Mudpuppy Night in Oxford Mills

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Oil on canvas, 16 x 20 in.     Sold

 Since 1999 Fred Schueler and I have been running "Mudpuppy Night in Oxford Mills" in order to give these magnificent creatures the public attention they deserve, since they don't have any official status. These weekly outings also get us out to do winter fieldwork on a regular basis - because nobody knows what's out there unless somebody goes!

This fall we got a phonecall from Ontario Nature as part of their research for an article about Mudpuppies. This provided the impetus for me to do the painting I've always wanted to do. Some day I would paint these giant aquatic salamanders as they appear on the creek bottom through shallow water by spotlight. So as soon as we got home from New Brunswick in late September, I set aside a week, and from my field experience and photos taken while wading about with
the Mudpuppies, I finished the oil painting and submitted it on time for the editorial deadline. My painting was selected as a full page illustration for the Mudpuppy article in the fall edition. The "Read On" link is in the first banner slide, which you can find on the Ontario Nature magazine home page.

On our own web page you can read more about the all-winter-long event that's been going for 15 years - Mudpuppy Night in Oxford Mills and you can see two videos about Mudpuppy Night - a short one made by Triune Productions in support of our Fragile Inheritance projects, and a longer one made by the MacNamara Field Naturalists Club. This season's Mudpuppy survey is already underway below the dam in Oxford Mills, on Friday nights at 8:00. If you do Facebook, you can search for Mudpuppy Night in Oxford Mills for updates and anticipations based on weather and water levels.

Signed and numbered fine art prints of this painting are available - e-mail Aleta for more information.


Comments

  1. AnonymousDecember 3, 2015 at 7:43 PM

    That is wonderful news, Aleta!

    Chris (Greely)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Isaac ChellmanJanuary 14, 2016 at 9:26 AM

    This is a gorgeous painting, Aleta. Fantastic job!

    ReplyDelete

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