Ok, Dear, it is your turn to babysit!

The kids are driving me crazy! Your turn! Not even one worm?????? This painting needs a cute name, and even though I have been cogitating, nothing is coming through! Ideas are being accepted – If you have a cute name for this painting, PLEASE feel free to suggest one! The 112 degree heat has fried my brain, LOL. Weeeeeellllll….Candy is telling me to step away from the painting, so for now the Woody’s are done.

It is that time of the year again……….I will be doing a kickstarter project in the next few weeks to help pay for prints and cards of the upcoming “Blue Birds of Happiness” series, so stay tuned! Details to follow. In the meantime – stay cool!

The Woodys are back!

We are baaaaack! A week in Texas, a few days in Las Vegas, it is getting hot, and ……………. wait let me explain……….by HOT, we mean HOT. It is running in the 108 to 112 degree range here in AZ. But it is a dry heat you say! LOL, yeah like the heat of an oven. And this is just the beginning, it has been known to get up to 121 in June here in AZ! So yes, it will get hotter…..but, hey….that is why we live in Arizona. Even though I did not have time to blog, a little bit of painting DID get done, LOL! The Woody’s are ALMOST done. Just a few details and the sky to go there. Thanks to Candy for taking a photo so you could see the current update! Once the vacation laundry is finished and the bird papers are all changed, I will post today’s progress. In the meantime, STAY COOL!

Mr. and Mrs. Woody

Mr. and Mrs. Woodpecker are on the way! As promised, the photos from the Botanical Gardens are processed, the “just right” shot chosen, and the happy little family is making it’s way into watercolor. The masking for the whites has been applied (which looks tan to you) and the sahuaro is emerging. I could hear a tiny little buzzing sound from inside the cactus, so the eggs have recently hatched, the guys are just not old enough to render the “woodpecker screech” yet!  If you think these guys are noisy, you are right. Woodpeckers believe that any medical procedure applied to them is torture, and have a tendency to LOUDLY protest! We manage to survive with most of our hearing intact and are able to rehab many of them and return them into the wild, where they can drum, screech, and continue their noisy assaults upon the world. You gotta love them though, as they busily bore holes in your wood looking for insects. You really did not need that wall or roof intact did you? Enjoy as the male flashes his red top at you and pecks away, giving the rest of the bird world holes for their nests. When it DOES happen to rain, and you are deluged with water coming through the roof, just smile as you think of all the little birds and critters who now have homes, Thanks to Woody. What is a little rain in your house anyway!?!?!?

Just Steller

The first Bluebird is done, Candy is telling me to step away from the painting! So for my next number……..oops….. er, uh sorry, got carried away there. The next Blue Bird of happiness is…….drum roll……..going to be……….you guessed it…..after the commercial break. Actually, the next Blue Bird will be started after I get back from my travels the second week of June. In the meantime, hubby and I made a little trip to the Phoenix Botanical Gardens, where I saw a nesting pair of Gila Woodpeckers in a Sahuaro Cactus. I waited about twenty minutes to get a really good shot of the male poking his head out of the nest, while the female waited outside the nest. For all of you Woody fans, stay tuned for Mr. and Mrs. Woody!

If you LOVE photos of baby birds with a few squirrels and rabbits thrown in, please stop by my Facebook Artist Page at 
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Arlene-Powers/23414012357
 Hopefully you will find one of the rescues from Liberty Wildlife to fall in love with! This has been a fun project! I have tried to post four to five photos a week of the onslaught of cuteness we experience each spring during orphan care season. The hardest part is to pick the photos  - there are SO many cute babies coming in. It is such a pleasure and privilege to watch these critters grow up and see them released back into the wild. If you haven’t “Liked” my page, please do, you might be the one to put the “Likes” over 1300!

Blue Birds of Happiness!

Welcome to the start of a new series, the Blue Birds of Happiness. I have been wanting to do this series for a long time, but did not have enough reference photos. So on our last trip to Estes Park, I got a great shot of a Steller’s Jay, which gave me enough material to start this series. The first photo (taken Monday) shows that I do not always do the subject first. Since this bird is in pine forest, I knew what color the background would be and decided to do it first. This involves extremely WET paper, watercolor pigments, spray bottle, sponge and a lot of splashing. I thought  it would be nice to do it before you guys came, so that you would not have to bring rain gear. It does get messy here! The next photo was taken today after working on it for a couple of days. This is one of the paintings that it is hard to leave, so sorry, that I did not stop and take more photos. The eyes are not done, and there is some shading that needs to be done, and some more work on the background, but it is shaping up!

Only a couple more weeks, and I will be starting a round of travel. Will try to keep the blogs rolling, even if it is photos for future paintings.

Having recently acquired two additional cats in the household (bringing the total to 4), cat hair is now included free in any artworks coming from my studio. Down feathers may also be included at no charge! The Tuxedo Kitty is vying for the world record for “Most Spoiled Kitty”. He is afraid of the other cats and refuses to leave our bedroom. Hubby has started providing room service, including “breakfast in bed” for this cat. He has his own litter box in the Master bath, and his own kitty perch in the bedroom. DO you think if I refused to leave the room?!?!??!?!? Hmmmmmmm….breakfast in bed………what would I do with my own catbox??………..room service though……hmmmmmmmmm………..

Through Horsing Around…..For Now!

Got Carrots?

We are all trying to decide if we are still living in Arizona…….the wind has been blowing like crazy and we are wondering if we have been blown to Kansas?!?!?!??! Anyone see Toto? Once again we got our customary 16 inches of rain! Drops of rain 16 inches apart! It sure makes a mess of the cars! They are looking kind of like giant mud balls. The kids should have fun writing “Wash Me!” all over them. Hopefully the mud balls don’t get together with my dust kitties! Watch out tumbleweeds!

The Arabians have eyes now and it is about time to step away from the painting! Stay tuned!

Update on the Update of the Update….

https://chirpingcentral.site-ym.com/store/view_product.asp?id=1665435

 

OK, the raffle tickets for Chula are now REALLY available! Please check it out! 

Update on the Update…..More Horsing around

The raffle tickets for Chula will be available soon on Chirping Central, will update you as soon as this happens.

In the meantime, have started a new WIP of a couple of yearling Arabians. The first photo is last weeks work and the second photo is the continuation this week. These guys were so curious, friendly and loved to show off. They were such a joy to watch. This my first venture into painting equines, had a great time with the colored pencils, so thought I would try them in watercolor.

The feline numbers in the house have doubled, we now have four of the little rascals. My first question is WHY do cats insist on walking in front of the computer monitor and on the keyboard asdfghjkl;qwrtyuio’?!?!?!? And now the dust bunnies, I mean kitties are the size of tumbleweeds. The parrots have accepted the new arrivals without too much squawking, so our zoo is happily rolling along. 

Update on Chula

For those of you who followed the Chula WIP, tickets are on sale for the raffle. Check out the following:

About through Horsing Around?!?!?!?

We had a lovely vacation at the Bootstrap in Roundtop, Texas. The Bootstrap is a refurbished farmhouse on a few scenic acres of land in Central Tx. We visited with relatives, relaxed, played dominoes and had some good old Texas Cooking. Early each morning a Northern Cardinal tapped on the window. Then the camera hunt began. I chased down the cardinal, meadowlarks, chickadees, kestrels, jackrabbits, horses and anything moving with my camera. Over the next year or so, some of these images will make it into paintings. In the meantime, you are welcome to browse through some of my photos at 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/53901904@N03/
 hope you enjoy!

So the colored pencil drawing is about done, and the next watercolor will also be of horses. Got a good shot of a couple of the yearlings at the Arabian farm tours. Bird lovers, never fear, have several good shots lined up! So stay tuned, you never know what critter will be turning up around here!