Kingfisher's Realm

by Carla Parris

Title

Kingfisher's Realm

Artist

Carla Parris

Medium

Photograph - Digital Photoartistry

Description

A belted kingfisher, wearing a crown, surveys his marshy kingdom, as a line of turtles, his loyal subjects, are lined up before him. Flying fish pass overhead, and dragonflies flit around in this whimsical scene which is framed by flowering purple thistles, grasses, and other bits of vegetation.

This fanciful composite image incorporates two original photographs as key features: one of a belted kingfisher, captured at St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge, and the other of a line of turtles on a partially submerged log, captured at Wakulla Springs. Two other personal photographs were employed: an image of downtown London, England, and thistles and other vegetation from St. Marks.

The palette of this piece is greens, golds, and purple, with touches of gray blue on the kingfisher.

This piece has a little bit of a background. I have recently been intrigued by kingfishers. It started with my quest to photograph these little birds, which I initially found very elusive, but finally successfully captured at St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge. Then for some time I have wanted to do a whimsical painting of a kingfisher with crowns and fish in the background, playing off of the "king" and "fish" parts of his name. Before I got around to that, I decided to create the digital photoart piece featured here. I had the photo of the turtles lined up on a log, and they reminded me of a display of King Henry VIII and his wives which I saw at Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum in the early seventies on my first visit to London. That display had Henry on a pedestal, and all of his wives lined up before him, in chronological order, curtsying before him in servile obedience. I thought the turtle image would work great in this design as loyal subjects of the sovereign kingfisher. Of course he needed a crown, and the London scene added to the image of a kingdom. Finally, because his is a marshy domain,I added some dragonflies and, like my initial concept, the flying fish. I may eventually get around to my painting, but in the meantime, it was satisfying to complete this digital composition of this cute kingfisher's imaginary kingdom, and the depth and complexity of this image actually surpass my initial vision for the painting!

Uploaded

August 7th, 2016

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