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A Year of Birds: February 2023
Read more: A Year of Birds: February 2023The warm spell at the January didn’t last. It is, after all, winter in northeast Michigan. The temperatures dropped to a chilly -5 degrees F in the early morning, and I am feeding the birds twice a day now (and the deer, too! They come by regularly for snacks). The ground has turned from a…
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A Year of Birds: January 2023
Read more: A Year of Birds: January 2023January has come in cold for a few days after a warm spell (if you consider 35 degrees F warm, that is!). But it has snowed, the temperatures have dropped, and today I saw a mute swan swimming on the bay near the snow-covered beach. It glided silently along, beautiful. A couple of days later,…
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Chickadee on Wild Roses: acrylic painting
Read more: Chickadee on Wild Roses: acrylic painting“Chickadee on Wild Rose Arbor” acrylic 11 X 14 inches. I have a friend who has a beautiful arbor with wild roses that grow on it. A few months ago, I painted this picture, with a chickadee sitting as they often do on it. It is a nice reminder of the late summer time!
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A Year of Birds: December 2022
Read more: A Year of Birds: December 2022December has come in cold, but not bitter as it often does here in northeast Michigan. The days are often cloudy and gray, unless the sun decides to peek through. Some mornings, the banks of clouds on the horizon look like a small mountain range in the distance, and it is beautiful. While driving back…
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It’s that Time of Year Again…
Read more: It’s that Time of Year Again…It’s time to start painting Christmas ornaments again. So, here they are, all unpainted…I will try not to feel overwhelmed But the art galleries are requesting them, and I plan to attend some art fairs. So each day, after work, I will paint a few, until it starts looking a lot like… Christmas! They are…
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Chickadee on the Well: acrylic painting
Read more: Chickadee on the Well: acrylic paintingAs a Michigan artist, one thing I have learned to paint is snow in various lights. This is a painting of a chickadee, sitting on a friend’s snow-covered well cover. I did get a bit experimental, using alizarin crimson in some of the snow shadows. Otherwise, I used my normal palette. I love to watch…
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A Year of Birds: December
Read more: A Year of Birds: DecemberAs the holiday song says, “Baby, it’s cold outside!” In Michigan, December can come in with some pretty cold blasts, and it has. It makes me glad that Hanukkah also occurs at the beginning of the month, to create “warm feelings” in spite of the frigid early morning temperature. The mergansers are hanging out with…
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Chickadee on a branch: acrylic painting
Read more: Chickadee on a branch: acrylic paintingThis has been a busy fall, and I haven’t had much time to paint – or post paintings. This is a painting that I did find time to do this month – a chickadee sitting on a snow-covered branch. My goal was to capture the form of the chickadee and the light hitting him. I…
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Chickadees on a Winter Day
Read more: Chickadees on a Winter DayDuring the winter months in north Michigan, some of the most frequent birds visiting feeders will be chickadees. They stay on through the snow and sub-zero temperatures, and to me they are a symbol of hardiness and resilience. I used a limited palette for this painting: ultramarine blue, titanium white, burnt umber, burnt sienna and…
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Hope for the New Year
Read more: Hope for the New YearI don’t often post reference photos that I take for my paintings (he will probably show up on a tree limb when I paint him), but this little chickadee is so cute, I decided to put him up. But I also want to share a word of encouragement as well as 2021 starts. I realize…
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Birds of Michigan Series: Winter Partners
Read more: Birds of Michigan Series: Winter PartnersI love to paint birds, and winter scenes, so this painting combines these two. One is a sparrow, the other a chickadee. What I love about the sparrow is the fact that his posture reminds me of a “grumpy old man” sitting there on the bush. These guys came to the feeders last winter, and…