Burrowing Owl Finished!

So today, you get ……..Two……TWO BLOGS IN ONE!!! Took an “almost done” and a “FINISHED!” photo. I have been remiss in introducing the model for this painting,Frodo, the resident Education Burrowing Owl at Liberty Wildlife. Frodo is very imprinted and very beloved by all of the volunteers at Liberty Wildlife. She has outdoor and indoor enclosures and spends time indoors when it is too hot or too cold. She is aging (14 years old I think) and so is treated very gently.  You could even say Frodo is just a little spoiled by all of the love and attention given her. Believed to be a male until “she” laid eggs a few years ago, LOL, Frodo always has her little “happy sounds” ready to make when given attention. She is a delight to know and has graced thousands of children(Ok, and adults too!) with her wisdom and charm during her stint as an Education Representative from Liberty Wildlife.

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Burrowing Owl WIP cont…….again

A TALE OF TWO CATS……or……..WHO SAYS CATS HAVE NO SENSE OF HUMOR

Rusty, a Red Tabby, a street kitty rescued from starvation, fleas and homelessness; Dante, a long haired Tuxedo Cat, shy, raised indoors from a kitten. These guys are best buds, opposites attracted, only having a residence in common. Rusty naps outside on a beautiful fall day in a sunny spot in the back yard. Rusty grins as Dante begs him to come back inside where it is safe and warm. Dante frantically scratches at the patio door, meowing to get the human’s attention to bring Rusty in from the dangerous wild area outside. Rusty stands, stretches walks a few steps closer to the house and settles back down for a nap. Dante calms down, thinking Rusty has come to his senses and is coming in to safety, then gets frantic again for his friend. The human hears the noise and opens the door to let Rusty in…….Rusty rolls over on his back and laughs at Dante and the foolish human. It is not anywhere near mealtime……………..This scene is a common one around our house. It only serves to reinforce my theory that animals have a sense of humor, especially cats, parrots and ravens. We are still trying to answer the age old riddle, why is a raven like a writing desk??????? Not being really good at riddles, think I will just laugh and go on.

As you can see the Burrowing Owl painting is advancing, it may even be finished in the next week. Oh… I hear some scratching at the door and Dante is meowing, better go check to see if Rusty is ready to come in!

Burrowing Owl……….Cont….

Here is today’s update on the burrowing owl………I know TWO updates in one week! Just trying to get one in while there is time! Life around here is subject to immediate changes, so always be prepared. I hear splashing in the other room! That means it is bath-time for the birds! If one starts bathing, pretty soon it is a BATHFEST! So guess who gets to clean up afterwards! Sounds like I had better grab the mop! Later!

Burrowing Owl WIP

Birdie

The Burrowing Owl painting has been started. It was quite a job to dig myself out of the paper-mache this week, as the parrots continue to chew their way through any and all papers. They are also working on wood, nutshells, toys and anything in their reach. Birdie seems to think night time is a really great time to work on her nest of chewed up newspapers. I heard sounds like chicken clucking coming from her cage and looked inside to find Birdie’s head sticking through a hole she had chewed in a piece of newspaper. It was just TOO funny! Of course, the newspaper does not stay in the cage so well when it is chewed, so it falls to the floor, leaving several inches of chewed up newspaper on the floor a day. AS LONG AS they stick with newspaper and leave my art paper alone, guess I can’t complain TOO much! Hope you enjoy following along with the Burrowing Owl WIP. See you soon with the next installment!

Bald Eagle WIP – Done!

So………………. I am still waiting for some responses for the Kickstarter project, and had time to finish this eagle! Hope you enjoy! Miss Libby is such a beautiful subject! The Kickstarter Project voters have made their wishes known, and the next painting subject will be “Burrowing Owl”, so stay tuned folks! Would like to get Burrowing Owl going and completed in time to have prints and cards for the Show Nov 30 thu Dec 2, so have to get cracking!!!

This is a wonderful time of year in Arizona, the weather is cooling off, we can finally go outside without getting heatstroke! Whoooo Hooooo! Don’t have to wear oven mitts to drive…….No one is frying eggs on the sidewalk……..butterflies are making an appearance since they are not afraid of getting melted….can touch the mailbox without getting third degree burns……..

Eagle WIP…eye,eye, sir!

The ayes have it, no make it eyes…….OK….the eyes are in, so it is ALMOST done! Just still playing around with the background and touching up details, LOL. Have you heard that one before? Will probably keep touching up until Candy yells at me to step away from the drawing!

Kickstarter Fans…..am still awaiting info from a few people, as soon as I get that info, the brochure and photos can be printed. So hang in there!!!

Bet you are wondering why it is so quiet here today, LOL. I just fed the flock and everyone is too busy pigging out to make much noise…..only sounds of happy little piggies with wings! They are all starting to chew like mad right now, so I am filling their cages with toys and paper. My floor looks like a Papier-mâché factory right now. The usual 4 sweeping/vacuuming’s a day are just not working, looks like 8 to 10 until the chewing subsides. Of course then the floor will be covered with down and feathers…….or food and nut hulls………hmmmmmmmmmmmmm what ever was I thinking, guess it never stops, LOL!

Eagle Charcoal………cont.

This one is moving along pretty well…..OR……..I blinked again, LOL, not sure which! OK, so I was a little confused about the date, but my Kickstarter project closes today! I was only one day off. So am trying to sneak in a blog at the end of the week in case I am too busy putting rewards together and mailing stuff next week. I will try to take a little time off to finish Libby, because this is one of the projects that nags at me when I am not working on it. It calls my name and says, “Get back here to your desk and work!” Maybe that is one of the parrots! Whoever it is, wish they would quit nagging, LOL.

BTW, the weather here is GORGEOUS!!!! Finally cooled down into the 90’s yesterday, and today is in the mid 70”s. Some storm from California moved in, and cooled us down, we had a little rain, some nice breezes, the air is clean, and it is amazing. The birds are loving having all the doors and windows open and are looking to spending some outdoor time. The drawing is calling, so see you soon with the next installment!

Charcoal Bald Eagle WIP

Whooooo Hoooooooo, the Kickstarter Project made the goal, and tomorrow is the last day! SO THANK YOU to all of my project backers!!!!!  http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1030315317/arizona-native-bird-painting-series

This is the start of my latest Work in Progress, a charcoal of the BEAUTIFUL Libby, education eagle at Liberty Wildlife. I hope to finish it this week as the Kickstarter project is closing, and I need to do at least one more painting in this series to have enough time to get it printed for the Audubon show In December. So the next couple of months will be very hectic, as I get all of this STUFF printed and all the mailings done for the project backers. Don’t worry, there will still be plenty of blogging going on, hope you will all stay with me for the new WIP. Meanwhile back at the WIP, this is Charcoal on gray Canson Paper. I use white and black charcoal, hopefully using the paper for the some of the mid tones. you will not recognize the paper by the time I finish with this, LOL!

Ripley, the African Grey has been visiting for the last ten days, I hope he hasn’t transferred any new vocabulary words to the flock! He is quite the character. The home flock is VERY vocal, but mostly just LOUD junglelike  noises, Ripley is verbose with a few sound effects. He did take home the cat’s plaintive begging meow, and now my friend Mary keeps looking for the cat. I still miss the sound of elk bugling waking me up in the morning, maybe I need to take the flock next time and see if anyone will pick up that sound!

How did it get to be October already?????????? Can someone please explain how the speed of time increases directly proportional to the amount of stuff that needs to be done, or is it directly proportional to your age? Did anyone write an equation for that? So the more that you need to do, the less time you have to do it in????? Hey, I will blink my eye and it will be time to blog again! See you with the next update!

 

Talk To the Hand Final!

Candy had a few changes to suggest, so since it IS her hand, I made them and changed the painting a little. Lol! So it is time to step away from the Drawing!!! The backers for my Kickstarter project are voting on what the subject of my next painting will be, so in the meantime, I am going to try to finish another charcoal! The suspense builds…………….another hand………maybe a bird………..a landscape………………hmmmmmm. Stay tuned!!!