Songbird Silhouette

Although we still have some cold days, it is spring.  I'm not a real bird watcher, so I don't know who is making which sound, but I do love hearing the twitters and chirps and whistles and tweets and caws and hoots and trills that surround our home.

My inspiration for this piece came from an Instagram photo that I loved. It was taken by my good friend and photographer Sara. My further inspiration, or maybe motivation, was that I'm still using up paint left over from our students' palettes from our class a month ago.

The challenge for Creative Companions this month was "Silhouette." In my companion piece, I used different kinds of silhouettes.  

• The cardinal silhouette at the bottom was cut from a photograph I took of the cardinals that hang out in a tree by the bird feeder in our backyard. 
• The bird at the top was done through a fun site called Word Art. I simply put in the names of all the bird I could think of that live near me, chose my color palette, and printed.
• The words are just something I've noticed as I get nearer 60!  "Ignored... in the background... They've always been there. The older I get, the more I notice them... enjoy them... look for them in the foreground."

Original on 11"x 14" Wrapped Canvas

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That's Just Ducky!

Don't you just want to listen in on their conversation!!

• Bottom Right just asked a simple question.
• Middle can't believe she'd even ask such a thing!
• Front Left agrees with everything Middle says.
• Top Right does not want to get involved this time!
• Back Left is late to the meeting... again!

The image of these ducks deep in conversation has made me chuckle since I first saw it. 

I "met" these particular ducks inside a blog called Chickens in the Road. They lived on a farm in West Virginia along with lots of chickens, some goats, a few sheep, dogs, cats, a couple of donkeys, a milk cow, and a farmer named Suzanne.

In the days after I broke the two lower bones in my right arm, I had a lot... really a lot... of time that I couldn't do much of anything but click and scroll with my left hand and read on the computer.  That may sound dreadful, but during those days I got to thoroughly enjoy every bit of Chickens in the Road from the early posts of 2005 to the recent ones of 2019. 


I suppose I don't know any ducks personally, but oh, how I have always loved Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Ouack, Pack, Quack, and of course, Mr. & Mrs. Mallard!

Make Way for Ducklings was written over 75 years ago, but I have a feeling that my grandchildren will love it as much as my kids did and as much as I did... still do!

A few years ago, we'd been on a trip and were to fly home from the Boston airport. We had allowed ourselves one extra day there, but I'm such a not-city person. I'm sure there are dozens of museums, historical monuments, and not-to-be-missed sights to see.  But, there was only one place that I wanted to go... Boston Public Garden.  

I might have cried a little when I saw Mrs. Mallard and her 8 ducklings.

Even the Swan Boat was there!

I might have cried again to see a real Mrs. Mallard with her ducklings.

Ducks just make me smile... well, and cry... but mostly smile. 😊

Thank you to Suzanne McMinn of  Chickens in the Road for letting me use her photo as a reference for this painting.

Original Oil Painting on 11"x 14" Wrapped Canvas
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Mr. & Mrs. Cardinal

How long does it take to get rusty?

I haven't been able to paint for a while; sometimes life just gets in the way. Once things slowed down, I found myself putting off getting back to it.  When I finally sat down in front of a canvas, it was hard... hard to get it right.

I suppose painting is no different than any other skill; you have to practice to stay in shape.

We have the most wonderful cardinals that splash their red color onto the dreary, wintry landscape behind our house.  They flit and play and watch closely for me to come around with my camera so that they can quickly fly away!  

One day I was determined to be still long enough to capture them in a few photos.  I really wanted to get the male and female together - preferably on a pretty branch posed perfectly, but this was a close as they would get to that.   

I'd originally thought it would be neat to paint them on a tall thin canvas like they actually were, but it looked odd.  Also I decided to use my license, my artistic license, to give a little more color and a little less twigs to their background.  

Bluebird on a Twig

How does one become a bird watcher?

I'd like to watch my birds, but they are the most aggravating things!  They will not be still!
Don't misunderstand; I love my birds.  I love their tweets and chirps and caws and whistles.  I love their flashes of color in the trees.
But, I would love them even more if they'd just be still and let me take their picture every once in a while.  
I have a hummingbird feeder - well, those guys don't even count, they never be still for anyone.  I also hung three bird feeders in the trees around my back deck.  The seeds disappear, so I know they're coming around.  I even see them sitting there having a snack - but just for a second.  If I pick up my camera, they're off within seconds.  And, if heaven forbid, I open the door to come out...!  You'd think I'm mean to them or something!  
Anyway, here are a few of my flighty little neighbors.

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Mallards

Have you ever had a wild pet?

When I was a kid we had a lake on our farm.  (You can see a view of it in Lake at Nunnely)  One year a pair of mallards made their home there.  We named them Patsy and Bill.

This couple was part of a community of ducks that live on the river behind the Old Mill Restaurant in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.  They're used to tourists and completely ignored me as I snapped their pictures.

It just doesn't seem fair that the the daddy duck gets to be so beautiful; however, I think the mama is lovely in her own way. 

Original Oil Painting on 6" x 12" Wrapped Canvas
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