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On a day in late spring 14 years ago, Terry and an artist friend headed out to spend a few hours gathering reference material in the hills and valleys of the agricultural farmlands of north central Maryland. Having moved to the area just three years before, Terry was still finding immeasurable inspiration in exploring the more domestic side of the animal kingdom, subjects he had not really anticipated becoming enamored with before his move to the state. In the years since that afternoon of wondering the countryside, horses and cows and sheep and chickens and all manner of domesticated creatures have populated his drawings and become a primary source of creative inspiration. The joy of discovery can lead to unimagined results, exemplified by file folders filled with thousands of personally snapped photos of cows and horses and sheep and chickens, to be found on Terry’s computer, in addition to sketches and notes about compositional ideas sparked by spending time getting to know his rural animal neighbors. Digging through some of those files recently, Terry came across some of those photos and notations made on that sunny, late spring afternoon in 2004 and was reminded of a drawing he did shortly after. “Appalachian Spring”, which is seen above along with some of the reference material he devised his composition from, was the outcome of that inspiring afternoon’s drive. As spring time finally begins to unfold outside his studio windows today, Terry continues to revisit photos and experiences from the last 17 years of wonderings among cow pastures and barnyards and visits to the rolling hills of the Maryland farmlands to devise new works for upcoming shows and exhibitions. With the notification of the recent jury results for this year’s members’ exhibition of the Society of Animal Artists annual Art and the Animal show, Terry was pleased to hear his work, “To Get To The Other Side, Of Course” which depicts a hen and rooster . . . crossing the road, of course . . . will be included in the show which opens in July at the newly dedicated James Museum of Western and Wildlife Art in St. Petersburg, Florida. Another of his chicken subject works, “Lisa’s Girls”, is currently traveling around the country in the touring portion of the 2017 edition of the Internationally respected Birds in Art exhibition. It currently is on display, along with 59 other selected pieces from the originating 125 work show, at the Stamford Museum and Nature Center, Stamford, Connecticut (closing at the end of May) and will move on to the Cumming Nature Center at the Rochester Museum of Science Center, Naples, New York to hang there from June 16 to August 13. It is a certainty that
many more cows and horses and chickens will show up in future
works that come off the drawing board, so check back here often
to see all that are newly posted. |