Tuesday, June 28, 2011

For The Birds

One of my Favorite things is to hear the birds sing the Dawn Chorus in Springtime! After the long winter with only the bravest birds sticking around to sing in the short, cold days, the burst of song in the Springtime is Heavenly to hear! So it is really no wonder that I have images of birds all over my house and in my artwork too, although that can't capture their songs. The Poster of common North American birds (pictured above) hangs in my kitchen dining nook.

I even have some three dimensional birds catching dust on my shelves.......
And images copied from Medieval bird paintings hanging on my walls.......

Birds frequently decorate the borders of my Annual Christmas card.... this is just a corner of one.... Sorry about the poor lighting.... the weather persists in being gloomy over here.....

And I frequently paint birds on the furniture I decorate.....
this one is a Saw Whet Owl... on a mailbox of course!

And Humming bird and Barn Swallow decorate my desk which I painted for myself.....
(Along with an angel....)

Here you can see a little closer......

And a Yellow Warbler......

And in the hallway of my former house I painted birds in the wall murals........ a nuthatch......

And a sparrow....

And on a chair I painted on commission.... a woodpecker........

And a heron on the side of my large kitchen cabinet or hutch........

And another hummingbird on the other side...... not to mention the Faun.....

And on the walls of the bedroom in my former house.... a pair of Bluejays.......

And in the Medieval Miniature inspired border of a tiny painting....... sorry it is so blurry.... the picture is behind glass and is only about 3 inches by 4 inches altogether.....

And the beautiful woodblock prints of the Japanese........

And I am still painting them.....this time on the walls of my current bedroom in my smaller house..... Here you can see the North American Bluebird and his mate.....

These are painted life size.... here is a closer view...... the male.....

And the female with her softer coloring.....

And the North American Robin..... our harbinger of spring with his cheery song......

And the female of the Redwing Blackbird..... another early Spring arrival.....

With her mate who sings his Spring song...... (or so I imagine as I fall asleep at night.....)

So you can see how I am inspired by the birds!

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

A Little More Garden

It is a beautiful sunny morning as I dash out my door on the way to the garage and thence to work........ I must pass the garden gate.... Who could resist stopping for a moment and smelling the Roses.....? Not I! Camera in hand I must tour the garden and visit each newly opened bloom.... This one is "Oklahoma" a rose with a divine scent and large deep red blooms...

And the peonies....... this one is "Sorbet" a lovely double pink variety...............

And the white peony descended from the peonies of my former in-laws' garden........

Clematis "the Pearl" at my door......

And Roses, roses, roses! This one is "Sky's the Limit"...... but it has a ways to go!

This one I have forgotten the name.... I wrote it down somewhere.....

And this one is "Social Climber" .... and she is a favorite of mine.... divinely scented, repeat blossom and reliable even after harsh winters.......

And of course there must be a David Austin rose.... this is "Crown Princess Margaret"...... and it is just amazingly abundant and repeats all season... with heavenly fragrance.......

This little hybrid tea is "Secret"..... blossoms like an angel and smells as sweet......

And here we have "Night Owl".... a climber that has yet to reach it's heights! But the lovely dark blossoms are gorgeous........

This one is "Dream Weaver"..... another gently scented but reliable repeat bloomer......

And another David Austin rose...... I think this one is "Carding Mill" or "Darwin"..... I planted them at the same time and can never remember which is which....!!!!

And another one I cannot remember the name..... I will have to dig out my planting diagrams and do a better job learning their names........ but this one smells divine........

And another view........
Have I bored you yet with my Roses?

Good...... because there are more...... like this "Climbing Blaze" by the door..........
still in full bloom when I return home at the end of the day.......

Can you tell that I ADORE Roses?

There you have it.......
Just A Little More Garden