Painting Sandpipers

"Winkin', Blinkin' and Nod"

I love sandpipers and have taken

many photos to work from of them whenever I

see them at the beach...

Am in the midst of this ink and watercolor

and now must decide about the background...

sometimes that's the most difficult for I 

don't want to overdo it.

Over at my shells and roses blog you can see
something else I've been working on
if you click here.

Thanks!
 

Painting Brody

Started a drawing of Brody...

 

 

 

 

I've added watercolors to my Brody drawing 

and now I must decide which way to continue...

What I've Been Working On

These are a few of the things I've been working on these days...
This sweet little chipmunk has been a very frequent visitor to
the sunflower bird feeder in the front yard.
Here she is on her way back to her abode with a stop over
on our front step where she froze when she saw me.
She happened to be standing beside a heart rock!

I love plovers and here are some that I saw last fall on the beach
and photographed.
I've been inspired to paint them and here they are in progress...

This spring the flowers have been so delightful...
some of the first to appear were the Puschkinias.

just click on images to see more details...
thanks!

Surf Scoter

Today's surprise was spotting these sea birds

this morning...

looking them up in our bird book

we were able to identify them as Surf Scoters.

Saw the first swallows of the year...

A Flash of Blue

Walking by the stairs, I glanced out of the window

and saw a flash of blue....

I ran to another window and was so surprised

to see this Indigo Bunting!

Took my breath away!

Rain

It's been raining for several days and we have
really needed it. Brody is dry and cozy inside
on a pile of cushions that were meant for the
porch chairs but would have been soaked
had they been out there.

The birdbath has been filled by the rain...

The birds are soaked but venture over to the
birdfeeder still...

Friend or Foe

A Day Full of Wildlife

Who would have thought snow would fall
early in the morning of Sunday, April 8th...

The chipmunk was filling her pouches
with the fallen crabapples.


D had put an almond butter jar that still had a bit
of almond butter in it out under the bird feeders
wondering who would discover it first.

It didn't take long to find out.

My surprise came when the gray squirrel with
the bob tail picked up the lid of the jar and licked
it clean.

This squirrel definitely claimed this and was very concerned
about not letting anyone else take
possession of it.
He ran off with the jar lid and climbed
into the tree for safe keeping.
I was astonished that the squirrel could climb
so fast and jump from tree to tree with such a big
object clenched in his mouth.

Was so amazing to see that and now I now
how some things get moved or lost in the garden.


Meanwhile the brief snow and cool temperatures
brought much activity in the vicinity of the bird feeders.










this beautiful pair of loons was discovered
when we took a late afternoon ride
and I think they will probably be going
back to the lakes soon.

Turning Yellow

a sweet goldfinch couple was visiting today
and he looks like it is still in the process of
turning yellow....

and then we saw pussy willows
with a tinge of yellow.