Dempsey Paints Nature

"Daylily Days"

by Dempsey Essick

One of the most frequently asked questions of Dempsey Essick, or any other artist, is, “How do you find the subjects for your paintings?” The answer is that there is no answer. Inspiration comes from likely and unlikely places. The artist is always alert for that certain view, or arrangement of objects, that clicks in his imagination. And when it does he usually cannot rest until he has committed the scene to a final painting.

For “Daylily Days” it all started when Ruby Potts, from the small town of Advance in next-door Davie County, attended a seniors meeting at Elbaville UMC in Advance, NC where Dempsey was speaking on his favorite subject, bluebirds. Ruby showed Dempsey a photograph of her lily field. Something about the sheer profusion of blooms and the variety of colors inspired Dempsey. He asked Ruby to let him know when the field was in full bloom.

Rest of the story

2006 ~ Edition: 999

Image size: 12 ¾ x 21 ~ Overall size: 16 ¾ x 24

$120 unframed

Hidden Hummingbird

Companion pieces are "Ruby's Daylily" and "Lilies for a Day"

"Carolina Calling"

by Dempsey Essick

It's Dempsey's Tribute to His Home State

Dempsey Essick is not just a bird lover; he is a bird fanatic. In addition to his beautiful depictions of birds in many of his paintings he is a past president of the N.C. Bluebird Society and speaks publicly about the plight of the Eastern Bluebird. He started a bird watching club in his own community and has come to be known as the Hummingbird Artist Outside his studio window he keeps a table full of tasty treats (everything from crushed egg shells to softened raisins to cornbread) for the birds so that, when he is working on a painting he can be constantly entertained by every type of songbird native to the Piedmont Region of North Carolina. Just recently, he was visited by an itinerant peacock who had undoubtedly heard about the free smorgasbord at the feeding station in the Essick back yard. The peacock hung around for a few days then departed for parts unknown.

Rest of the story

2008 ~ Edition 999

Image Size: 12 ½ x 16 ~ Overall Size: 15 ½ x 19

$120 unframed

Three hidden hummingbirds in the painting

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KING OF THE FIELD

By Dempsey Essick

Standing like a sentinel atop a weathered fence post, an Eastern Bluebird poses against a cloud-bedecked sky and surveys its domain. Notoriously shy, the bluebird seldom ventures into neighborhoods where bird feeders offer up grains and seeds. It prefers living in easy reach of open spaces and quiet groves.

Dempsey Essick, a Past-President of the North Carolina Bluebird Society, has been a constant force, along with other bird fanciers, to educate the public on the plight of the challenged Eastern Bluebird.

“King of the Field” faithfully depicts a typical scene of a bluebird perched on a very realistically painted barbed wire fence post with a cloud-bedecked sky in the background. The clouds in this painting represent a breakthrough for Dempsey, or, indeed, any artist working in transparent watercolors. In watercolors anything white, from clouds to snow to daisy petals, is portrayed simply by leaving the white of the paper unpainted. The problem with clouds is that they aren’t flat white but billow and twist and are rounded by shadows. This presents a real problem for the painter, one that Dempsey has been working on for years. Now he has developed the technique for painting clouds realistically and never again will he have to keep his view aimed down, away from the sky.

“King of the Field” was reproduced as giclee, using a new printing process which is more versatile and renders a print very close to the original painting.

The hidden hummingbird in this painting is one of the more difficult to find.

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2006

Edition 500 - Giclee

Image Size: 10 ½ x 16 ~ Overall Size: 19 x 25

$95 unframed

Hidden Hummingbird

“Carolina Blue”

by Dempsey Essick

Blue is the color of fidelity. Blue ribbons are always the top award. Our good and reliable friends are always described as “True Blue.” We live out our lives under the infinite dome of the blue heavens. Perhaps our affinity for the color blue explains the special place the Eastern Bluebird occupies in the minds of bird lovers.

A few years ago, when the Eastern Bluebird was listed an endangered, thousands of people put up bluebird houses on the edges of fields all over the country. People, who had never lifted a finger toward conserving anything, joined the ardent, conservationists in a determined effort to save the beautiful blue songbird. And save it they did. No longer endangered,

bluebirds have their choice each year of more new houses and live worm feeding stations. And when a new family of bluebirds hatch out in the house that you put up, who can blame you if you brag a bit.

See the framed miniature

Edition 999 6 ½ x 5 ¾

Framed, matted, w/easel, gift boxed

$306

“Vineyard Rendezvous” by Dempsey Essick 2005 ~ Edition 999 Image Size: 20 ¾ x 9 Overall Size: 24 ¼ x 12 $120 unframed Hidden Hummingbird Questions? Call Patti or Shelley at 336-731-3499

“Vineyard Rendezvous” by Dempsey Essick In his painting entitled “Vineyard Rendezvous,” Dempsey Essick has filled the frame with ripening muscadine grapes hanging from the parent branch. Contrasted against the distinctive muscadine leaves, a pair of goldfinches, sporting their new summer plumage of bright yellow and black, seem to be scouting for a nice location to build a nest. They couldn’t have found a friendlier neighborhood than the Essick back yard. Dempsey, past president of the NC Bluebird Society, doesn’t just love bluebirds, he loves all birds. His back yard is an avian oasis where he feeds mealworms to the bluebirds, sunflower seed to the cardinals and wrens, Algerian thistle seed to the goldfinches, and bread crumbs with cracked sunflower seed to the robins and all comers. Rest of the story

"Hangin’ Out in the Holly"

by Dempsey Essick

Cardinals are the most devoted of songbirds. They mate for life. The male and female pair are always within sight of each other. While one is feeding the other always stands watch for predators. They both build the nest. While the female is hatching the eggs the male brings her food and guards the nest. Both bring food to the hatchlings. Cardinals do not migrate which is why you can see them, as Dempsey Essick has portrayed them, perched on a snowy holly branch in winter with their feathers fluffed up for warmth

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Edition 200 - Giclee

Image Size: 10 ¾ x 15 1/2

$95 unframed- SOLD OUT

Available in framed deluxe mini for $40

Hidden Hummingbird