Anna’s Fairy Duster

"I created this artwork to enter a competition for the image to appear on a t-shirt for the 2020 Exhibition of the International Society of Scratchboard Artists, in Tucson Arizona. The required theme was "flora and fauna of the desert." On my first visit to Arizona years ago, I was amazed at the variety, colors, sizes and numbers of hummingbirds. I knew a hummingbird would lend itself well to creation on a scratchboard and also thought it would be different from the obvious subjects of cactus or lizards! My research also revealed that a magnificently colorful species called Anna's Hummingbird was common in the Sonora Desert area of Arizona, and one of its favorite flowers to frequent was the feathery Fairy Duster… another great candidate for depicting in scratchboard. I found reference photos from two excellent photographers, got their permission to use them, and created my composition.

To emphasize the Southwestern theme a bit more, I incorporated a border design which reflected motifs used in Native American pottery of the area and repeated the beautiful colors of the bird. For one last bit of interest, I decided to turn my square format 45 degrees to create a diamond shaped image, knowing this would work graphically very well on a t-shirt.

This artwork made it to the top five in the competition, but, unfortunately was not the one chosen for the t-shirt. No matter - I loved creating it and stretching myself to try a subject I might not have approached otherwise."

Thanks to Tammy Kokjohn for the hummingbird reference photo, and to Jason Lane for use of his Fairy Duster flower.