“Isis” - my avatar

I wanted to tell you a bit about my avatar image and recently completed acrylic painting of “Isis”.

She is an injured redtail hawk that is a permanent resident at the Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary, located in Indian Shores on the gulf coast of Florida. She came to the sanctuary in 1990 - the same year I moved from Virginia to Florida. The sanctuary is one of the largest avian hospitals on the east coast and they treat and release thousands of birds each year. They have been instrumental in educating the public about how to treat injured birds and the hospital treats injured birds 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The volunteers there work very hard to save as many birds as possible and the ones that are unable to be released become permanent residents at the sanctuary and are lovingly cared for.

Isis came to the sanctuary suffering from malnutrition and permanent blindness in one eye, thereby rendering her unreleasable. I have always had an enormous love and respect for all birds, particularly birds of prey, and especially redtail hawks. So naturally when I visited the sanctuary in 1990 I fell in love with this beautiful resident.

The volunteers take Isis for walks along the beach directly behind the center, and during one of these walks I was able to take some beautiful images of her as a basis for an acrylic portrait. I named my studio “Wildhawk” after her because eventhough she is in captivity, when she is on the beach she stretches out her wings and feels the air once more beneath them and I am sure she is remembering her life as a free wild hawk.