George McLean Presents "A Narrow Escape - Great Horned Owl and Squirrel"

"Action pictures of this nature are demanding, the ones I have the most difficulty with, and also the ones I find most satisfying if they succeed. The squirrel has barely escaped his attacker, a great horned owl, and will soon vanish into the safety of the pine woods. Cropping the owl's wing's was a decision I arrived at to give the feeling of crowding, the sensation the squirrel must feel as he desperately plunges into space. Also, I tried to place the animals in attitudes that are striking, yet believable, conveying the urgency of the moment.

Many wild animal paintings, currently appearing in limited edition reproductions, are static portraits of animals, painted entirely from photographs. Great paintings always come from within the artist - not his reference file, and although photographs can be helpful tools, they must eventually be disregarded, while the artist, not the camera, takes control. Even though pictures of the static variety are popular, they are neither as difficult to produce as those depicting one or more species interacting, nor do they convey the essence of what "wild" really means. I am not speaking of violence, but rather of the drama that makes real life exciting. Picture-making of this sort adds an important dimension to a genre that has become unneccessarily bland and repetitious. Tastes vary, but to those serious students and collectors of animal paintings, this approach to nature in the raw may come as a welcome change.

"In art and in the higher ranges of science, there is a feeling of harmony which underlies all endeavor. There is no true greatness in art or science without the sense of harmony. He who lacks it can never be more than a great technician in either field." - Albert Einstein, 1948" - George McLean