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Barrow, Alaska - June 2007
Martin Eccles is a self-taught wildlife illustrator and has been been painting for 15 years.
"As I only draw and paint outdoors my work only exists within my sketchbooks - I don't have the inclination to work pieces up in a studio (and I don't have a studio!). I draw during what available free time I have, during holidays and during working trips through my day job as a doctor. Arriving on the morning flight and leaving the next evening we had 36 hours in Barrow. A small community at the very top of North America we had timed our arrival to coincide with the melting of the ice on the tundra pools; soon enough for there to be open water but before the insects start to hatch. There would be skuas, phalaropes and Snowy Owls but I the bird I most wanted to see was Spectacled Eider. With a range off the coasts of Siberia and Alaska, Barrow is the place they are most accessible. We knew that they were around as departing birders had had up to three pairs on pools at the end of one of the roads. The first day produced great views of a female King Eider and frustrating views of something unidentifiable due to a combination of cold, wind and distance."
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