Paintings

Contemporary Works

For nine years, Gary Hoyle worked on a series of "islandscapes" as he explored the varying effects of natural light throughout the seasons.

For these paintings he relied on oil pigments, because the applied colors do not noticeably shift as the paints dry.

Gary Hoyle's depictions of ancient life and landforms have been exhibited in many shows over the years. One of

The following graphite illustration titled After the Orgy is based on early reconstructions of the dinosaur Velociraptor. This rendering was shown in two international juried shows along with the illustration below it.

A trio of Deinonychus dinosaurs [based on early reconstructions] disembowels an iguanodontid.

Paleo-Art Works

his dinosaur illustrations was even used by famed dinosaur hunter, Jack Horner, in his Powerpoint presentations of Tyrannosaurus rex as possibly a scavenging dinosaur.

The watercolor at left based on early reconstructions of the dinosaur Coelophysis was exhibited in three international juried shows. At the opening of the 2007 Guild of Natural Science Illustrators Exhibit at Montana State University, it was voted best painting in its category by Guild Members.

Paleo-Landscape Painting

The oil painting below is a paleo-landscape reconstruction of an area known as Jordan Pond in Acadia National Park. Based on research and discussions with scientists at the Climate Change Institute and further discussions with independent meteorologists, the painting was done to depicts Jordan Pond and the hills known as the Bubbles as they appeared at radiocarbon date 13,000 years before present. By then the pond had only been exposed by glacial melt for a few hundred years. The painting is now part of the University of Maine Collection.

Illustrating the Story of Maine's Prehistory

Shortly after leading a one hundred person paleontological excavation of the only known mammoth remains to be found in Maine, Gary Hoyle teamed up with producers of the Maine Public Television series Quest to help tell the story of Maine's prehistory from the Ice Age to to the arrival of Native Americans in northeastern North America.

Approximately a dozen watercolors of Mr. Hoyle's paleo-art were used in two
episodes of Quest.

These are examples used in two of the shows. The dead mammoth illustration is also in a recently published book on the ecology of Maine.

Conjectural Illustration

The following watercolor was posted on a dinosaur discussion blog. It was inspired by research that demonstrated the enormous grasping power of the Tyrannosaurus rex fore limbs, and also by the theory that the dinosaur followed mass migrations of its prey. Mr. Hoyle reasoned that any mass migration of prey animals would also concentrate predator species, just as modern day caribou migrations concentrate wolf populations. In such situations predators avoid dangerous conflicts usually through displays of submission and dominance. Mr. Hoyle's illustration below based on his formal conjecture implies that the muscular forelimbs were used in carcass lifting,a behavior that may have demonstrated an individual T. rex's fitness, thus reducing the risk of intra-specific combat.

Introspective Works

Periodically Gary Hoyle focuses on more personal expressions of his art.

The idea for the oil painting below came to Mr. Hoyle several years ago, but at that time he didn't feel that he had the skills to do it justice. Shortly after attending a recent religious retreat, he felt compelled to execute the painting. It is titled John 3:16 and was inspired by that New Testament verse.