burds birds birds

EASTERN BLUEBIRDS

bird bird bird

Begin Again, Again and Again

 Hello.  I bought a camera.

 Olympus OMD M10 MII Mirrorless Micro 4/3 Camera on a manual 135mm lens with 2x teleconverter and Tiffen Skylight filter

Junco on Tomato Cage

Chipping Sparrow mid landing looking like popcorn

 It has been a minute since I have remembered I even had a blog. (or three, one professional, one to make side pennies and this one) If you have been notified that I have posted something, I am flattered you follow me.  I have been through a lot of life the past few years, or should I say a lot of funerals and the family that would follow this account are no longer.  I do feel the need to have somewhere to keep my hobbies on record still though.  I have not been painting this year, or last, or the year before but during this pandemic I have picked up a camera.  Here are a few photos.  I think I may use this account to "talk" to the ether as well, but I will put photos first, and then crybaby stuff after so you can read or not.  I will also put a gallery of photos on page as well so you can just go there as I update.  :)  

If you swipe my photos, just please don't sell them.  We can talk about using them, and as long as you have my permission you can use them for projects like you would on Deviant Art, but this blog is moreso just for me.

I like animals and as I stay at my parents house for various reasons, one of the reasons I stay here is because of the wildlife and the woods surrounding.  Since 2015 I have been logging the birds that visit this yard, and this year more species than ever have come.  In March I picked up a camera that works with some random lenses my Brother found a few years back and with a converter from OMD to work with OMD Micro 4/3's I was up an running, and I am not a trained photographer but with a little help from a Patreon friend and her bird photo tips I was able to get some decent shots right of the bat.

This is a Junco, there are four living here, 2 males and 2 females.  They stick to the woodpile mostly for the bugs, and this year they were eating the fire ants that took up residence by my tomato plant retaining wall, because drone emerging, flying ant emerging day is always good eating.  With ant insecticides they still have been thriving and the Juncos will eat the fresh hatched ones...so this day he was over on that wall looking for flying snacks.

I assume the sparrows were there for  the same reason, and this sparrow was jumping down from the rock above and I was experimenting with shutter speeds and lookit! I got a fun one :)  

So I will post a few more stories about pics coming up.  I may spend a week putting up photos in a page, and then come back to explain them after.  I am not a gear head, and everything I need is in the metadata on the photos so for the one person reading this if you have questions on the gear let me know or the settings,  otherwise I assume you know more than me and comments are welcome :)

also I'm lax on checking for spelling or grammer so don't judge me there.  I don't have my glasses on all the time, nerd.

Coloring Books

Stress management.  Blood pressure reducer.  Mindfulness. Never stopped coloring.  Whatever you call it personally, this is pretty much the extent of painting I have been doing. Watercolor coloring book pages.

I'm not being terribly impressively skillful or artsy or thoughtful of my color choices aside from whatever feels right for the object I'm filling in. 

I have been using this as a nighttime zone out meditation thing. :)

December: A Summary

Hello - 

Hope all is well.  Not much painting going on still.  I finished up another page in the Kirby Rosanes book "Animorphia".  I was working on some Crocheting and Knitting for the holidays for little kitties in my life, then I made a "snood" scarf/hood thing, then I made an EPIC gingerbread village though the only bit I took a photo of yet was this mini house we ate on Christmas Day.   I worked at a Greenhouse for a week and made a bunch of wreaths and table arrangements... took regular photos and artsy photos of the tree and decorations at home.  Did a photo challenge on Instagram... I knitted a star fish that I won't show you because it was practice... I made Christmas cards... I'm burnt out people!  lol.

But I do suppose I should to get to business now finding a fulltime job like a real adult and make some money to live off of.   Maybe then I can rent my own space to have a teeny art show :)  Until then, walks and applying to anything within my skillset.  :)  Enjoy the photos.

Goodbye 2015!

Two Month Hiatus!

 The painting show (of course) didn't happen.  I was given information on the particulars of the nature of the work to be shown too late.  

I am still looking for a show, or at least a space to show my work in person, so we can have the wine and cheese and grapes and chocolates etc.  Maybe I'll have to do a summer show and call it my birthday... or do a show at my Half Birthday on Jan 16th.

Still working on ideas.  I haven't been painting much. I have been coloring in what publishers are now calling ADULT coloring books... I am calling them ALL DAY coloring books because it takes a whole 8 hours to color one page as the content is so teeny. I am having fun. However with so much to do (looking for work, looking for gifts) they are much more time consuming than Garfield themed coloring books... so I may switch back to Garfield for a bit.

Everything is OK with the hiatus.  In my profession I am either working hard 12+ hour days or hardly working and then working on projects of my own.  Here is a sample of the book I am coloring in.  It's called ANIMORPHIA by KERBY ROSANES  https://www.facebook.com/Animorphia/

http://www.zifflin.com/   this link is for the publisher's information as they are great too and you can buy the book.  I think I got mine at either Barnes and Noble or Michaels.  

He's really COOOOOOOOL!

Also, Tis the season for making presents and this is one set I have been working on:

2015 Ornaments

These ornaments are medallions cut by my Dad using fallen branches.  We found them at the base of my Grandfather's favorite cluster of Birch trees at his camp in Vermont.   My Grandfather's ashes were scattered here in July 4th 2015.  The picture below are ones I made last year from what I bought at Michael's.  It was requested I make them again from Grandpa's trees so it would be more meaningful.  I don't have pictures yet of all of them from the camp branches but the one pictured ABOVE is one.

2014 Ornaments

Happy Holidays everyone, and I hope to come back sooner with something awesome.  I may do a few stories on past paintings in my galleries that have no back story yet.  

Also I shall put more on the Etsy Paintventure site soon to buy.  I will be bringing down the prices since I don't need to save them for the show anymore.  :) Talk soon.

PREPARING: TEENY ART SHOW

Teeny Art Show

Pre-sale on Paintventure's Etsy Site

~ Art will also be in the Show - 

I have been painting on and off during the past three months.  I have some pieces now that I feel are "finished".  I will show you a few so you can get excited with me! 

Click on the pictures to go to the Etsy Site for pre-sale (and to be able to zoom in) before the art show. Thanks!

Last Teeny Art Post

Final Post for this past May's Teeny Art send outs!   ___________________________________________

  Started by dripping paint on the teeny canvases to let my imagination find a story or a picture, this one looked to me like a pair of pants, and then I thought, what if that pair of pants was saving this kitty from the paint puddle at the bottom.  Fred was always drawing animals that had one eye bigger than the other and I thought of him when this one was done.   I met Fred within my time at the craft store and knew we would be lifer friends immediately.  He is one of those people who's Aura is so bright you need shades.  He is a Chef in the Marines and those Marines are so lucky to have him feed them every night.  His food is delicious, and that's an understatement.  He is also major silly pants.

Matt is by far my silliest friend, and if anyone would deeply appreciate a Thug plant eating dinosaur who has seen some stuff in the clink and then got out, and fancied up for a tuxedo, tails and top hat party... it's Matt and his zombie fighting ninjas.

  Sven is my friend Kristen.  I met her in High School and we get our nicknames from a world history assignment where were were assigned the groovy give-no-shits Country of Switzerland that made sandwiches and everyone was named Sven. Jealous much?  Yeah, we're still pretty much like this... and are relaxed about planning a backyard hammock chill out sandwich eating groovy hangout session.   

Annie is one of my besties from the Dorms in College.  This painting no way represents her or anything about her, but we both work so much in color I thought I'd see what she thought about grey and swoops and seagulls.  Non plussed ;)  I also used have the painting for my signature... which is like... so art school.

  I sent this one to my Mom's best friend from High School Stephanie.  Her son has really beautiful red hair and I always had a crush on him... so I sent her this one as a thank you for always thinking of me and sending bake ware from the store she manages :)  She is not online unfortunately and probably will never see this post about how wonderful she is... so it's a good thing I send her USPS mail every 6 months to tell her :)

                                                      Andrew is a friend from my days as an internship coordinator at a Film Festival.  Somehow it reminds me of the arrangement of the festival offices.  Andrew was my youngest intern at the time as a Senior in HS but he took on about three off-season programs and was a  HUGE part of making the festival run that year.  He was a pleasure to be around and continues in the film industry as a documentary filmmaker.

  NICOLE.  I did one more in this style of crisscross boxes and I do not have a photo of it.  Hers has drawings of little kitties in windows.  She took some photos and posted them of her neighbor's cat in the window and I think about those cute photos all the time.  I would blow them up and make them big for my walls if I had the wall space.  In cities you are always seeing kitties in windows and it is so precious.  KITTEN!  What are you looking at!?  So if you are reading this Nicole and have your teeny art handy please take a pic and I will update!That's it :)  

TEENY ART ARRIVES! part 3

Aunt Val. More like an older sister who was out of the house before me.  She's my Dad's Sister, and when I was very young I knew her as getting ready for dates and driving me around in her car putting on frosted pink lipstick and just being totally awesome.  There is a shift in energy when we are together... everything is loopy and fun, emotional and full of laughter and sass.  She has... WE have been through a ton of I-wish-this-wasn't-happening-but-it-is moments in the past two years that I know *I* wouldn't have been able to get through without her.  All I can say, is she is the Aunt who knows all the dirt on yours truly.  

  I thought this ocean teeny art was just for her.  She like my Mom's sister Tilee loves the Ocean.  Since she's my RISK IT ALL AND LAUGH ABOUT IT LATER relative... it seemed fitting to give her the painting that I was trying out a new brush with and it happened to come out terrific.  This painting also makes me miss my home in Lynn, MA...but I know it is a risk-it-all-and-laugh-about-it-later kind of time for me.

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MOM. <3<3<3 My Mom is always there to go to a museum or any destination with me no questions asked.  So much so that one Halloween I took a vacation and was going to spend five days in Salem.  She said she would like to come, and I said that was fine but I had a bunch of stuff I wanted to experience and she would have to go to those places with me, because I planned a solo adventure.  She did.  Sometimes I am like "I AM GOING TO DO ALL THE THINGS!! IF YOU WANT TO COME KEEP UP!"  

My friends are mostly like "meh" and she's always like "ok"

     I was like "I'm going to Art School" and she was like "ok", and I was like "I'm GOING TO WORK IN MOVIES!!!" and she was like "ok" and I was so surprised my whole life because I hear of other relatives and parents being like "YOU CAN'T GO TO ART SCHOOL, you must do something practical"  and my Mom was always like "ok" My achievements are hers :)

     SO my Mom got the first one I made on this teeny art mission.  I was going for an impressionistic style (Monet, Mary Cassatt) and also an abstract representation of that style and came up with what I know is a blond lady in profile wearing a blue bow in her hair and a blue dress sitting at a table with tea, but you can only see it if you are standing at least 20 feet away from the teeny thing. :)

You'll see it.  And if not you will see the duck with the hat my Mom sees in there too.

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     Shannon is my 3rd cousin?  I dunno hahaha.  I know we are related and she is on my Dad's side.  That side of the family is huge and I don't know anyone's exact relation to me, I just know they are.  Grandpa had a million brothers and sisters, so.  I don't know Shannon very well, and if I met her before last year I don't know.  I say this all because I do not have a little blurb about her except that she had a bottle rocket war with my cousin on Independence Day and plays some great horseshoes.  She told me that her daughter says it's DEFINITELY a Mermaid in the painting.  :)  

TEENY ART ARRIVES! part 2

A short refresher about Teeny Art... 

I did a little painting project at the end of April beginning of May that had just about 15 people waiting in anticipation for a piece of teeny art.  I had a stack of Artist Trading Card canvases.  They are a little bigger than a business card but not by much and Strathmore Art Papers produces them to be able to trade with other artists. 



 I was inspired one night to paint a bunch, I put addresses on for several people I already know love personal mail and like my art.  After that I put the call out on Facebook to send them to people who would be interested in receiving Teeny Art.  They were taken up fast and I have a little mailing list for the next go-around.

There have been a few no big deal but time consuming life changes in the past 2 months that had me moving and starting over.  The dust has settled for the time being and I would like to post more of the art I sent out for that project :) This post will be for the three that traveled the farthest down to Florida :)

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My Auntie Lee who I call "Tilee" is my Godmother.  So if you think we are a lot alike, we are. :) I spent a lot of summers with her, my Uncle Tone (Tony), Cousin Antoine Merriweather (Ant/TONY) and Jacki "think you're so cool because Jessie's here"(Jaclyn).  I miss that summer tradition terribly.  

I was so looking forward to her visit to New England this summer as it would be like old times, but like new grown up times.  I will have to bundle her up in one of my 300 handmade scarves.  I also almost bought the Dirty Dancing CD that we listened to on repeat the summer she got her new Gold Honda Accord and we all drove around in style and Air Conditioning.  :) 

My Aunt and I share a love for the Ocean and the need to live by a body of water.  So I sent her this teeny art that they love so much. 

I am making a much bigger version to go in their bedroom.  For now the mini one is protected in a sleeve on the fridge.  You cannot see it that well, but that swish is a 24kt Gold swish.

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Ryan Soap on a Rope.

Ryan is a friend I found working on 48hr Film Challenges with Team LTJFilms (Love Thy Job).  Ryan is a talent who could help in any department on the set.  Ryan would always be there to just pick up a project I was in the middle of when needed for head of department meetings.  You really need that person on a 48hr challenge.  I was completely afraid to do these projects when my bestie and right hand art girl Janet went back to school for animation. I had no idea that on the three 48 challenges Ryan and I had worked on prior that he wanted to be in Art.  

He is of tribe weird (horray!) and is always up for something new.  I knew this was the perfect Teeny Art for him.  It could be anything... Mountains, a City, an alien planet, and I know Ryan will see it as different things all the time. 

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STEPHANIE SNOW WHITE

Steph is literally a Disney Snow White Princess at Walt Disney World.  She is a rare story where she put herself where she wanted to be and everything worked out exactly as she planned.  She has the Magic of Walt Disney in her and I just think she is an inspiration!

 

Over the years Steph and I have kept in touch from our time in the "Impressions" in high school.  She is such a big supporter of my random art weirdness and the need to send it to a home that I'm not sure how much TEENY ART she has of mine, but I know she wants lots more.  She always loves cute little smiling faces like me and here is the one I made that lives with her in the Magic Kingdom!!! Lucky teeny art that wished upon a star.

Jasmine is Happy

Jasmine is so happy teeny art has made it to their homes :)

Teeny Art Arrives!

Some Teeny Art have new homes!  Below is the first one USPS delivered swiftly to Destinie Curran (Ellis). To my surprise she had framed it shortly after it arrived!  So nice. 

 Destinie is a fine artist We attended the same High School.  We had a nice online messenger conversation last week to catch up. I really do miss the art class crew.  Creative people really are the best. Check out Destinie's work on this Facebook page.  You might not see it due to her controls, however she will be sending something in return I hear and when that gets here I'll follow up.  

 The second Teeny Art I got wind of arriving was from BBF Jodie Boduch (Zdrock)!  It's a kitten waterfall! Jodie and I met in Madame's French Class during HS. I decided I was going to sit on the other side of the room with the Sophomores because they looked like they were laughing and having a better time than me. I thought I was pretty special that I moved myself over there.  Jodie did too and we have stayed friends since.  Sometimes I remember some French.  Je t'aime Jodie. 

Jodie is also a creative person!  She writes books, and has her own company Much Ado Marketing.  She also makes the best Martini's and has the best taste in everything.  She influences my summer reading list always. Oh yeah and she also runs marathons.  So that's why I kinda thought this one was for her... always flowing energy somewhere that ultimately ends with her and her 3 KATZ tearing around the house with a toy mouse. 

Thanks Ladies for the pictures and the shares and the love!  It was very fun to do and brightened my spirits as well.  As more come in I shall post stories.

Teeny ART! (Random acts of Art)

Good Afternoon.  It is about 70 degrees on this Sunny by the beachside day.  I'm sitting inside for now, but plan to head over to the beach to read soon.  

 I love to paint and decided one night I would do what I'm best at.  Being Kind. I painted 13 teeny artist trading cards (ATC's),  put them in tiny envelopes and cards I created myself.

I am sending these out to people I know on Facebook as it was a neat and easy place to publish my give away.  I did put my blog site on every envelope ( I think!) so you all can follow me here if you want as I'm trying to get back into blogging as it's a nice head space for me. 

I don't want to give away what everyone is getting before it comes to them in the mail so I am going to post more when I hear that people have gotten their "teeny Art"

Mom and Daughter craft time

No pressure creation is my favorite thing.  Painting is one of my favorite arts that I practice.  I put a lot of pressure on myself for every painting to be the best show of my skills.  Once and a while I just get sick of all the critical advice in my head.  I just have to tune them out and say "soooo what. You pierced the toast. Order more toast" - The Birdcage

These few paintings are my Mom and I just painting to do it.  Mom took a little forcing, as she's a high functioning perfectionist.  That first painting she did, the abstract that looks like dancers is lovely.  I'm just nuts over it to be honest.  

I'll bet you can tell the difference between the two smearers.

The last canvas turned into a picture of the birdfeeder outside that window.  I don't have a photo yet.