Blue Birds of Happiness

Welcome to the next painting in the “Blue Birds of Happiness” series. Got this photo in Ramsey Canyon, a couple of Mexican Jays exhibiting courting behavior. It is awesome to be able to capture a behavior rather than paint a bird sitting on a branch, LOL! BTW, the last painting of the Gila woodpeckers has a name! “Gila Hacienda”, Thanks for all of the suggestions, could not have done it without you! In the meantime this little piece needs a name, so suggestions are welcome!

We have been having a great summer, traveling, kayaking and of course…….shopping! Those of you who have liked my artist page on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/pages/Arlene-Powers/23414012357 , may have been seeing photos of the kayak adventure at Hoover Dam. If you have not, please take a look and catch up on all of the photos of different animals who have made their way to Liberty Wildlife to be healed so they can continue their life’s journey back in the wild. Here is a sample in case you missed them. Enjoy and have a great summer!

 

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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………..