Wildlife and how it connects to many of my adventures,

My favorite bike rides were had either with great friends or wildlife. The best ones had both.

When I’d push my downhill bike up the Rock Garden alone any day of the week,

I interacted with every bush and every shrub, every turkey vulture on high, every hawk riding the thermals.

Whether the run was clean or not never mattered as much as the wildlife and the experience on the trail.

One afternoon on a ride through the canyon with my good friend, Jason, we spotted a bobcat and got as

close as fifteen feet. It looked at us with the greatest eyes a wildcat could have.

Illustrating wildlife brings old adventures back to mind. From playing rock and roll music in basements in the Midwest and spotting Bald Eagles,

to driving down back roads in Alger County, Michigan with my Dad and seeing seven broad-wing hawks in one clearing,

or laying awake and hearing the whippoorwill call in the dead of night.

The image of any hawk in flight inspires visions of adventure in my mind.

I chose the Red-Shoulder hawk for this drawing because I see them frequently here in California’s central coast.

When I started this drawing of a Red-Shoulder hawk in flight I wanted to capture the adventures as they unfold in my mind time and time again.

This was my first attempt at drawing a hawk in flight. I spent around 20 hours on it over the last two weeks. Time well spent in my mind.

If what I tell myself is true, that times flies on the wings of my perched birds, then I should probably send them flying.