The pelican is wearing better sunglasses than you own.
I paint birds because they already live the life everyone pretends to want on vacation. This one’s on the Venice Beach rail, shades on, unbothered. The letters painted into the wood say NO RUSH because that’s the only sign worth reading out there.
Ruby called it “humorous and heartwarming” and yeah, I’ll take that. The pelican’s funny until you realize he’s actually figured it out.
The line does all the work
I draw with a loaded brush, one take, thick and black. Cartoon simple but never flat.
The pelican is four lines and a beak. If I have to go back and fix it, I start over. The speed is the style – you can see I didn’t hesitate.
Under him, spray fields in peach and aqua and dirty white, the colours of that stretch of coast when the light’s good. I put those down first, let them bleed a little, then come back with the figure on top.
The shades stay on
Sunglasses on a pelican is a cheap joke until it lands. Then it’s the whole piece.
Charlotte said the pelican in shades makes it “captivating and charismatic,” which is a generous way to say I made you smile at a bird. I did. The glasses are round, dark, and they make him look like he knows something you don’t.
The railing letters – NO RUSH – I hand-painted those to look worn in, like they’ve been there long enough that even the pelican believes them. This is a canvas print about not moving faster than the weather.
For anyone who has stood at that rail
If you have ever leaned on the Venice boardwalk and watched someone on rollerblades go past with a boom box and a parrot, you know what this is. If you think pelicans are noble or majestic, skip it.
This is for people who prefer the joke to the lesson.
Gallery-wrapped canvas, in 3 sizes — 14×11, 20×16, 24×18 in. Ships free within the continental US.
