Saving A Species, One Render At A Time with
Ken Gilliland(KenG) [Part two of a two-part
interview - A year after KenG's first interview, Sandy catches up with KenG to discover
the projects he is currently working on, and what we can expect
from this amazing artist in the near future]  Since our last interview what have you been up to in
terms of creating more of your wonderful models of birds? I
understand you created a European version. After finishing the
two Songbird ReMix packages I did last year [Threatened,
Endangered, Extinct, and Cool and Unusual], I
felt I was pretty much done with the series. Over the summer, and
especially during the fall, I started getting requests of birds
outside of North America for the series. I have always thrown in
one or two European birds in each package but never an entire set
dedicated to Europe, thus the European Edition. Once I got
it in my head that I was doing a European SBRM [Song Bird ReMix]
collection, I dug into bird books and recalled my own bird watching
experiences when I went to Bavaria a few years back. I tried to
incorporate the most common birds found in Europe along with the
requests I had received. Along the creation path, I found it a
great learning experience for me. Im anxious to return to Europe
and try my enhanced identification skills.
Images from the European Edition 2005 KenG [full images
can be seen on KenG's Renderosit Gallery]
You not only deal with the endangered birds, you also are
involved with endangered plants. Have you ever thought about doing
some models of these? I for one can never get enough plants for my
scenes. Yes, I do some volunteer work for the Theodore Payne
Foundation for (California) Wildflowers and Native Plants.
Besides helping customers in their nursery, teaching some classes
and going some promotional artwork for them, I created and maintain
the foundations website. The foundation was formed to preserve the
legacy of Theodore Payne, an Englishman who came to California in
the early 1900s and fell in love with Californias native plants.
It is because of his vision, plus some propagating and seed
collecting that many species are still around today. I became
fascinated with native plants around 2000, in efforts to lure more
birds to my yard and over the past few years have gardened
exclusively in native plants. A native plant model collection has
appealed to me for some time. I purchased the x-frog modeling
software with the express intention of creating some. Ive started
and shelved the project a few times ... something else always seems
to come up, but its still on the back burner. Your home
Quail Hollow is on the Theodore Payne Foundations Annual
Native Garden Tour each year are there many people who come for the
tour and what is their reaction to your beautiful gardens?
Quail Hollow's Native Plants
Well, I guess I have to admit first that besides being a native
plant advocate, Im am addict. Our home, named Quail Hollow,
has over 450 different species of California native plants and
approximately 15% of them are endangered. Ill admit before we
went native; I thought native plants consisted of two species,
weeds and cactus. In the Los Angeles area, where I live, Im lucky
if I see one house in twenty that has one native plant species.
Although we live a dry, mild Mediterranean climate, everyone here
thinks theyre living in England or the East Coast when it comes to
gardening. They dont understand that the seasons are turned
around. The lush lawns and thirsty shrubs are in direct conflict
with the natural conditions here. During the late winter through
spring, our yard is an attraction for our community, mostly due to
the wildflowers. We get a lot of brakes squealing and
fence-leaners that time of year. The TPF Annual Native Garden
Tour started last year offers an excellent tool to show that
California native plants are a quite a bit more than weeds and
cactus. On last years tour, about 200 people signed up for the
self-guided tour and a majority of them visited Quail Hollow. A
few people ended up staying all day in the garden missing the rest
of the tour. I guess that means they enjoyed it. If anything, there
were a lot more native plant converts by the end of the tour day.
This year, the Tour is April 2nd and 3rd and the attendance is
expected to triple. Speaking of Quail Hollow, you give us
a little of the reasons on your home page, but could you give us a
little more in-depth of where your dream came from? Quail
Hollow is a section of my website that deals with my home and the flora and
fauna around it. The first thing I did to the property when I moved
in was to significantly change the house. The house built in the
30s was moved on to the property. Over the years, it has undergone
a series of facelifts, the last being a Ranch-Tudor conversion.
Since the house had no character, I decided it was a blank canvas
and I could do to it whatever I pleased. I chose to turn the clock
back to 1890 and turn it into a Queen Anne cottage. I guess I did a
pretty effective job Ive had to turn down requests to be part of
Historical Home Tours.
Quail Hollow
In 2001, my wife and I purchased a couple vacant lots next to us.
We have a history of donating quite a bit to various environmental
groups, but we found it frustrating not knowing how our donations
were used. With purchasing land adjacent to us and to keeping it
from being developed, we knew exactly how the money was spent. We
started to plant natives, doubling our bird species count from 40
to 80 different species year-round. We get many rare species of
birds, but our favorites were the 30 to 60 quail that visit us on a
daily basis. The property on the hill above us is named Quail
Hill, thus our name became Quail Hollow. Since our
first interview has anything changed in your life? Oh boy,
theres a question yes. Chains of events starting over the summer
have significantly changed my life. It started with this crazy idea
of a creating a main walkway to our house. Since Im a
do-it-yourselfer, I did everything, starting with rippingout 100
feet of driveway with a sledgehammer. By fall, my walkway, complete
with a stream, bridges and waterfalls was done, unfortunately so
was my back. Doctors determined I needed surgery. Since my day job
was a physical one my employer put me on medical leave without pay.
Now I know all of this sounds pretty depressing but a small miracle
happened in January, a guitar manufacturer contacted me about
placing my art on a line of electric guitars, and now I find myself
living my dream, being a full-time artist. I sit here now mending
after the surgery (that went very well) almost thanking the back
injury for breaking me loose of that day-job. I should add, that
having a great and supportive wife makes living my dream a lot
easier. Do you have any projects in the works that you can talk
about without giving away too much? Well, now being a full-time
artist, obviously my digital art, texture and modeling are going to
be sought as a source of income for me, so yes, I have quite a few
projects that are in the works or being dreamed up almost as we
speak. My initial primary concerns will be to take my shelved
projects, evaluate them, and bring them to completion if viable.
Most of these are no secret to visitors of my website. Ill be
bringing my hummingbird and lizard models forward, much in the same
spirit and style as the Songbird ReMix collection. Im
planning to complete the two PoserTown buildings I started based on Edward
Hoppers paintings House by the Railway and Circle
Theater. Im also planning to revisit the native plant model
idea and there may be one more Songbird ReMix package in
there as well. I was thinking African and Indonesian birds.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- [Part one of this two-part interview can be read here]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
Comments