Animal Wednesday - OSI - Comb

Animal Wednesday and OSI's prompt 'comb' collided in my mind this week. I was watching the Canada Geese fly by on their way out into the fields to forage and loaf around. Then my eye was caught by the Juncos 'combing' the ground for fallen seed from the feeders. This haiku and sketch with pencil emerged.

I hope you have a great Animal Wednesday and if you are in the mood for some more haiku pop over to One Single Impression for more haiku and poetry.

Merry Christmas

                     I hope you day is merry, full of love, family, friends and all that makes you happy.



Jingle Bell, Jingle bell...

When I noticed a painting for sale by another artist and my muse sparked for a moment I decided to try to copy it. I thought this was so much fun. I wish I could think of the artist's name. Anyway I thank him for awakening my recalcitrant muse. Jingle bell rock is one of my favorite Christmas songs.

Stillness

At this time of year

it's difficult not to be still

snowfall muffles noise

Activity halts

nerves are soothed by

natures cool blanket

The fireplace draws us

to its side like Mother's arms

welcoming and warm

A cup of hot tea

can have the same affect

enjoyed with memories

Practice

I realize how much I need to be practicing. These poor little girls have been drawn in my sketchbook.

The poor little dears. Their eyes are whopperjawed. I have a terrible time making eyes look right. 

I will just keep practicing.

Animal Wednesday - Cedar Waxwing & OSI-Echoes

Happy Animal Wedensday to all my AW friends. I so enjoy seeing the Cedar Waxwings in the Hawthorn Trees eating the berries this time of year. It won't be long and they will have eaten them all.

On a cold gray day

Hawthorn tree, squeals of delight

Waxwings share berries

I was inspired by the Cedar Waxwings calling the entire time they were feasting on berries. OSI had Echoes as the prompt last week. I am still behind due to Thanksgiving preparations. Lets face it. I always have an excuse. ;)  I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving.

I am going to get a head start on thanksgiving by thanking Sherry for letting me paint the beautiful photographs she takes. This painting was of cedar waxwings in her garden eating dogwood berries so those of you who think these berries looked odd for hawthorn berries, you were right, they aren't hawthorn berries. 

Blooming Tuesday - Casa

It is that time of year. The Casa is put away. Not many/any blooms in the garden. I will just have to dream the winter away awaiting time to have some lovely blooms to post. I miss the Casa already. There is a big hole in the garden where it usually sits.  Happy Blooming Tuesday anyway.

Animal Wednesday - Colts vs Bengals

This page in my sketch book will give you an idea what I do most Sunday afternoons. HAW to all.

OSI - Pause

I don't know why I am unable to keep up with blogging lately. Maybe it is because I enjoy this cooler weather.  I have been busy in the garden. Lots of leaf raking.

Here is my response to the prompt of "pause" at One Single Impression.

Autum colors time

Indian Summer gives pause to

A rusty palette

Animal Wednesday - Broad-Headed Bug

After a couple of heavy frosts I was surprised to find a Broad-headed bug still out and about. It appeard to be having a bit of breakfast on the fern frond. HAW to all.

Thank You Soulbrush

I want to thank Soulbrush for doing an ATC trade with me. I just love her work and miss her terribly since she has taken a hiatus from blogging. She is busy getting ready to move to a new home. You can see more of her work here. Hurry back Joss. I miss you.

Art Doll - Amen, Our Hearts Cry

When I was young I never wanted to play with dolls. My dear Mother would purchase one for me occasionally hoping it would take. It never did, until now. I have always admired art dolls. I have been facinated with them for ages. Some years ago I played with polymer clay and ended up making a couple of heads. Now what says I to self. Well, the heads sat around here for some years and one got broken. The other sat perched on a bottle for awhile. Then today a friend of mine who makes hats gave me a bag of her scraps. Oh Mz Muse was exhilarated.  My first art doll was born.

I found it difficult to take a picture of her tonight. You can't see all the details. There are a lot of meaningful things in/on her.  She has a blue heart.

On the back you can see the music that is in her heart. The song is Amen, Our Hearts Cry. She sort of looks sad to me. I am not sure why. This is why I chose this song. But she is beautifully dressed due to my friends generosity. This was fun. I can see more dolls in my future. Aren't Mothers always right??

Blooming Tuesday - Pear

Here is the Pear thank you card I made to send to a friend. We had such a good time at their Fall Fling.

I want to thank you all so much for stopping by. Happy Fall. Happy Blooming Tuesday.

Animal Wednesday - Frolicing Orcas

This is a page from my tree sketchbook. I was inspired by the full moon last week. An Orca Mom in the moon light with its young.

For more Animal Wednesday inspiration go to Auntie Mim's.   Happy Animal Wednesday to all.

Buckeye Shrub - First Buckeyes

Our Buckeye shrub developed its first buckeyes this year. It was a nice surprise to go out there and find them on the ground. I had been watching the pod to see when they might drop.  The buckeyes are about the same size as the tree buckeyes but the "eye" on the seed is smaller and they are a few shades lighter in color.  If you want a tropical look in your northern garden this shrub will give you that feel.

Animal Wedensday - Green Frog

We saw several green frogs in a pond. It is funny that the only green thing on them was their faces. Maybe at a different time of year they are more green. Happy Animal Wedensday.

Cactus Monday - Succulent

I received this start of a succulent the other day.  I admired a larger version of this plant and the dear Uncle that had it said he had a start if I wanted it.

 If you know what it is I would appreciate an id of the plant.

Happy Cactus Monday to all of you Cacuteers. If you would like to se more cactus images,many of them drawn please head over to Teri's Painted Daisies here.

Animal Wednesday - Cicada

Here is another page in my tree journal. It has a lot of stamps that I have received on packages from Malaysia. They have the most beautiful stamps. Birds, flowers, fruit.  I drew the cicada in the middle of a prepainted page. Then addes the quote by John Berger. "Do you know the legend of the cicadas? They say they are the souls of poets who cannot keep quiet because while they were alive, they never wrote the poems they wanted to."

Happy Animal Wednesday to everyone. Don't delay writing the poems you are thinking about. I would hate to think of you sitting in our trees whining about poems never written.

Blooming Tuesday - Seeds

I haven't been painting any blooms lately. Not much going on in my garden now. What with the end of the growing season growing near and the drought not much blooming here. I did find some interesting seed pods in the garden.  The yucca seed pods are so stiff and hard. They are intersting to look at though. The Cardinal vine is just the opposite. It is soft and light as air to handle.

At the park I found four different types of acorns as we walked Luna. I don't know which oak they come from. I need to look up all but the largest one, Shagbark Oak.  OOps, this is a Burr Oak. 

 As you can see I am using the sketchbook I made. I really like having my favorite paper in this sketchbook.  It makes sketching much easier.

Happy Blooming Tuesday to you all. What is blooming in your garden?

Cactus Monday - Night blooming Cereus

Saturday night's entertainment is Cactus Monday's post. We had the best time. I noticed Saturday afternoon that the bud was ready to open.  

Just after dark I went out to see if there was any action. Sure enough the opening had begun.

I knew right away this bloom deserved some great shots taken by my DB. I asked him to bring the big guns out and take some shots.

It took it awhile to open fully. 

A hundred pictures or so later, we had this beautiful shining star of a bloom.

 It so delicately hangs there awaiting a moth or other night pollinating creature to come by.

I couldn't decide which photo to use. All were so beautiful.

But looking strait on to the bloom was perfect to me.  Just look into that throat. Doesn't it remind you an anemone you might find in the sea??  It made me wonder how many years ago this cactus came out of the sea. The leaves of this plant look like those big flat seaweeds that wash ashore.

I hope you all had an amazing happening during your weekend. 

For more Cactus amazements go to Teri's Painted Daisies.

Happy Cactus Monday

Thankful Thursday

I can't seem to express how thankful I am of the opportunity this past weekend I had to meet a Garden Blogging friend from England. It is amazing how close we have become through our blogs and have now had the opportunity to meet. Below is a picture of the group of us ladies that got together. From the left is Rose who write Prairie Rose's Garden who lives in Illinois, from England, Cheryl who writes Take Time To Smell the Flowers, Me and then, also from Il, Beckie who writes Dragonfly Corner. For more about our visit you can go here and here.

This visit got me to thinking about how wonderful blogging is. You meet such nice people that share your interests. I know I have been mightly blessed with such friendships.

Another of my friendships has been made with Marianne of Mandalas and More. She has gifted me with this beautiful beaded bag, some watercolor paper I have been looking for and a paperback booklet. I can't wait to use each item. I can't thank you enough Marianne.

I wish I could gift everyone with something beautiful and meaningful. Today I have collected the names of everyone that wanted a chance to read this book. Teri of Teri's Painted Daisies is the lucky winner of this book. I will post it soon Teri.

Happy Thankful Thursday to everyone. You know you make me thankful every day not just today.

Short Hiatus - Give Away

My DB and I are going to be away visiting family and friends. I will have much to tell you when we return. Don't worry about Luna. She will be well cared for by a friend who will come and stay with her. They always have such a good time together.

While I am away I am posting this book as a give away. If you think you might want to read it just leave me a comment and when we return I will put the names in a hat and draw the lucky winner.  I read this book some time ago and was waiting for a good moment to share it.

This book tells how art was infused into the new world. George Washington was not only a great leader and General he supported the arts, or perhaps his wife. I thought it was a good read and you would enjoy it too.

Animal Wedensday - Butterfly

This is a painting I did for the class I took from Laure. Butterflies are free. Remember that old saying?

Happy Animal Wednesday to all. I hope your week is marching on in harmony.

Cactus Monday - Labor Day

My little pot of cactus and succulents is faring well in this hot dry weather. The odd thing to me is that the cactus has some growths on it.

Maybe one of you cactus/succulent aficionados can tell me what has caused this. The blooms are usually up around the crown of this cactus. These growths are more in the center of this cactus. They really make me curious. Perhaps they are seed pods formed where the pollen of the flowers fell captured by the spines and nutured??

Happy Cactus Monday. I hope eveyrone is enjoying a free day. For more Cactus Monday views go to Teri's Painted Daisies here.

Animal Wednesday - Leaf-footed Bug

The good thing about this summer is that the bugs seem to thrive on the heat and dry conditions. I found this Leaf-footed bug sitting on the leaf of a Sand Vine 'Cynanchum laeve'. It let me get in close with my camera without moving away. I thought maybe it was because it was missing a leg but it finally moved and I realized it had just laid an egg. When I drew it I gave it back its missing leg. Happy Animal Wednesday to you all. I hope you are having a great week.

Blooming Tuesday - Fuchsia

This is one of the last Fuchsia blooms in the window box. Even though I have been watering the box regularly it isn't happy with the heat.  The heat is too much for all of us. Happy Blooming Tuesday.

Animal Wedensday - Luna and Oly

This week has been hectic around here. All is beginnning to slow to a more manageable pace. Here is the tall and short of it. 

Oly has been here visiting. He likes to come to camp Greenbow while his Momma is out of town.
The garden is large enough to him it keeps him busy watching for intruders.

It was a special visit this time because he was here for Luna's birthday. She turned 8. A friend of her's brought her a card and a treat.

Needless to say the treats didn't last long.

It didn't take Oly long to figure out which of us was the Pez. Luna told him right away who he should keep an eye on.

Happy Animal Wednesday Everyone.

Animal Wednesday - Oly

Our litte friend Oly is here to visit while his Mom goes to Boston to visit.  Oly is a white toy poodle. He is a trooper in that he walks with us at Luna's speed. A loving little fellow. The perfect lap dog which I am not used to. He is relagated to a stool with his blanket.  At every opportunity he sits in my chair though. He is a great burglar alarm. Unfortunately there are no burglars around here. It takes him a day or so to get used to our noises. Like that sneaky ice machine plopping ice out.

Happy Animal Wednesday to all.

Blooming Tuesday - Hosta

Outside my studio window I watch the hummingbirds come to the hosta blooms every day. I have noticed that the hosta blooms close at night and then reopen the next morning. After all of these years of looking at hosta blooms I finally noticed this thanks to the little hummer that comes here daily.

 

This was done by using ink and a water brush with a little watercolors in the background.

Happy Blooming Tuesday.

Cactus Monday - Echeveria

This pot of succulents and Silver Falls Dichondra was wintered over from last summer. I am so pleased with them I wish I could put them into the ground but they would succumb to our winters.

The Echeveria is blooming. It blooms a couple of times per year. I really like this bloom because it looks like a heart this time.  I don't know what the tall cactus is in the middle of the pot. I thought it would be a good contrast with the Echeveria and dichondra because was a reddish color. In our light it has lost a lot of its color. I might take it out.

Happy Cactus Monday to you all. My heart goes out to all of you.