Sometimes I finish a painting and it just overwhelms me, this is one of those paintings.  It reaffirms for me that I am on the right path by following my dreams and passion for creating beautiful, uplifting art.  And that the new artwork I am creating to highlight the beauty of our natural world through my fantasy world, MAD Wonderland, is what I was meant to do.  All of my years as an artist have brought me to this time in my life for me to follow this path of this style and purpose.  It is invigorating me and making me feel right in this world, and who I am, for the first time in maybe my entire life.  I feel empowered and motivated to create more art to highlight our mother earth and the beauty and life she graces us with.

I have been seeing a lot of Toucans lately and just felt the need to paint them, they are such beautiful, unique creatures that seem to exude a fun, carefree vibe with their stunning colors and attention grabbing beak.  Let's learn a little bit about them, here are some fun Toucan facts :)

The name "Toucan" actually comes from the noises they make, they are one of the most vocal/noisiest birds in the world.  

Their beaks are made of a honeycomb of keratin that isn't durable or very useful in fighting other birds, but it comes in handy grabbing out of reach fruit, and they use the serated edge to cut open the fruit.  It's also thought that the beaks size and colorfulness is used to attract mates.  They also use it to help regulate and cool their body temperature through the honeycomb pattern to filter air as they live in hot climates.

The bill/beak does have one downfall, it makes the birds look kind of awkward when flying as the size ratio of it makes them appear unbalanced.  When you seem them flying the beak makes up nearly half the length of their body, no surprise it would weigh them down!  This is also why they spend more time hopping around then actually flying, and live in the canopies of the jungle trees, often in hollowed out parts of the tree created from former woodpecker inhabitants.

They are native to South America and the Caribbean, with over 40 species, and they can live to be 20 years old!

They range in size from less than two lbs at the heaviest to a tiny 3 ounces, and are very sociable birds living with flocks from around 3-12 birds.  They are a vital part of the rainforest ecosystem carrying seeds through their droppings creating a diverse array of plants throughout the forest.

A portion of the proceeds from my MAD wonderland collection sales, is donated to Re:wild (formerly know as Global Wildlife Conservation), an organization I have collaborated with, and continue to contribute to. "We believe that together, we can protect and restore those ecosystems critical to the health of our planet—from the Amazon to Australia and from Borneo to our own backyards. We are excited to embark on this journey, because we believe that, together, we can rewild our world.." (Co-founded by Leonardo Dicaprio.)

The original 19"x24" painting, created with acrylics on recycled bristol paper is available HERE.

I was very moved by the story of the Blue Spix's Macaw, the beautiful parrot featured in the move "Rio" and decided to create this painting celebrating them in a burst of bright, vivid colors, and call it "Everlasting Hope".  As of now there are only around 250 of these brilliant blue birds left in the world, and only in captivity, they no longer exist in the wild.  But, there is hope that someday they can be reintroduced and once again flourish and grace the jungles of Brazil with their brilliant blue beauty.  There is so much positivity with the conservation efforts being made around the world to save endangered species that I think it's important to bring attention to all the hard work going towards saving the animals, and the planet.

I've decided to focus a lot of my art on animals and nature, but not in a way that highlights the sadness and negativity of endangered or extinct species, but rather to share the beauty of the natural world to raise awareness of what we will be losing out on if we don't protect and conserve our home, planet earth.  We all have a role to play in protecting this planet, and that requires us to be who we are and follow our passions for the greater good.  I live by the positivity rule, to bring joy, happiness and awareness to others through my art, to preserve our planet for longevity.  

I believe I can have more impact by starting the narrative with positivity and highlighting the beauty that is all around us, and what better way than with vibrantly beautiful colors and subjects that are uplifting and fun!  There are plenty of other activists who follow a different path to bring awareness, but for me I want to do so through rich, vibrant art that reflects the diversity of life around us.

This painting was a challenge as I added lots of details, especially the bubbles, something I've never really painted a lot of.  But, I kept working on until it finally came together and I'm so happy with the positive and fun vibe it exudes.  Rich, Vibrant colors always make me happy and hope anyone who sees this painting feels the same, we need more positive, uplifting art that also brings awareness.

​A portion of the proceeds from my MAD wonderland collection sales, is donated to Re:wild (formerly know as Global Wildlife Conservation), an organization I have collaborated with, and continue to contribute to. "We believe that together, we can protect and restore those ecosystems critical to the health of our planet—from the Amazon to Australia and from Borneo to our own backyards. We are excited to embark on this journey, because we believe that, together, we can rewild our world.." (Co-founded by Leonardo Dicaprio.)