Feeding Time.

10" x 10" oil on canvas: Sold

Just finished.... Three baby birds looking up toward their mommy for a feeding.

The Attack of The Wrens (or) Chipmunk Trauma

A beautiful summers day, a tiny Chipmunk minding his own business, five tiny Wrens sharing fallen seed. Sounds SO sweet doesn't it? Well not on this day. Not on this deck!!! These five tiny, sweet peaceful looking Wrens decide they didn't want to share any of the seed and created a half circle around the Chipmunk. (a wall was behind him) He was cornered. They then sprank into action and all jumped him at once. The cute little guy got away but left a shocked human behind. :)

The photo captured the moments right before the signal was given, and they all turned to face him. No kidding. It really happened!!

Apples and Apples

Applefest:10" x 10" Original Oil on Canvas: Available.

Funny, out of all the paintings I'm doing recently this one was the one I thought would be a breeze! HA. Not so. It was probably the most difficult.

Did you know a little over a hundred years ago there were 1100 varieties of apples in this country? I was shocked to learn that fact recently. There are appoximately 130 heritage apples left growing in the U.S. while just a handful (literally) are sold in our local groceries. What a shame and how did that happen?

Evening On The Lake

"Evening On The Lake": Sold

Just finished this little scene. I wanted to do this particular scene because I loved how the water distorted the tree branches in such a pretty way. The details are very hard to see in photos. I find some of my paintings don't revert well to photographs.

After The Rain

"After The Rain" Sold

This painting was inspired by a fallen nest I talked about earlier this month in a blog entitled "Week of Babies".

Catnap

"Catnap" 12" x 12" Original Oil on Canvas: Available Here.

Just finished (and still wet) a cute kitty taking a nap. This is a 12" x 12" oil on canvas original of a friends cat. She has all the cute stories I just paint em.

I'll Show You Mine......

8" x 8" oil on canvas "Show and Tell" available on Etsy.

A few months ago I was commissioned to paint several Cockatiels and when the client couldn't get a photo of how he wanted his bird to look I asked for the co-operation of my two. I pointed the camera at them and half jokingly asked them to cock their heads and they did. In every single frame. Now when I go take their photo they always pose. This particular day they decided to play a game of showing each other their tongues. They only did it while I was taking photos and I've never seen them do it since.

Tomatos and Baths

"On The Vine" Available here.

Just finished... a nice bright 8" x 8" ode to the tomato. Available Tuesday evening on E-bay once the paint has a chance to dry a bit.

You might remember the large family of geese I highlighted a few weeks ago? Well the 27 babies are getting bigger and this afternoon they took a nice family bath. Having a wonderful time on this gorgeous summer day.




Interrupted by scowling human with broom.

Wait a minute, we liked it there and we're not done!!

Finishing that bath with some splash action.



Human with broom says maybe not. They'll be back!!

Donuts and Sunsets

"Party On A Donut" Sold


Just finished! A tribute to the glazed donut with additional icing and jimmies. What more can we add to this already sweet treat?? I've done this in oil on a 10 x 10 canvas so the subject is just a bit oversized. Why I picked donuts with the complication of jimmies, only a good counselor could tell you. It was not simple but I do like a challenge and I got what I wanted. It was fun.

It will be available on E-bay beginning Monday evening. Since I just finished it 15 minutes ago it's still quite wet.

Another beautiful sunset on Indian Lake.

Update

This morning we found the nest empy. Baby Robin is now an adult, finding his own food, living his own life. Success!!!! They've had such a beautiful impact on my life. I'll always remember this experience.

Baby Steps

Discovering his new world came much more quickly than I'd imagined. Just 6 hours ago his nest mate had taken off to parts unkown, (the north side of the house into some Birch trees.) Now as I stood looking out at the Oak tree from my bedroom window I could see him standing outside his nest. Then came the tentative hops up the branch. (Just a few inches from the bottom of the branch in the photo is the nest he started from.)

He looked around at the new views of the world before him.

Dinner looks a long way down..... "and I don't have my flight feathers in yet or my tail feathers"...... so he walked back down the branch and back into his nest and took a nap. Tomorrow is another day. He sleeps snug under a golden moon.

Photos by Ron Hughes.

Leaving the Nest

If you've read my posts this week you know we've been keeping an eye on two baby Robins. I noticed yesterday through binoculars that one of them has quite a wing span. He stood up and stretched. I knew it wouldn't be long before he few the coop. I took these photos last night around 8pm from a distance. Their nest is getting pretty crowded. It's amazing how much they've grown in just a few days.

This morning one of them did indeed take off from the nest in front of my husband. He came inside and directed me to the kitchen window. There hopping on the ground was one of our babies. Had I seen him not knowing who he was I would have though he was a young adult. His red Robin breast, his sleek wing and back feathers. Only thing different was a short tail, but that will come in quickly. He hopped looking at his new surroundings for a few moments and then flew into some birch trees nearby.

I feel both relieved and sad. It was like watching one of my own fly off. Will he find food easily, where will he sleep, is he safe? I wonder how his bird mother is feeling. Did she witness his flight too?

I went and looked through the binoculars and the second babe is still in the nest. He has more room to stretch out. I realize they might not have been so far apart in age. They grow so quickly, this bird might only be a day behind the other. It won't be long and he too will be discovering his new world.

Art and Life

Early evening yesterday I looked up and saw this heron trying to land in the tree outside my window. He or she quickly decided that wasn't such a great idea and took a graceful glide to the dock three houses over. His wingspan was incredible. It was gently raining out and he posed for me standing there on that dock for awhile.

I mentioned the other day that we had two baby Robins nesting together. (See previous blog.) You can see one fairly clearly in the above photo. The other little guy is to the far left sticking his face up on the edge of the nest. They are not siblings and their mothers come one at a time to feed them. The younger one lets the older one sit higher and sometimes we see the one sitting higher get his butt lifted up above the nest. We know the one below him is moving position. The older baby has more feathers and acts as a nice shelter for the younger it seems. They are getting along well from what we can tell. No squabbles. They are loved!!

We receive a lovely scenic painting from nature each evening. You'd have to be pretty jaded to not take a look to see what's being offered.

You might wonder why this being labeled an art blog, there isn't more art. Well I'm hard at work on 9 paintings. Everything from birds to donuts and I hope to have them ready to unveil shortly.

Happy Father's Day!! You too Dad.

Week of Babies

The week started out with my husband finding this little guy in our front yard. This little painted turtle was very active, unafraid and FAST!! He could move!! His tiny feet and toenails felt good against my hand. We spent possibly 10 minutes with him taking a few photos. He never pulled his head in but was visibly happy to be back outdoors and happier to be let down onto the grass where he quickly disappeared.

The lake is full of turtles and we see them stick their heads out of the water all the time. They sun on docks and fallen logs.

To go back a few weeks, someone asked me about painting birds nests. I told her I would fit it in this summer and let her know. She mentioned it again about a week later and that afternoon I was directed to a nest that had fallen out of our tree during a recent storm. I found it empty. No signs of birds anywhere near it, so I picked it off the ground and propped it into a branch and photographed it for use as a model in the painting.

Yesterday my husband discovered a baby Robin in the driveway. We got the empty nest from the backyard and went to find the Robin. I picked him up and found he was unhurt but too young to be out of a nest. He had very few feathers, wasn't able to perch and he opened his large baby Robin mouth for me to feed. I'll always remember that image in my mind and probably remember the feeling of immense love and frustration at not being able to give him what he wanted right away.

I knew from experience that I had to figure this out quickly. There was no time for cameras or enjoying his company. He needed to be fed quickly and he needed to be kept from stress. The nest seemed to be a huge help. He settled down and napped out on the deck in his new nest while I quickly went to the internet to find out what to do. I found a site that said the best thing was to tie a basket (or in this fortunate case) the nest to the tree under which we found the bird and the parents would find the baby and care for it. As I carried him back to the trees he scolded me pretty good and opened his mouth for me to fill. (I'm SO in love right now!!)

We were not sure which tree to leave him in. The Blue Spruce or the Oak. Very different trees. I was concerned about not hiding the baby from the Mother, who I kind of figured was watching us from nearby. We put it in the Spruce first and went indoors. I watched and saw no activity for about 10 minutes. The baby needed to be fed every 20 minutes and I knew it had been longer than that. I noticed then that an adult Robin was hopping in the low branches of the Oak tree so I got some rope and went and tied the nest to the highest branch I could reach, then went inside anxiously hoping his mother would respond.

It seemed like a very long time and nothing. I left the window knowing the mother would take care of it's baby. I went back to the window repeatedly seeing no signs of the mother. I REALLY needed to actually see this work out so I could go back to living my life. I prayed to see and as I finished that prayer, I walked to the window with my binnoculars and saw the most beautiful sight. The mother Robin was at the nest and the baby all but stood up to greet her. My prayer was answered.

This morning I was again blessed with the same sight when I got up and looked out. The baby had made it through the night by itself in the nest and it's mother was feeding it at that moment. I was relieved.

But this nest isn't done...

Around lunchtime my husband came inside from walking the dog and said there is another baby bird on the ground at the street. We went outside to investigate and sure enough there was a baby Robin on the ground almost in the road. It had a few more feathers than the first baby, it gripped my fingers with his feet but didn't perch and was again too young to fly. He had no wing feathers. He didn't open his mouth to be fed but remained calm as I talked to him. We decided to put him into the nest with the first baby bird. As we did the first bird stretched his neck and opened his mouth wide for a feeding. We weren't a few feet away before a mother (or father) Robin showed up at the nest.

I want to tuck them in at night, hold an umbrella over them if it rains.... but I have to have faith that their creator is watching over them. (I'll still peek in)

Sky Palette

While having a delightful discussion with my two favorite artists and their manager last evening, I was treated to the most beautiful and interesting art in the sky. The clouds formed stripes and dashes that let in light in the same manner. It's much more impressive in larger photos.

This beautiful scene came between two strong storm systems that dumped more rain than we really need. We've been very fortunate in this area to not flood at this point.

Display

The nice lady that purchased my Canary and Butterfly painting sent me this photo showing how she is displaying it. It answers the question in the painting; "what are they looking at that is more interesting than the butterfly at their feet?". Now we know!!