I'll Be Back-SOLD

Today I cleaned up my flowers in my yard, cut back my knock out roses and generally cleaned up the plants that have died for the winter.  I washed and packed up y hummingbird feeder several weeks ago.  They seem to leave around the first week or so of October.  I love this time of year but I realize I look forward to flowers and everything turning green again and the hummingbirds returning. 

I read that they are known as hummingbirds because of the humming sound created by their beating wings which flap at high frequencies audible to humans.  they hover in mid-air at rapid wing-flapping rates, typically around 50 times per second, allowing them also to fly at speeds exceeding 15 m/s (54 km/h; 34 mph), backwards.  Their heart rate can reach as high as 1,260 beats per minute and they have a breathing rate of 2560 breaths per minute, even at rest.  During flight, oxygen consumption per gram of muscle tissue in a hummingbird is about 10 times higher than that seen for elite human athletes.

They have the highest metabolism of any homeothermic animal.  To conserve energy when food is scarce and nightly when not foraging, they go into torpor, a state similar to hibernation showing metabolic rate to 1/15th of its normal rate. 

This is a 6" x 6" on gallery wrapped canvas.

Hello - SOLD

I really like this Robin and think she would look good on my wall.  It is amazing to me how some paintings just appear out of paint and knife and brush.  It is a mystery - like the subject wants to be created.  This is the second little bird in my series of gallery wrapped bird portraits.  This is a 6" x 6" gallery wrapped canvas.  

Kingfisher -,SOLD

I am completing a series of birds painted with the palette knife.  I am enjoying the way the paint can be moved about with the knife and I love the texture.  The paint is thicker than I normally have on a canvas so the drying time if longer but the effect is nice.  These little birds are 6" x 6" pm gallery wrapped canvas.  That simply means that the sides are 1 1/2" deep and they are painted so the painting does not require a frame unless you just want to frame it.  Recently someone did purchase one of my gallery wrapped birds and did frame him in a wonderful frame.  I am including that here as an example of how they an be framed.

I AM RIGHT HERE - SOLD

Today I decided to complete a Cardinal "portrait" using the palette knife only.  It is a challenge to paint with only a knife but I love the texture.  

This is a 6" x 6" oil on board.

Love Birds - Redbirds - SOLD

A couple more redbirds that showed up.

Heavenly Messengers - SOLD

It is said that cardinals symbolize hope, joy, health, rejuvenation and celebration. There are also those who believe that when a cardinal appears then an angel is near. The male is the most colorful one of the couple. Both male and female sing all year round. It is through a song that females sing from their nest that informs the male when to bring food. The pair shares some melodic phrases but the female has a more elaborate song, which is unusual in singing birds. The melody is pleasant and it resembles a whistle, but sometimes they make more mechanical “clinks”. As cardinals do not seem to need a lot of sleep, you may hear them singing in the morning well before sunrise.  Cardinals are good parents. The male cardinal shares in the duties of parenthood with his mate, feeding and caring for the mother during and after incubation. His fatherly instincts direct him to protect and care for the mother and babies until they are safely out of the nest. Young cardinals frequently follow their parents on the ground for several days after leaving the nest. They tend to remain with their parents until they are able to find food on their own. 


It is interesting to note that while the male is caring for his family his bright red color will change to a duller shade of brown and his appearance will be more like that of his female counterpart. This transformation of color occurs as a camouflage helping him to fulfill his duties as a dedicated parent. http://www.thecardinalexperience.com

Northern cardinals appear to have a longer-lasting marriage than most songbirds. During winter, the two are not very nice to each other, but come spring, the male’s fancy takes a new direction. Instead of chasing the female away from the bird feeder, as he did all winter, he offers her a sunflower seed and the courtship starts again. Whether they are the same male and female as last spring, we can’t be sure, but most of us would like to think so. After all, it’s nice to have the ending, “and they lived happily ever after.”

http://www.birdsandblooms.com/birding/birding-basics/birds-mate-life

The reference for these two again came from Rodney Campbell.  

This is an 8" x 10" on stretched linen.  $100 + $5 shipping...email me if interested in giving this couple a home.  paintingbythelake@gmail.com

Time to Come In

Another study from my class.  One of the members of the class told me this looked like the early evening light after the sun has dipped pas the horizon and the little girl has been told "it is time to come inside".  I have really enjoyed painting several portraits these past couple of weeks as I have been taking Chantel Barbers class.  She is an excellent teacher and provides valuable critiques to learn from.  Visit her website if you would like to consider her class.  It is well worth it.

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/buy/auction/476081

Chantel Barber Class

These pasts two weeks I have been on a quest.  Several of my artists friends suggested I take a course with Chantel Barber because they said we painted in a similar fashion.  Well I hope so because Chantel is a wonderful artist.  She uses acrylics is a masterful way and creates wonderful loose renditions  of portraits and other figurative works.  The class I am taking is a four week class and it is online so I have the advantage of painting when I find the time.  I have already learned so much from her - she is an excellent teacher and provides many learning opportunities related to our specific assignments and her critiques of those.  If you would like to see more of her work please visit her website at http://www.chantelsoriginals.com/home.html

The second part of my quest has been to read books that I have not been able to read with my past traveling schedule so I am engrossed in one this week suggested by my dear friend Susanne.  The book is entitled A Million Little Ways by Emily Freeman.  The secondary title is "uncover the art you were made to live".  The book is so inspiring and not only to artists who paint or sing or dance but it inspires everyone to find the "art" in them - to consider our deeper desires - those things that make us come alive.  One of the quotes at the beginning of chapter one is by Seth Godin and says, "Art is when we do work that matters in a creative way, in a way that touches (people) and changes them for the better."   I love that and hope in some small way my art (which happens to be painting) does that.

Below are two of the paintings I did this week:

Jonathan

She Speaks to Angels