ArtistRichardLowe.com

This Big Red a red tailed hawk that we trained in the wild, just like we did with Thor, by using stew meat on the glove on my right hand. He would be in a tree, see the meat, swoop down on the glove, grab the bit of meat, then fly back to his tree. He would do this until he had enough. an outstanding experience which took  a great amount of time on our parts  but well worth all the hours we spent with this wonderful bird.

This one of my favorite photos and I must admit the photographer was shocked when I was able to walk up to a wild deer and kiss it, best French kiss I ever had. My wife and I do this all the time with wild animals as it is the only way we get to know that animal as well as its personality. It neever gets old and is always a wonderful feeling deep with in ones soul. We simply have a way with animals and it always works especially when I have to paint a picture

This was quite an adventure, which I came upon one day when returning from my job with the Space And Missile Systems Organization at Norton AFB, Ca. by accident. I usually see 7 or 8 red tailed hawks, but never a golden eagle. So I stopped at a turn out up the  road walked back, expecting to see it fly away. He was sitting on a tree, which I call an ambush tree. All hawks do this to conserve energy to watch for any signs of prey, then swoop down to get their meal. The golden eagle turned its head, looked at me as I looked at it. It did not seem to show any signs of fear and did not fly away. I watched it as an hour passed. Then after an hour,  it saw something on the ground, swooped down, wings folded until the last second, legs outstretched in front to kill the unlucky ground squirrel. I was shocked, surprised, and at the same moment, pleased when I saw it in the same tree every day. I began, a week later, to purchase 2 lbs of stew meat every day, passed it down to the ground for him. After several days, Thor, I had named him, came down to feed on the fresh meat. It took me two months before I could sit by the stew meat before Thor would come down and feed next to me, instinctively knowing I would not harm him. This continued for several months, I was loving every minute of it, even allowing me to pet it. One day, a highway patrol officer noticed  I was parked in the same place every day and asked me what I was doing. He was shocked when he saw me feeding a wild eagle by hand,  laughed then drove away. Kity and I do this sort of thing all the time, and there is no feeling on earth like these adventures

This is one of the saddest stories in the history of American Wildlife. This print which I had accomplished of the now extinct passenger pigeon, Martha. I painted it from a very old mount at the San Bernardino County Museam. The passenger pigeon was the most abundant bird in the world, numbering, not in the millions, but in the billions. Some flocks would darken the sky for days as they passed over head for their feeding and nesting areas. Each flock would hold over one billion birds,  as stated by James Audubon. They would break tree limbs when so many would land, estimated to be around 3 to 5 billion birds before the greed of the white man discovered how much money could be gained from them. On one special day, 1,800,000 were killed then shipped back east for many reasons. The last passenger pigeon, Martha, past away all alone, surrounded by crying naturalists in the Cincinnate Zoo on September 1, 1914. But in just a little over 50 years, they were all gone. Their nesting areas completely filled with nesting passenger pigeons measured 15 to 20 square miles, and their droppings covering the ground like snow 3 to 4 feet in depth, which the farmers gathered for their fields. Thus, I dedicate this print, which can be ordered, to all those other animals and birds who managed to survive extinction. I also plan to paint other pictures of the passenger pigeon scenes in the future.

Yes, that’s what I said. And it is true. This is one of God’s creatures whom we feed daily. Loves corn and peanuts with a passion. This, I might add, used to be my garden, and it was beautiful. Roses, tulips, and many other plants until one day we noticed they were being pulled undergound by something. Now, to be honest, my wife Kitty and I loved this garden. I knew what it was. Then when all the plants were gone, we made it into a feeding station for birds and squirrels for research for some future paintings. Then one day, we looked outside and saw this stupid looking rodent eating sun flower seeds meant for the birds. “WELL” I said, “this is an unusual opportunity. Let’s see if we can train it to feed out of our hands.”  and, as you can see, we were able to get it to eat out  of our hands within two weeks. Spoiled, yes, it was very spoiled. Each morning, up he came waiting to be fed and getting very fat as each new day passes, even in the winter. We have the habit of spoiling any animal that will let us, and we love it. Should we kill it? Absolutely not. As I stated in the beginning,” he is one of God’s creatures. Doesn’t bother anyone.” Of course, Diggers tunnels were a bother when we would step on them, but  who cares. We may be idiots, but we love all things on earth. Who knows in the future you may see him in a print on our site

I have been painting in watercolors since 1973, which began as wildlife, a subject both my wife, Kitty and I were very familliar with and loved dearly. It all began by accident, as my major methods of painting were in oils and black and white pen and inks. But, as is usually the case, I was not at all happy with the end results of what I had painted, and neither was Kitty. It was Kitty who noticed how frustrated I was. “Why don’t you try those watercolors you received as a Christmas present.” So I finally took her advise…WOW…Did we discover what had been laying in the drawer of my drawing table for over two years. Watercolor was exactly what I needed to capture the images of all the animals; song birds; hummingbirds;  and waterfowl in my wildlife watercolors.. My first subject, a mountain lion, we had assisted Mr. Harold Darling at the Big Bear Zoo in Big Bear California, in raising from the day it was born until two years later it attempted to eat me.This painting aided Kitty and I into developing watercolor prints in both color and in black and white into animal and bird watercolor prints. We opened our first gallery , 400 square feet, in Blue Jay California in 1974. Kitty ran the gallery and I entered art shows throughout California sending my customers up to our gallery to see more paintings and watercolor prints, then in 1976 SAGA Publishing published my bald eagle and bison for their becentennial prints distributed throughout the United States. But our customer base began to grow until the gallery became too small to handle our growing inventory. So we moved our gallery and Kitty’s new gift store, Miss Kitty’s English Garden, to Lake Arrowhead Village California in December 1980, now 2000 square feet which allowed the space needed for all our watercolor originals; watercolor prints; animal watercolor prints, song bird prints; hummingbird prints; and butterfly prints, as well as Miss Kitty’s English Garden gift store. Her products will be included on our web site in June of this year. Then published by Gallery Classics, four paintings, for their collector plates, mallards, pintails, wood ducks, and green wing teal, a true limited edtion of only 15,000 each, selling out in one year. Also published by Pimpernel International of England, four series of six paintings each of song birds; waterfowl; butterflies; and hummingbirds. We also do art shows throughout Southern California.

These are our guest towels which you can request any of the designs that are shown on the 5 pages. This is what my wife Kitty creates from my art work. Just go to the pages online shopping and request the image you desire

If you are interested in creating your own web site, we highly recommend Mike Anderle at www.SimpleStepsIT.com. He is the best.

This is an ostrich that we worked with at a zoo. As I sat there sketching her, she pecked at the top of my head pulling bits of hair as she continued to peck on my head. I sketched as fast as I could, left, then painted this picture as soon as we arrived back home. She had that special expression and seems to say, ‘Where is my coffee.”

I thank you for visiting our web site. This is a site that will give you the opportunity to view many of my original reproductions from my original watercolor paintings. My reproductions are 8.5 x 11″, unmated on acid free stock. I have also personally signed each reproduction.

I have been painting and studying every area of the worlds wildlife all my life, trying many mediums, but finally fell in love with watercolor. I had sketched a mountain lion  which I had worked with in a zoo and planned to use oils. But, thankfully fate stepped in. I had some watercolors I had never used and thought I might give them a try.

This began a true love affair between myself  and this new medium which began in 1973. I  have worked in watercolors since that day.

All the many subjects you will view were  sketched or painted on location or  drawn through my experience throughout my career. Many have interesting stories as to how they were created. I, as many artists do, look forward in sharing them with you.

Many of my paintings have been published for commercial use by major companies in England and the United States, such as placemats, coasters, collectable plates, greeting cards, and collector boxes.

I hope you will  enjoy them.