Cardinal WIP – Continued

OK, so I wrote this GREAT, funny, blog – then went to add the photo of the Cardinal update and everything disappeared! Don’t cha just HATE it when that happens! Well, I do…..anyway, will try to remember what I wrote, but you know, the more years I stay age 49, the shorter my memory gets. Speaking of being 49, Candy had her 60th birthday this weekend, and today just happens to be Tuesday. You know what that means – yup, we are painting with an “OLD” lady on Tuesdays now. So after slaving over the parrot breakfast and making sure they all have plenty of clean water and treats, we get to spend some time painting with the elderly. Now that Candy is getting up there in age, you all will have to be especially good on Tuesdays, we wouldn’t want make her grumpy! SO far she has survived all of the “OLD” jokes and we actually managed to get some paint on the paper.

The cardinal should be able to be wrapped up soon. Just needs a lot of shading and some more detail in the foreground shrubbery. Go Cards….oops, a slip of the keys, that is football not painting. Well, if you will excuse me for now, the parrots are wanting dinner served………What do you mean I did not give you enough pistachios, no Sunny did not get more than you did…….yes, I counted them…….more grapes, Ok, I will get some……you want yours medium well….Birdie, please stop teasing Tinker-belle…..Loki, not so loud, the neighbors will be reporting us for disturbing the peace…….what is that?????……..wish I knew!

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Cardinal WIP and charcoal.

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

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.