Silent Skies Mural

• Originals & Prints

Silent Skies Mural, an international collaborative mural mosaic for Artists for Conservation. The installation will for the centerpiece of the 27th International Ornithological Congress in Vancouver, B.C., Canada 2018. Each panel is 8”h x 8”w x ¾“cradled, featuring all 678 endangered species of the birds of the world. Proceeds will support bird conservation and environmental education. My contribution was to depict four species.

Descriptions:
Eskimo Curlew (Numenius borealis)
Immediately drawn to this species, I was eager to paint the Eskimo Curlew (Numenius borealis) because of the historical and personal significance to my family. Thought to be extinct for many prior decades, my husband, Ben Feltner, in the company of D.A. Deaver, found a living bird on Galveston Island, TX on March 22, 1959, and recognized it. Alerted to the news, many others were able to experience this exciting discovery. In late March 1962, two birds were observed on the island by many birders and were photographed. The last bird flew north a few weeks later, and was the last confirmed record for the contiguous United States. My own Eskimo Curlew journey took me to the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History to view their inestimable specimens, along with the kindness of a museum director who photographed and measured the specimens in various U.S. collections for my accuracy. Once one of the most numerous shorebirds in North America, it is now thought to be extinct.

Javan Green Magpie (Cissa thalassina)
The Javan Green Magpie (Cissa thalassina) is critically endangered and endemic to West Java in Indonesia. They are notoriously difficult to find in their dense, mountain forests. The chicks have blue feathers, and if a proper diet is maintained, they develop the bright green plumage from their food. Trapped for cage birds and displayed as status symbols, the rarer they are, their market value increases. It is believed that there are less than 100 individuals in the wild. There are no protections in place to decrease the rate of extinction. Several conservation programs are currently focusing on maintaining breeding programs.

Black-breasted Puffleg (Eriocnemis nigrivestis)
The Black-breasted Puffleg (Eriocnemis nigrivestis) is a critically endangered hummingbird, found in the mountains of Ecuador. We observed several in the Yanachocha Preserve in 2004. It is a dazzling jewel of iridescence with its bright white pantaloons. Painting this bird evoked memories of that personal encounter.

Golden-cheeked Warbler (Setophaga chrysoparia)
The Golden-cheeked Warbler (Setophaga chrysoparia) is an iconic bird of the Texas Hill Country. Nesting nowhere else in the world but here, in the oak-juniper woodlands, where they find older forests abundant with insect diversity and caterpillars. Their need for specific habitats for both breeding and wintering makes the species extremely vulnerable to loss due to clearing for livestock, urban development, timber harvesting and agriculture. Conservation programs have been established in Texas and Latin America to raise awareness for the need to maintaining habitat.

Media: Watercolor and Gouache
Size: 8" x 8"
Originals: $950.00 each
Archival Prints: $40.00 each