My Painting class is not just about fish!
This is a story about Toucans in the Maldives.
A Russian guest decided that she would like to paint a tropical scene, instead of coral reefs or fishes and so she worked diligently on her painting in her the first class with me and produced a good little painting of palm fronds.
Next day she took another class and painted some more tropical plants and a lovely purple helicon, similar to some of my own ‘Helicon Series’ of paintings. She was referring to a photo on her on her mobile phone for inspiration.
The next day, there she was again, another art class and this time she wanted to learn how to paint a Toucan, which she said she had a photo of one on her mobile phone, so off we went into the land of tropical birds and plants, a little different from the images of coral reefs and fishes that I often encourage my students to paint. She had three good little paintings by now.
Then I was surprised to see her for a 4th day running, skipping over to my class to paint another painting. I said to her ‘what are you going to paint to day’ and she replied….’my husband’s swimsuit’…oh, ‘that’s a bit unusual’….and she produced her husband with his swimsuit to show me where she had been getting her inspiration…..
the saying ‘ Art is in the eye of the beholder’ applies to this subject matter and both my student and her husband are very happy with the result and so am I.
Happy guests……that is my aim…..and this delightful young lady is the epitome of why I like teaching at the One & Only Reethi Rah!
Here are some interesting facts about Toucans that live in trees not on shorts.
Toucan Facts
Toucan is a brightly colored bird commonly found in the rain forests of the Central and South America. Toucans are birds with variety in color as well as the size. Bright in color having red, blue, yellow, orange etc. and the size varies from 14 to 30 inches. These birds have a distinguished feature by having a long bill that is approximately half the size of their body. This bill is not very sharp or strong but is made of a tough material and helps the bird in getting food from inside the holes of the trees and help them protect themselves. The birds live on trees in a group of six to seven birds. They have big claws that help them balance on the trees, the two claws are in the front and two at the back. There colorful wings help them ambush with the leaves and the fruits. They are quite lazy birds and do not fly high or far away, they stay in the jungles and enjoy the fruits of the trees on which they live.Toucans are forgivers as well as omnivores. Though they mainly eat fruits but also feed upon insects, rodents, reptiles, eggs and chicks of the other birds. Toucans are mostly hunted by the humans, big birds, jaguars and wild cats. There are almost 37 species of toucans. They generally stay alone or with a mate. The female gives 3 to 4 eggs at a time and both together incubate the eggs. The young ones have very small bill which takes few months to develop properly. They are very noisy and make loud sounds. When it comes to rest they roll themselves and sleep in the holes of the trees. The facts show that Toco Toucan with orange yellowish colored bill about 7.5 inches is the largest toucan and the smallest species is the Aracar Toucanet. Toucans are related to woodpeckers.
Toucan is a brightly colored bird commonly found in the rain forests of the Central and South America. Toucans are birds with variety in color as well as the size. Bright in color having red, blue, yellow, orange etc. and the size varies from 14 to 30 inches. These birds have a distinguished feature by having a long bill that is approximately half the size of their body. This bill is not very sharp or strong but is made of a tough material and helps the bird in getting food from inside the holes of the trees and help them protect themselves. The birds live on trees in a group of six to seven birds. They have big claws that help them balance on the trees, the two claws are in the front and two at the back. There colorful wings help them ambush with the leaves and the fruits. They are quite lazy birds and do not fly high or far away, they stay in the jungles and enjoy the fruits of the trees on which they live.Toucans are forgivers as well as omnivores. Though they mainly eat fruits but also feed upon insects, rodents, reptiles, eggs and chicks of the other birds. Toucans are mostly hunted by the humans, big birds, jaguars and wild cats. There are almost 37 species of toucans. They generally stay alone or with a mate. The female gives 3 to 4 eggs at a time and both together incubate the eggs. The young ones have very small bill which takes few months to develop properly. They are very noisy and make loud sounds. When it comes to rest they roll themselves and sleep in the holes of the trees. The facts show that Toco Toucan with orange yellowish colored bill about 7.5 inches is the largest toucan and the smallest species is the Aracar Toucanet. Toucans are related to woodpeckers.
