26-Little Tri Color Heron

Little Tricolor Heron__8x6 oil on linen panel

#26 in my Bird Seed Project

I place my title at the mercy of my real birding friends....If I had planned ahead, I would have asked Adele, Joe or Lynn to ID this bird for me! I painted it from a photo I took last year at the wildlife refuge in South Carolina....My choices were a Little Blue Heron or a Tri-Color Heron...Because of the white on this one, I am thinking it is a YOUNG Little Blue Heron...help?

Of course, if you tell me it is something all together different, I will simply claim that I painted it poorly!...So, I am covered.

25-Egret Eye

Egret Eye__6x8 oil on linen panel__$190 at SEWE

 

#25 in the Birdseed Project

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

I painted this little Great Egret while visiting  mom the other day...she always enjoyed watching me draw as a little kid, and STILL gets into it! She was the perfect mom to a kid who did WAY TOO MANY THINGS at a time...she never coached me, or gave advice about my stuff...she just watched and enjoyed, and told me how I was the greatest at EVERYTHING, ALL THE TIME! hahaha

Today is my mom's 89th birthday! We celebrated at her nursing home with some shrimp for lunch and she got her hair done! I topped it off by filling her bird feeders. See my favorite feeder, below. If anyone knows where I can get a feeder like this LET ME KNOW! (it is a metal plate that sticks in the ground and has branches with little birds on it...see?) I got it at Hobby Lobby and wish I had bought more!

Who can identify the 4 birds feeding?

The one at very top is the "decoy" :)

 

 

24 - Webs on the Rocks

Webs on the Rocks__8x10 oil on canvas

#24 in the Birdseed Project

Working with high school artists is a lot of fun. I especially enjoy helping them see easy solutions to things they always thought to be difficult. Here, we worked with oil sticks (are those the same as oil pastels?)...see the first step at the bottom, the second step in the middle, and the final step at top.

This lesson was to demonstrate how to create "distance" with atmospheric perspective (compare the near rocks from the far ones?).I also talked a lot about "shapes of shadows", "drawing with light", "Color in the shadows" and a few other little lessons. TMI for these new painters, but enough to make them BRAVE...you ought to see their works!

 

Webs on the Rocks___State 2

 



Webs on the Rocks___State 1

23- Mocking Back

Mocking Back__6x8 oil on linen panel___$390 framed for Southeastern Wildlife Exposition

#22 in the Birdseed Project

I hope you can zoom in on this one...it is one of my favorites...maybe because my favorite bird is the mocking bird. It is the state bird of the great state of Texas, and another state or two! Please click the link above if you are not familiar with my Birdseed Project! I am thrilled to see the word spread, and to see things HAPPENING!...Right now I am framing, packing and doing last minute paintings for SEWE in Charleston, SC. I ship the works next week, and then I will have some news to share about my birdseed project...including the real "official" project name!!!

22 - Proud As....

 

Proud As...  ___8x6 oil on linen__$190 unframed

#22 in the Birdseed Project

 

Yesterday I met up with an artist friend and while we chatted over coffee, I painted this little rooster from a photo I have. I was biding time before a special reception for some of my high school art students. They had been working for weeks on special works for the Austin Rodeo Youth Western Art Competition. Students from all over Texas compete to get into the top 24. The judges were BIG TIME artists, Kyle Polzin, Dalhart Windberg and Sam Hurt.

Student art works will be auctioned off on March 22. 100% of the auction funds go to the artist for college. It also qualifies them for other scholarships.

So Here is the artwork that won GRAND CHAMPION...

I am so proud of my freshman art student Max Haager, and his great painting,

Papa Louie's Ranch!

I wish you could see the TEXTURE on this one!

 

CONGRATULATIONS, MAX!

 

 Papa Louie's Ranch_18x24 acrylic on board__by Max Haager

 

V....with Max and Papa Louie's Ranch

21-Magpie Fly

Magpie Fly___8 x 6 oil on linen panel___$350 framed at Act I Gallery

#21 in my Birdseed Project

 

This little magpie painting would make a nice pair with yesterday's post.

I have shipped it off to Act I Gallery in Taos, to help spread the word about my Birdseed Project.

Magpies are lively birds that thrive out there in the mountains and they are beautiful in flight, with black and white blurring wings!

 

 

 

 

20-Magpie Stand

Magpie Stand

8x6 oil on linen panel_available FRAMED at Act I Gallery, Taos, NM

#20 in the Birdseed Project

Here is a link about the Birdseed Project. It is an exciting little thing I am doing for a great cause! I have two really cool things "cooking" with this, so PLEASE keep watching and listening for the latest!

I am stepping up "production" of the little bird works so that I can send some to my galleries and shows, and spread the word about the project!

Speaking of shows, there will be a special theme show, "Twilight" at Act I Gallery in Taos, NM, starting in a few weeks. Southwest Art Magazine did a feature on the gallery and the exhibit. The magazine used my painting "Past Their Prime" to lead off the magazine article, and another one called "Morning Star Transit" to lead off the web article!

http://www.southwestart.com/events/act-one-feb2013

Click the link and you can see many of the works in the show, including 4 of my bigger ones...of course, if you follow my blog, you have seen these already!...but now you know where to get them! :) Please tell your friends

The Right Hand

The Right Hand

12 x 12 oil on canvas

 

Like yesterday's post, I have wanted to paint this for quite a while, having shot a great photo of this cowgirl, Tara. She is the "Right Hand" that goes with "The Hand", I guess! I will resume the Birdseed Project tomorrow!

The Hand-12x12

The Hand
12 x 12 oil on canvas
I have wanted to paint this one for a while now...from a photo I took while exhibiting in Arizona at the Cowgirl Up! event. Dang if I don't forget this man's name...! He was nice enough to let me snap a few pictures at the sunset hour while we all finished up a trail ride.
***
I am in the midst of a special project I call The Birdseed Project. Please read about it, here, and watch my blog for announcements about some special things related to it!

#19 - Whooping Stroll

Whooping Stroll
#19 in the BIRDSEED PROJECT
I will be out in Charleston next month for the Southeastern Wildlife Exposition. After the event, I will once again spend a few days at the Donnelley Wild life Refuge at ACE BASIN...hoping to see the whooping cranes again! This year I plan to bring a camera lens worthy of them! I am "shopping" right now for a BIG lens at a SMALL price 

18 - Whooping It Up

 

 Whooping It Up

#18 in the BIRDSEED Project

 

If you have ever seen Whooping Cranes in the wild, I hope you get to some day! FIRST, they are VERY BIG! That in itself is impressive. Then, they are shy and seem to know when you are there, so they stroll as far away as possible. I have had the good fortune to see them in the wild both on our Texas coast and also near Charleston South Carolina. Each time, I saw them in pairs or groups of three or four. I like that they flock together.

Please click link above to read about my project! I hope to have some GOOD NEWS about it soon! My blog friends get first look at these, but I am already sending some to galleries and shows. The "deal" stands, though: when a bird sells, I put a portion of the funds toward the purchase of bird seed for the nursing home where mom lives.



Boatyard Gone By

Boatyard Gone By___10 x10 watercolor pencil sketch__$250

 

Before I get back to my BIRDSEED PROJECT tomorrow, I will post another one from my recent trip to the Texas coast...if you look real hard, there are a couple of shore birds flying here, but it doesn't count for my Birdseed Project!

 

Monday I say goodbye to my college son, Sam...I sure have enjoyed having him under foot for these weeks! He has to head back to college in Kansas...I guess I will take down the Christmas stuff and start the new year's diet!...I look forward to seeing my high school art students, as they start their second semester Monday, too!

Hate to see the Holidays "gone by", but eager to see the new year blessings ahead!

Sea Gun

Sea Gun at Sunset

8x10 oil on linen panel__$390 unframed

 

Here is a break from my BIRD PROJECT...a recent study from a visit to the Texas coast...this little complex is on Copano Bay, where my friends Caro and Don live. I got a nice photo of it as the last orange rays of the sun hit the building. My high school art class picked this photo for me to do as a  teaching demo to show them some things about oil painting. They told me later that they picked a complex photo, hoping to stump me....HA!

Happy New Year!!!

17 - Whooping Take-off

Whooping Take-Off__6x8 oil study__$190

#17 in my BIRD SEED PROJECT

I have plenty of little bird studies ahead, to benefit my Bird Seed Peoject! Please see link! Here is another small work painted from my photos of some rare whooping Cranes. Last year in South Carolina, I spent some time at a wioldlife refuge where a pair of whoopers were wintering. The refuge Biologist, Dean took me and a couple other artists over to watch them through the trees. Pretty soon they took off and flew right over us and I got some amazing photos. This take-off was right at sunset.

16 - Mock THIS

Mock THIS

 

8x8 watercolor pencil sketch with washes__$250 includes shipping

#16 in my BIRD SEED PROJECT

click to read about it

 

Mockingbirds are the official "state bird" for several states including my Texas! This time of year they fluff themselves up to keep warm, and they are a little "quieter" than usual. I remember nights on the farm when the mockingbirds would sing ALL NIGHT LONG in the trees outside our bedroom window. NOT GOOD!

The only good thing about those serenades was that the mockingbird never seems to sing the same song twice...they are my favorite!

The bird seed project is working well! Right now we are able to put seed out several times a week! If I get a good response, I will place more feeders outside the windows, and take the idea to a local grocery store, (H.E.B) and ask for their help with seed :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR, y'all!

15- Whooping Flight

Whooping Flight

#15  in the BIRD SEED PROJECT
click
6 x 8 oil on linen panel__$190 unframed
I remember when I was a little girl and the whooping crane was so rare...there were only a few dozen left in the whole world. Today there are only a few hundred, and a bad winter or hurricanes could wipe out many at any given time...so to see them in the wild is a real treat! I saw this one in flight last winter in South Carolina.