R U S H H O U R
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Sunday, March 1, 2026
Saturday, February 28, 2026
Audubon
G R E A T H O R N E D O W L
Feather tufts like ears are for display.
The bird has claws with a grip powerful
enough to sever the spine of their prey,
be it rodent, skunk or geese. Specialized
serrations on their flight feathers give these
nocturnal hunters a deadly stealth flight.
Great Horned Owls are widely found,
living in desert and forest. They also
make a good living off of park squirrels,
who were just hanging out in the
center of town.
B A L T I M O R E O R I O L E
These woodland song birds breed in summer
and migrate to Central and South America for
the winter. They eat both insects and fruit, as
well as nectar and bird-loving grape jelly. Their
hanging sock nests are weaved from plant fibers,
string and the mangled hair you couldn't do
a thing with.
They are Maryland's state bird and mascot
for Baltimore's baseball team.
G R E A T B L U E H E R O N
Standing four feet tall and having a wingspan
of nearly seven feet, the Blue Heron is the
largest waterbird found in North America.
Herons weigh no more than seven pounds
despite their size because of the hollow
bone structure, common to all birds of flight.
Specialized neck vertebrae gives them
blazing speed when striking for their prey.
They eat most any animal they can swallow
whole... fish, frogs, lizards, insects, gophers,
other birds. They build their stick nests bunched
together atop high trees that thrive in salt and
freshwater wetlands.
C O M M O N C O R M O R A N T
These are large diving birds are found in lakes,
rivers, estuaries and coastal waters most anywhere
on the globe except the polar caps.
They don't walk, not even like a penguin.
They land on tree limbs and power lines and
take their naps on narrow ledges found on
the face of cliffs.
They spread their wings to dry their flight feathers,
which are not fully waterproof. That seems a
surprising shortcoming for an aquatic bird,
but it works. Their wings are what they are
because their makeup gives the cormorant
an advantage at diving and their pursuit
of small fish.
C A R O L I N A P A R A K E E T
A highly social, boisterous parrot that flocked
together by the hundreds. They were the only
parrots native to the United States having
what it took to endure cold weather.
They fed on the poisonous seeds of the Cocklebur
which made this parrot possibly toxic to its
predators. Still this bird is extinct. It's colorful
feathers provided plumage for hats and fashion accents.
Farmers considered them an agricultural pest and
took every opportunity to kill them by the hundreds.
Today they are a prime candidate for extinction
reversal. Their genetic information has been extracted
from museum samples and successfully sequenced.
This species may one day be revived from some lab
petri dish.
C A L I F O R N I A C O N D O R
With a wingspan of nearly ten feet and weighing
in at an amazing twenty-five pounds this vulture
is the largest land bird in North America. They
are also among the longest living birds at sixty
years. Using wind and updrafts the condor can
cover 250 miles in a day, hunting for dead deer,
cattle or beached mammal to devour.
In 1982 the California Condor's numbers had
dwindled to near extinction, with only 22 individuals
left in the wild. These individuals were captured
in a first step to repopulate the region with birds
that were hatched from an intensive captive
breeding program.
As of 2022 the Condor population has grown to over
500 birds, with 347 having been reintroduced into
the wild. Still, the initial reasons for the declining
population in the wild remain.
J O H N J A M E S A U D U B O N
1 7 8 5 - 1 8 5 1
Audubon was a self taught artist and naturalist.
His book, The Birds of America, with its 435
hand colored prints, was a seminal publication
in the study of birds. His original illustrations
were life size, painted from fresh killed specimens.
They were first wired into the pose he desired
to illustrate. An animal too big to fit on the paper
used in his illustrations would then be contorted
to an unnatural degree to make the image fit.
Life size was all important.
Audubon was an historic conservationist
and a notable proponent of slavery
in the years leading up to the
American Civil War.
* * * * *
© Tom Taylor
OVER EASY
Sunday, February 22, 2026
Saturday, February 21, 2026
c o l o r
W O M E N O F A L G I E R S
P I C A S S O 1 9 5 5
Based on a painting of an Algerian concubine
by nineteenth century French artist Eugene Delacroix,
Picasso adds his own gloss to the story with his
vibrant color and Cubist based disposition.
A woman resembling Picasso's second wife,
Jacqueline Roque, presides over this Kamasutra
of challenging head over heels positions.
The owner of this Picasso paid a princely
$179 million for it in 2015, the price of a
fabulously appointed sultan's yacht.
P R O M E N A D E
A U G U S T M A C K E 1 9 1 3
Macke moved his wife and son from Germany
to the peaceful serenity he found in Switzerland.
This became his most productive period, with works
celebrating nature. The following year Macke was
among the soldiers killed in the opening days of
what became known as the First World War.
Like millions more to follow, the Kaiser had
called him to service.
H I M M E L
M A R S D E N H A R T L E Y 1 9 1 5
Himmel is German for heaven.
A red toy soldier on horseback is fastened
to a pedestal like they are a park monument
pigeon roost. An American named Hartley
is busy painting abstractions in wartime Berlin.
The work shown here comes with its own frame
and also makes a striking design for birthday
wrapping paper.
G E I S H A
G E O R G E H E N R Y 1 8 9 4
British artist George Henry traveled to Tokyo,
Nagasaki and Yokohama to immerse himself,
firsthand, in Japanese culture. Eighteen months
later he returned to London, his many new
works of oil carefully rolled into one large
canvas bundle. Tropical heat and exposure
to moisture on the long voyage home caused the
still tacky oils to stick, crumbling when pulled apart.
All was not lost, though.
This Geisha was a lucky exception.
S T R E T C H S T A M P E D E
L E R O Y N E I M A N
Raw color and energized brushwork.
The dash down this straightaway is a chaotic
mix of thundering horse and jockey, whips
savagely flailing the air, slashing the hide.
The excitement is heightened by having
the herd charging directly at you.
Artist Le Roy Neiman was the
Steven Spielberg of action screen-prints.
S U M M E R
P E T E R M A X
Peter Max emerged from his San Francisco
Summer of Love to become an artist for the
Cosmic Sixties. His works vibrated with
psychedelic palette and acidic innocence.
Here were works suited for a blacklight poster
but they wound up framed on walls.
Pity.
* * * * *
© Tom Taylor
OVER EASY
Sunday, February 15, 2026
Saturday, February 14, 2026
c i t y s c a p e
T O W N S C A P E
C A R E L W I L L I N K 1 9 3 4
A menacing sky looms over a deserted street
with a few isolated buildings scattered here
and there. This nightmare vision forecasts
another war in Europe, and another humanitarian
cataclysm for the still young Twentieth Century.
Dutch painter Carel Willink embraced Magic Realism -
an accurately rendered reality displayed in an
eerie welcome to an unnatural world.
H O U S E S I N T H E S N O W
F R I E D E N S R E I C H H U N D E R T W A S S E R 1 9 6 2
Straight lines are godless and immoral.
That was the artist Hundertwasser's
starting point in architectural thinking.
We should focus on one's emotions.
The forms here are organic, whimsical.
The colors bright and playful.
A sprinkle of silver snowflakes
adds melancholy, in nuance.
M A N W I T H S P E C T A C L E S
M S T I S L A V D O B U Z H I N S K Y 1 9 0 6
St. Petersburg, still under the rule of Tzar Nicholas.
The guy with the glasses is a poet friend of
the artist. Behind him is the steady encroachment
of urban blight on all that is natural.
The soulless progression to obtain greater efficiencies.
Who speaks up for objectives other than industrial
goals? And if someone does, who would listen?
Who among those gathered with power
would take action in defense of the voiceless?
The Twentieth Century.
It was the best of times.
It was the worst of times.
S H A D O W O F N I G H T
R O B E R T Q U A L T E R S 1 9 8 5
Mundane street life bathed in the flagrant colors
of a Pittsburgh sunset. People do what they do
in keeping the street vibrant. No matter what.
The steel mills close. Jobs disappear.
Families move elsewhere for work.
People remain.
Life still fills the streets of Pittsburgh.
Robert Qualters paints his affection
for the people of this, his hometown.
S I X O ' C L O C K , W I N T E R
J O H N F R E N C H S L O A N 1 9 1 2
Rush hour crowd catches their commute home
at the Third Avenue El in Manhattan. They are
shop workers, laborers and clerks toughing
through another bone chilling night.
They are energized, definitely not gloomy.
Life is good. The industrial dynamo promises
endless possibilities for mankind's future
once the spigot fully opens.
B O L S H E V I K
B O R I S K U S T O D I E V 1 9 2 0
The flag-carrying Bolshevik towers over
the masses crowding the Lilliputian streets
of Moscow, his red banner unfurling with
the triumph of Communism. Boris Kustodiev's
allegorical painting of the Russian Revolution
provided the symbolism that would become
the standard for Soviet art and propaganda.
The picture was an immediate hit but
Kustodiev was concerned it would be found
provocative. After all, here's the courageous
Lenin marching ever forward, his giant strides
crushing the little people underfoot.
So much for valuing the individual.
* * * * *
© Tom Taylor
OVER EASY
Monday, February 9, 2026
Happy Birthday Jessicca!
M E G A B R A I N A T T A C K S !
H A P P Y B I R T H D A Y !
J E S S I C C A
* * * * *
😀 😄 😁 😃
* * * * *
love
dad
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