Title:  "Night Snow Twins" 

Price: $2000

Media: colored pencil, gauche


“Night Snow Twins”
The Snowy Owl, which normally resides in or around the Arctic Circle, has in the last 20 years - due to environmental stresses, changing weather patterns, and general disruption of its’ habitat - also been spotted quite frequently in the northern United States and Alaska. Thus the reference to the oak tree.
     In this painting I have tried to capture an atmosphere I first witnessed as a child. Oddly enough - in black and white - on the “Wonderful World of Disney”. I’m not sure if it was a contrived studio shot, but the scene was a snowy owl chasing a cottontail through the snow at night. The scene was so magical that it stayed with me for years. I must have seen it in color later however, because I remember the blue. In this painting that magic is what I hope to convey.
     The Snowy Owl population has dropped by 50% in the last 30 years. To lose such a wonderful specimen of nature would be truly tragic. As usual with this painting I hope to capture the beauty of the Snowy Owl and help get the word out regarding its near-endangered status, as all Arctic animals are or soon to be.

Bio:
Lance has lived and worked in Yellow Springs for over 20 years. A
graduate of Columbus College of Art and Design, Lance earned his MFA in
Painting from the University of Cincinnati.  He then taught various art
classes at the University of Dayton for a number of years while raising
his two sons with his wife Jean. Lance spent countless hours coaching
soccer and baseball, at the Gaunt Park pool and sledding hill, and
gardening, canning and cooking organic produce for his family. For a few years
he was a substitute teacher at the high school and middle school. Lance
had previously exhibited and sold abstract paintings in various
galleries and shows throughout the midwest. Once switching his main focus in
art to wildlife, Lance has slowly and steadily amassed a body of work,
but has not shown this work publicly up unto this point. He does however
have a strong following of friends and family who look forward to an
original wildlife print as a greeting card each year! Lance's goal is to
produce and market limited edition prints from his paintings and donate
the proceeds to help save our natural animal habitats throughout the
world.

Statement:
I have been working with wildlife as my subject matter for about 12
years. I started it full time when I left my teaching job at the
University of Dayton. As a free-lance illustrator with my wife, Jean, as the
Creative Director at Antioch Publishing, I was offered a wildlife
bookmark project. I enjoyed this project so much more than the illustration I
had been doing, so I decided to devote all my time to wildlife -
specifically exotic and/or endangered animals. I wanted this new direction to
have more validity than simply the rendering of an image for the
purpose of illustrating a story or decorating a product.
In my work I try to maintain focus on the animal itself. The animal is
the star - its beauty and its aesthetic is what I try to convey to the
viewer. Realism with some stylization is important, but I am not going
for photo rea ism. Having done and still sometimes doing abstract art,
my concern with paint and my medium still apply. I want the viewer to
see and appreciate the painted stroke much as one would an impressionist
painting. The realism comes from a compilation of visual clues. In most
of my wildlife paintings I use light sources to try to push the
aesthetic of the animal's texture - their fur or feathers, etc.