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Wildlife artist captures nature on canvas
By CATHY PELLETIER, THE CHRONICLE
Updated 1 month ago
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CANFIELD -The rugged beauty of nature plays an integral part in Billy-Jack Milligan's daily life. Surrounded by its constant yet increasingly fragile heartbeat, his Canfield home has become a haven for wildlife, both inside and out. Screech owls roost alongside turkeys and ducks, and his two young sons, Jesse and Trentin, provide a safe harbour for bearded dragons, snakes, and frogs, among others.
In a most convincing manner, creatures of all descriptions gracefully glide, slither and soar across giant canvases in his rustic studio, sharing an intimate connection with the wildlife artist and his nature-loving family.
The male Milligans are avid fans of Steve Irwin, the famed Crocodile Hunter, and the entire family regularly visits Ruthven Park's bird banding station. After recently selling his painting, Quiet Presence, Milligan felt it only natural to support the local environmental program with a 10 per cent donation.
Separating humans from nature is a foreign concept, he feels, and contributes to stress in today's techno-world. After attending a week-long workshop with Robert Bateman -the renowned wildlife artist who helped shape his life -Milligan returned from British Columbia with hundreds of close-up photos of sea lions, dolphins, and grizzly bears, which he hopes to animate in acrylics.
"My mom got me his first book when I was 15," said Milligan, "and that motivated me to start painting. Bateman is big on letting kids touch and feel animals and I'm a big believer of that."
His wife, Kathy, agrees. "If people knew the names of the animals they were displacing, maybe they wouldn't do it."
As members of Zooz in Stevensville, the Milligans were first to witness a lion giving birth to her cub, a memorable event which inspired his masterpiece, Maternal Pride.
"We were ready to leave," explained Kathy, "when we heard a roar."
The first day with his new camera lens, Milligan captured the newborn cub from a unique perspective -dangling from its mother's mouth.
After searching online for an accurate portrayal of acacia trees, since they're native to Africa and seemed a fitting background, his painting has captivated art and animal lovers, who declared it the clear winner in an online art contest.
"People can vote and we've doubled the closest" competitor, stated Kathy, who Milligan credits for marketing his work.
His compelling portrayal of pelicans set against a puffy white jet-stream, called Fight or Flight, "represents humans and how we're supposed to live in harmony with nature," she said. "Bringing conservation to the forefront is important -helping animals who are struggling. That's why we thought Ruthven would be our place to support. Rick Ludkin is just fabulous and he teaches the kids so much through the bird banding. He's there every day on a volunteer basis. Every time we go there, we see the bald eagles, without fail."
Kathy believes "If people knew the names of trees and animals they're displacing, maybe they wouldn't do it."
According to Ludkin, the Milligans began attending Ruthven's banding lab a couple years ago.
"They themselves are very interested in birds and the natural world but they also want to expose their kids to it in a positive and interactive way. At that time, I had no idea that Billy-Jack was the accomplished artist that he is; just a guy interested in wildlife and taking photographs of it (excellent photos, I might add)," noted Ludkin.
"Over time, I began to see them with some regularity and discovered Billy-Jack's amazing talent. Both he and his wife expressed a strong desire to try to help our banding program in a fundamental way. They'd seen enough to recognize that, in order to run the program properly, we had an ongoing funding need --to renew worn out nets, traps and equipment, for bird seed" and related supplies, Ludkin said.
Last September, Ludkin was extremely impressed at Ruthven's For the Birds Festival, when "Billy-Jack brought some of his artwork to display."
"How often does one get a chance to see Robert Batemanquality originals up close?" he asked.
Milligan indicated he'd donate a percentage of the sale of his work to the banding program.
The $400 donation "will go to very good use in the coming migration monitoring season," said Ludkin.
"We're very thankful to the Milligans for their financial support, but even more so for the fact that they bring their kids out to enjoy the birding experience with them."
Well-versed in eco-systems, their children easily recognize species. During a family drive through the Florida Everglades, one yelled, "There's an Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake!"
Their dad's stunning rattlesnake reproduction now makes its home among the other animals in his studio.
Currently on his easel, a flock of African cattle egrets perch on threadlike limbs of a bald cypress tree. Milligan's self-taught technique is time-consuming, since it involves "tons of different layers and colours, painting over and over until you get the right one. I'm not sure I could do what I do with oil paints."
Finding time to paint is a challenge, but he feels compelled to blend art with his family life and full-time job at Dofasco. Their totally rustic lifestyle seems worlds away from the dance studio they ran in Hamilton before moving out to the country.
"I always wanted to do wildlife art," noted Milligan, "so I started again on my lunch breaks at work."
After completing major renovations, including the home studio, Milligan began entering local art shows and joined the prestigious Artists for Conservation Foundation (AFC), a non-profit international organization "dedicated to the celebration and preservation of the natural world."
Based in Vancouver, it boasts "the world's leading collective of artists focused on nature and wildlife," states its website.
From Jan. 10 to Feb. 5, Milligan's works will be featured in the Bruno Capolongo Invitational Exhibition at the Hamilton Conservatory for the Arts Gallery, located at 126 James Street South, with an opening reception on Jan. 15. Each year, artist/curator Capolongo invites "select emerging and established artists to exhibit in a diverse exhibition celebrating contemporary fine art."
Further information is available at www.billyjacksfineart.comand www.natureartists.com.
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