arlenepowers

Cardinal WIP and charcoal.

Arlene Powers — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 06:12:41 +0000

Here is the promised photo of “Working Man’s Hands”. Very exciting that it won Honorable Mention at the Glendale Arts Council, ” Sahuaro Ranch Show”!! Speaking of awards….Congratulations to my daughter, Claudine, who won a trip to Chicago with her awesome work on hair (color, cut,and style) and makeup. My granddaughter, Taure,was her model and looked absolutely gorgeous after the transformational magic was completed. She is beautiful anyway, but looked like a model, with yours truly being the OFFICIAL photographer. Oh, You would like to see, well, think I might be able to arrange that!

Oh, yes, we had company over the weekend, and have a visitor with us now. Ripley, the African grey, spent the weekend with us, regaling us with his extensive vocabulary. His latest saying is “What’s up with that?” We also have Willie the Mili-gold Macaw staying with us for a few weeks while her best friends recovers. She has a pretty good vocabulary for a macaw, loves women……..men, not so much. It was pretty funny when she cornered hubby and the two cats in the laundry room…….It definitely sounds like a zoo around here with a flock of seven, LOL. Luckily, during this visit, Ripley was unable to convince any of the other parrots they needed a lawyer. So no birdie modeling strikes in the immediate future.

Meanwhile, back at the Cardinal………………here is the progress to date. Mostly a lot of little detail and the black feathers are in, yeeeesssss, it looks like a ghost eyed cardinal. But have patience, this is a Work-in-Progress after all.

Newest WIP – Cardinal

Arlene Powers — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 06:36:56 +0000

Before I show you the newest WIP, a great BIG Whoooo hoooo!!! Ok, two of em! “Working Man’s Hands”, a charcoal in the Glendale Arts Council won an Honorable Mention! After the show, I will get a photo of it, but was in such a rush to get it ready for the show, there was no time left to photograph. Seriously, it was being framed at midnight, and had to be turned in at 9AM the next morning. And the second Whoooo Hooooo is for “The Raven” which made it into the AAG – ASU Gammage Show and is on the announcement postcard (along with three other art works). Guess who will be mailing out lots of post cards!!!! Now that all of the celebration is done, back to the WIP.
One of the wonderful volunteers at Liberty Wildlife, Allen Spencer, got a great shot of a Northern Cardinal and offered to let me paint it. He graciously gave me a copy of the file, which disappeared when my last computer crashed. This was over a year ago. I think I blinked again and another year disappeared! He was kind enough to give it to me again, so I have to get this done before another year gets by me! Between the shows going on right now, framing that has to be done(by yours truly), and friends who end up in the hospital, (you know who you are Kidney Beenie!) the blog has been just a little neglected. Hopefully we are now back on schedule.

SO even though we missed a couple of steps in taking photos, here is the present progress on the Northern Cardinal. The background wash was first – a very wet application of the greens and red. Then the leaves were added, some while the paper was still wet, then a few after it dried. The cardinal is being worked now, leaving whites for the foreground leaves. As this painting progresses, you may hear a few invectives, as it is a little noisier that usual around here. Willy, the macaw, is visiting my macaw,Loki, for a few weeks. They tend to get carried away and forget that they share their home with other parrots and three humans. Needless to say it gets quite loud when two macaws carry on a conversation. Where are those ear plugs?!?!?!?!? Loki, you DID NOT chew them up…….OH it was SUNNY……….Hey give them back!!!!……….CHARLIE…. uh…excuse me, think it is time for a trip to the store……HUH? What did you say?…….Sorry can’t hear a thing.

Congratulations!

Arlene Powers — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 05:00:53 +0000

Congratulations to Janice Boyd who won the painting of the Puerto Rican Parrot!!! A little over $680 was raised for the Puerto Rican Parrot Project and the Puerto Rican Genome Project. Special Thanks go to to Mary Rose of Chirping Central who ran the raffle!!! Stay Tuned for the Kakapo Project! First, though a little native bird project has been started and we will be posting photos soon! Happy 2012!

Happy New Year!!! Puerto Rican Amazon Final!

Arlene Powers — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 22:42:36 +0000

Hi, Hope all of you are having a Wonderful start to your New Year! So far so good here. The weather is amazing, just like spring here in Sunny Arizona. Yes, the Puerto Rican Amazon painting is done. Candy said “STEP AWAY FROM THE PAINTING!” So I will post it for your perusal and obey Candy, or else will continue to do little details and not have it ready in time to travel with Mary Rose to the Houston Parrot Festival.
Hope lots of you will support the Puerto Rican Parrot and Puerto Rican Genome Projects and buy LOTS of raffle tickets at the Houston Parrot Festival!!!!
Blogging back at you soon with a new WIP!

Puerto Rican Amazon………onward and forward!

Arlene Powers — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 06:03:32 +0000

The Holidays are upon us and I don’t know where the year went! Barely used to writing 2011 and it is only a few weeks, uh days, until 2012. Anyway, since it will be a crazy week, am sure there will not be much time for the blog until after Christmas, soooooo…..Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy New Year, hoping the coming year is filled with joy, happiness, art and BIRDS!!!!!

Here is the update on the Amazon. The feather work is in, still need to give hime some shape and fill in detail. Blogging back at ya soon!

Puerto Rican Amazon WIP ……….Still Cont.

Arlene Powers — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 03:38:04 +0000

SSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHH………….be very quiet……………all of the parrots are asleep. One of the best things about having parrots around, no matter how noisy and jungle like it is in the daytime, as soon as night falls, everyone goes into their cages and goes to SLEEP! And it is quiet for a few hours until sunrise. Unless you make too much noise or have the lights on, then they jump into social mode and all of the squawking goes into full decibels. So if we keep the lights low and tiptoe around, it is VERY quiet here. Taking advantage of this, thought I would post the progress from today. Now that the bird is starting to emerge, it is coming along rapidly!

Well, back to the paint board – see ya soon with another update!

Puerto Rican Parrot WIP – continuing

Arlene Powers — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 21:49:34 +0000

Hello, it has been raining like crazy here…….for some of you, that may be normal. THIS is Arizona, the desert, so needless to say – very unusual weather we are having here. We still made the Trek to Candy’s house on Tuesday, and progress has been made! Ok, I will post the photo, Beenie, you don’t have to be so impatient! Clowns! Thanks Loki, that scream was right in my ear….Macaws!!! Guess I won’t be hearing anything for a little while. BTW, Thanks everyone for being on such good behavior, Candy did not have to throw us out Tuesday, and her cat, Missy, is still her normal color, no gum in her fur, and no food fights. That may be because a couple of our troublemakers were not there, LOL. YES, you know who you are…..Sisters and cousins! OK Beenie, I will post the photo! Nag, nag….

The beak is in, along with the nares, and the leaves are pretty well done. Just a hint of the lower bird body and a couple of talons. So we are progressing pretty well. Now you probably are starting to see why I usually let the Beenie do the background last. Have you tried painting while a clown hangs around looking over your shoulder and nagging? Oops, I mean giving you “constructive criticism? Owwwwww, my other ear….Beenie…….why don’t you take Sunny and Charlie in the other room before they start chewing my paintbrushes again…..Hey Charlie….that is art paper not newspaper…….Who let the cat out in the rain?!?!?!?!?

Puerto Rican Amazon WIP

Arlene Powers — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 23:33:18 +0000

The Beenie came out to play in the paint today, so the background went in first. Luckily for you – it was a surprise visit from the clown, and I didn’t have time to invite you along. Weellllll, Okay, maybe it wasn’t TOO much of a surprise, but I am still worried about that red in your hair that wasn’t there before the last Beenie background. So am a little hesitant to fill up the peanut gallery when the clown is throwing paint around. Oh, yes, of course you want to see, so guess we will just put in a photo of the WIP to date. The background was done on very wet paper, the clown just splashed red, yellow and green all over the place as you can see. Oh, you can’t see because the photo is not there yet….Ok, I am getting there….

OH, forgot to mention the first layer of the branches is down and a few of the foreground leaves are in. What….yes, I did get to the Art Supply store, you might want to wait for them to restock before you go there. Am having a few problems finding a place to hide….uh…I mean store art supplies. If hubby doesn’t see them, I didn’t buy them, right!

It is that time of the week again, time for a field trip, see you all bright and early in the morning to spend Tuesday with Candy!!!

The New Work In Progress a VERY Special WIP!

Arlene Powers — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 18:29:06 +0000

Having finally digested all that Thanksgiving dinner…….it is time to get back to work! OK, so it is not REALLY work, more fun than work, LOL, but back to the monkey business, I mean bird business at hand! Did you read the last few blogs, did you get a little hint that a very special WIP is coming up? Ta Daaaa, it is time to unveil the new WIP!!!! The next painting is going to be a Puerto Rican Amazon. For those of you who are not really bird people, but follow along anyway, the Puerto Rican parrot is one of the extremely endangered species on our planet. To learn a little more about this bird and one of the projects going to try to save the species, you might be interested in reading Ricardo Valentin’s blog at http://ricardogupi.blogspot.com/2010/11/information-about-puerto-rican-parrot.html

Ricardo is graciously providing reference photos for this painting, which will be raffled off at the Houston Parrot Festival in Jan 2012. The funds raised will be split between the Puerto Rican Parrot Project and the Puerto Rican Genome Project. Mary Rose at www.chirpingcentral.com will run the raffle and if she decides to do advance sales through the Arizona Seedcrackers Society, you will be the first to know! Also, just a HEADS UP, there is another VERY Special WIP planned as soon as this is over, to be raffled off at the AFA convention in August! For a little hint, Barbara Heidenreich will be doing a special presentation on this bird at the AFA convention.

If you are thinking, “Where is the photo this week?” you will have to wait a day or two, it has just been drawn up, and is too light to photograph well at this point. SO guess I had better get back to the drawing board…I mean painting easel….work desk…….um something. Hey Sunny stop chewing up my brushes! LOKI, paint is not good to eat, CHARLIE, STOP chewing up my paper. Birdie, you know the pencils don’t taste good…..Aaaaaaaargh, maybe it is time for another art store trip, hmmmmmm……

Raven WIP – Step Away From the Drawing!!!!

Arlene Powers — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 21:26:45 +0000

So one of the problems artists have is knowing when a work is completed. To us, it is never done, and we can keep tweaking forever. As I was tweaking with this drawing today, Candy said, “Step away from the drawing!!!” That is what we say to each other when the work is done, and we are just tweaking for our own sakes. I guess that means this one is done and ready to sign.

Here is “The Raven”, and I will step away from the drawing, LOL! Any of you interested in Ravens as far as behavior, intelligence, sense of humor? Take a look at Bernd Heinrich’s books, “Mind of the Raven” and “Ravens in Winter”, they are both fascinating and chock full of info on ravens from their social organization, to intelligence from first hand observation. Great reads, both of them! And if you ever have the chance to work with ravens, I highly recommend the experience!

OK…..OK…Candy, just let me adjust this little area, Um…. I think it needs a little more dark here……WHAT do you mean step away, OK…….wait just one little area here…….yes…step….away…….