“Before it's Gone” is a blue and purple abstract painting that made room for a green – crowned brilliant hummingbird. Being a wildlife artist in Victoria, BC, I asked for suggestions naming this painting and Morlene Tomlinson of Esquimalt offered the perfect title.

A row of paintings in progress are lined up for work at my Vancouver Island studio. “Before It's Gone” had just been started here, as a blue green abstract with big magenta drips.

This close up on my painting of a green - crowned brilliant hummingbird betrays how much I tried to leave the original abstract portion of the painting untouched; where those areas dedicated to the hummingbird, I chose to develop into the painting, as much as possible.

This wing was my favourite part of this artwork to paint, showing the front and back as a figure eight. Hummingbird shoulders have a ball and socket joint allowing them to rotate their long, narrow wings 180 degrees in all directions. Their shoulder and elbow joints are very close to their tiny bodies, so their wings can tilt and pivot, uniquely granting them flight in any direction.

“Before it's Gone” started as a quickly splashed blue and purple acrylic painting in by Nanoose Bay, BC studio years ago. Eventually the painting evolved into a hummingbird artwork, during my time as a Duncan BC artist.

The portrait sized abstract hummingbird painting in full. As a BC wildlife artist I love to fit animals and nature into abstract paintings. It's the challenge of leaving as much of the original stand alone artwork as possible, such as not painting the bird's belly or completing the feathers.

From a quick little blue, green and purple abstract action painting, a green-crowned brilliant hummingbird started to come to life. A variety of fluid acrylics mix with my palette and reference pictures on a counter from my former studio in Duncan, BC.

This picture shows me finishing the hummingbird wildlife painting in my Duncan studio at the time. I enjoyed discovering where to add some details and where to leave the original abstract painting as is.