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Shirl Ireland

Wildlife

I don’t  think I can learn from a wild animal how to live in particular….

but I might learn something of mindlessness, something of the purity of living in the physical sense and the dignity of living without bias or motive. Anne Dillard

Living and working at the edge of Yellowstone National Park I HAVE to paint wildlife. It’s all around me. I consider myself very fortunate to live so intimately with nature and have the experience of interacting with wildlife on a daily basis. Elk in the yard, deer sleeping on the deck, a big horn sheep ‘horn butting’ the window, a bobcat in the tree, bison herds swimming across the river onto our property, wolves taking down a pronghorn, watching eagles and osprey fishing in the Yellowstone River, pronghorn giving birth to twins right out the windows…. Where I live is a very special place and I want to honor that in my work. I paint my experiences with wildlife – from awe inspiring to ordinary – but they all touch a chord deep within me.  And as with my landscape painting, I often find metaphors in the back stages of my wildlife paintings as I observe and delve deeper.

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