x16"
Steaming Pickleweed Marshes                                                                                                   © Pastel 12″x16″

Until the next sketch…peace, Heather

 

Steamboat Springs visit…

On By Heather O'ConnorIn color, landscape, pastel, skyscape2 Comments

After visiting Bryce and Zion National Parks, I was on the way to see my son, Adam. He lives in Colorado ever since he left our family home in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He has explored and lived on the Front Range, in Boulder and Lyons. Those were beautiful places, but the lure on snow country drew him westward so I followed to see what he’d gotten himself into. Snow, cycling, hiking and hunting activities were for him to explore while immersed in the grandeur of the Rocky Mountains. I got to visit often!

IMG_4534.jpgThe Flat Tops often seen with virga pouring from the high clouds. All is this is easily viewed from Adam’s house.
IMG_4497.jpgThis is his passive solar home on their 7600 foot mountain top where he, his wife, Rudy and daughter, Livia, live with views of Gambel’s oaks, Quaking aspens and Engelmann spruce before they see the distant mountains often with the alpenglow.

Until the next sketch… peace, Heather

Utah Rocks…

On By Heather O'ConnorIn landscape, pastel3 Comments

On a driving trip to visit my son in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, I saved time to visit Bryce and Zion National Parks. Weather going was delightful so I stopped briefly in Zion.

Zion National Park
Zion National Park

On my return California, I went through a small colorful town settled in 1864 Panguitch, Utah ( http://panguitch.com ) and made a turn east to Bryce.

Bryce Canyon National Park
Bryce Canyon National Park

 

Definitely must go back to spend lots of time finding the best views for pastel paintings. Maybe Zion Lodge in the less touristed season would be suitable. It’s only 585 miles or 9 hours 22 minutes according to Mapquest from here!

Until the next sketch… peace, Heather