That is so colorful ! Splendid artwork !

Colorful

Excellent

A beautiful & so colourful creation.

Superb

hugs Jane xx

excellent piece, be wonderful in a children's book

Gorgeous art!

Very colourful

(I'll drop you a note, as I hope you're ok and not too inundated, tired, etc. And I hope your health is well too...) This is my second comment of late, and it's a total change from the last one (the peonies). This is one of your bold, multi hued pieces, with bold swaths and bold shapes, showing how wide your range is. I love that the toucan's beak is the dominating factor here: It sweeps across the frame and composes everything around it---a natural choice given how dominating it is in real life. A designer's choice that takes some guts to make, because once you've committed to making that beak the 'focal point', you're stuck with it: The whole painting has to adjust, whether it wants to or not; and if it doesn't...well, you're gonna have some pretty unhappy butterflies, ferns, suns, etc.

This is a Carol piece, so no one's unhappy here: The composition is perfect. And the beak's not just in the center: It's slightly above center---horizontally---so it lifts the image up to the sky, and to that big orange-yellow, partly visible-partly obscured sun---a sun not so much obscured as it is bathed in the rich hues of the tropical world. (Gaugin would've loved this piece...)

Painters have, for centuries, taken shadows---which we usually perceive as "gray"---under their care; and turned them into every hue imaginable: partly because their keen eyes see lots of hues inside those grays---they're actually present---but also because the artist actively translates shadow into the full spectrum of color, for deep expression. Your toucan-beak sinks into deep tropical oranges rather than the usual shadow-grays; and you have touches of greens in them, and even of blues. In your hues, you've given a great boost to those shadows, so they glow...and of course they contrast the bright hues of the lit portions of the beak, making the beak very alive. This may seem a small observation; but it's part of your way with hues, that, even in the subdued areas, you give great life to a living surface. And then the band that separates the beak from the eye---I'm sure there's a name for it---is a rich black, which is more fine design choice: Like, boom. A border! You capture tropical birds' eye popping contrasts. And you even outline the beak's top in a rich crimson-y red to separate it from everything above it---which provides a great surface for the butterflies to perch...

There was a sequence in Sesame Street called "Hey---there's a bird on me," which filmed massive tropical animals with birds riding on their backs. They birds rode there to eat small insects that gathered on these beasts' backs. (Providing a service for the beasts, and a free smorgasbord for the birds.) I'm not sure the butterflies are having a meal on your toucan's beak, but they're hanging out on a free surface, and---in your hands---making a display, a kind of runway show for their exquisite designs. I love that. And, as you do in all the butterflies I remember in your work, you give great attention to each b'fly's detail, so that each one is a whole creature in itself. They're putting on a fashion show. If it weren't for the fact that the toucan is as dominating as it is, one could call this a butterfly painting, pure and simple.

Back to the toucan (the name comes from its cry, its song), you give both bold and subtle greens in hits head and neck. And the surrounding sky is an ocean of tropical hues: I love how you greet the bottom of the toucan's beak with a blast of bright sun---the brightest yellow in the piece---in total contrast with the dark oranges of the beak. And how that's met with a painterly wash of aqua greens. And how the sun, on our left, is a pure circle, because it's another bold shape, to complement the bold arch of the beak. Those bold, simple shapes remind one of the great Japanese prints, in how they used bold, huge suns and moons as pure geometrics in the middle of their weeping willows and other leafy, infinite plant forms: You have that contrast here: a few bold geometric shapes with the complex, intimate designs of butterflies, ferns, etc.

Your sky is filled deep saturated reds, crimsons and oranges---more tropical hues. And you frame the whole with plantlife (ferns and leaves: Some of those leaves are pure Carol, with their rushing strokes, feeling as much like energy as like leaves. The ferns have dabs of light in them, as if they're illuminated.

This not a large piece---at least in the zoomed version, here---but it's packed. You 'cropped' it to suit that dominating beak (ie, a horizontal crop, which doesn't seem as common in your work as a more-squared crop, or vertical crop---I could be wrong on that, it's just my memory). And you've allowed the butterflies to emphasize the arc---of the beak---as if they were christmas ornaments on a broad branch. And you've surrounded them in a rich, saturated sky; and allowed sky around the bird and b-flies in order to let the image breathe, and intimate infinitude (which is present in everything you do). Even in a small image, you get an infinity. And it also shows how at home you are with different palettes: This is completely different from the palette of the peony painting. It's a bold and simple design, but it's also filled with intricate detail and complexity. It's a beauty.

Mark, thanks so much for your awesome comment. You always find the most amazing things to say with your words and observations. I have always adored tropical birds, as their colors and beauty fascinate me. And the Toucan is one of my favorites. I have paintings of them in my tropical-themed home, and a big sculpture of one hanging from my ceiling. . I'm Greek, and when I was a teenager I thought my nose was too big. I have long since grown out of such insecurities, but I do have a thing about noses. I think I like the Toucan so much because he wears his large beak with such pride. So I enjoyed creating this work because this fun creature just mekes me smile. Almost as much as your comments make me smile.