Spirits of the Forest - Loon is tattooed with wild raisin leaves and surrounded by common waterweed, yellow and white lily pads and flowers, water smartflower, reeds, watershield leaves and flowers, common pipeworth, and shoreline ferns. These birds have a number of haunting calls and are a precious experience during my time in Algonquin, Temagami and other wild areas of Ontario, Canada. Watercolour painting. Copyright © 2022 Patricia Nolan
Spirits of the Forest - Moose is tattooed with trailing plants and surrounded by mushrooms, reeds, water lilies, starflowers, bunchberries, butternut and red maple. Moose are huge, majestic animals, usually peaceful, and are always an exhilarating sight during my time in Algonquin, Temagami and other wild areas of Ontario, Canada. Watercolour painting. Copyright © 2022 Patricia Nolan
Spirits of the Forest - Wolf is tattooed with red elderberry leaves and surrounded by pear-shaped mushrooms, short-stem russula fungi, yellow patches fungi, starflowers, eagle fern bracken, common boneset, inflated sedges, beech and eastern white pine. Wolves are shy and rarely seen, but I have heard them often on my trips to Algonquin, Temagami, and other wild areas of Ontario, Canada. This particular wolf is the Algonquin wolf, an animal I have seen only once but listened to many times. Much thanks to Michael Runtz for the photo reference. Watercolour painting. Copyright © 2022 Patricia Nolan
Spirits of the Forest - Painted Turtle is tattooed with watershield flowers and surrounded by coontails, lily pads, water smartflower, aquatic grass, pitcher plants, bulrushes and trembling aspen. Painted turtles are always happy encounters, whether swimming or sunning on a log, an experience I anticipate every time I go canoeing in Algonquin, Temagami, and other wild areas of Ontario, Canada. Watercolour painting. Copyright © 2022 Patricia Nolan
Spirits of the Forest - Whiskey Jack (from the Cree Wisakedjak , also known as the Canada Jay) is tattooed with winterberries and surrounded by bunchberries, common boneset, elderberries, sumac, violet-toothed polypore fungus, purple pore bracket fungus, winterberries and pine trees. Whiskey Jacks are not so much elusive and difficult to spot in dense foliage, but their call is a delight and something I listen for every time I visit Algonquin, Temagami and other wild areas of Ontario, Canada. They recently became Canada’s national bird. Watercolour painting. Copyright © 2022 Patricia Nolan
-
This series was on display at the Perceptions exhibit at Twist Gallery in summer 2022.
Animals are represented in emblematic form in this series, chosen because they are of particular meaning to me as the artist and frequently encountered on my trips north of Toronto to the Algonquin and Temagami regions of Ontario. Each is tattooed with key flora found in their habitat, and surrounded by flowers and plants that would be very familiar to each animal.