Please Vote for Me!

You can now go to the Dog Art Today blog http://dreamdogsart.typepad.com/ and look at all the entries for the Mutt Lynch Winery label contest. I would so appreciate it if you were to vote for my piece:

Sugar's Busy Day

8x10 black watercolor

It's number 72 on the list, so you don't have to go through scores of names :)

On another note, I got the rejection email that I will not be participating in the Rose Kennedy Greenway art fairs and I have a feeling Somerville Art Beat doesn't look good either as they haven't cashed my check yet. Hmmm. Was it something I said? Some of these shows can be a crap shoot, and always a lot of hard work, but I feel I need to get out there and do something. Keep making art, yea, that's what I'll do :)

This past weekend, J and I took a ride out to upstate NY. We went to the Catskills and headed out to see his niece who is studying at Cornell. When he was fishing, I was birding. Late May and early June is by far the BEST time to bird. There are a lot of transitions going on including migrates flying through, and lots of year-rounders and mating and displaying. Not to mention, the bugs are out and that always means the birds are out.

Male Scarlet Tanager

This guy is by far one of my favorites. I've read that they can be very difficult to see as they prefer the high canopies of trees. I have seen them lower however, and this past weekend I was honored to spot a male in the trees right above my head. These little red birds seem even more vibrant when set against a background of new green leaves that the woods are full of right now. Love them. If I'm out in the woods and hear one, I will go great lengths to seek him out. I can watch them forever. Their song is like a robin's, but a little more "buzzy" and the call is more of a "chip-banggg chip-banggg". You can find out more and listen to them here: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/scarlet_tanager/id

It's this weekend!!

This weekend is the Charlestown arts in the Park!

http://www.artistsgroupofcharlestown.com/docs/Art_Park%20web%202010.pdf and I just checked the weather and it's supposed to be Bea-U-Ti-Ful!!! Let's keep our fingers crossed that it stays that way!! I haven't done this show before and I plan on showing new artwork in snazzy new frames and have more prints and magnets to offer! Hopefully I will have my New England Art for Animals calendars in hand as well. I have 11 left - with the proceeds going to NEAFA, what are you waiting for? :)

Luna

5"x7" watercolor and colored pencil

So this past Labor Day weekend, J & I spent some quality time in lovely upstate New York, particularly in the central region of the state. We visited Pateria and Milton state forests. With hurricane Earl just passing through to the east of us, the weather wasn't rainy as it was windy! We decided to eat out one night and happened on a restaurant in Oneonta. In the foyer there was a bulletin board for flyers and business cards. There we saw 2 posters one for Dex and another for Holly. 2 kitties that were looking for a new home because their owner was moving out of state. :( I don't know this person's situation, but I think that sometimes people are too quick to give up on their pets. Please, when you take an animal in your home make it a forever home. Best wishes for Dex and Holly.

English Setter

5"x7" watercolor and colored pencil

Mid Summer Dreams

It's the middle of summer and I'm getting ready for my Montana vacation next week (yay!) Well, mentally ready I guess.

Nothing says summer like bugs sitting on daisies!

I took this photo when Jason and I visited upstate New York. I believe we were in a town called Roseboom (love that!). I took my camera out and captured a couple of images of that peaceful place. I still use a 35mm camera and it's so freakin' heavy to carry around and I'm sans lens cap right now. You'd think I'd run out and get another, but it's not that easy! I'm starting to have a difficult time finding film! But it's funny because when I do get my pictures developed and show them to some people, more than one person has told me that they miss looking at photos this way. What a difference to hold a photo or look at it on photo paper vs. someones digital camera. Now, I know some of you out there have some rockin' monitors - but do you miss just flipping through an actual stack of pictures? Or a photo album?

Boardwalk on the Marsh Trail Parker River Reservation

Newburyport MA

This is one of my favorite spots to bird watch. Lots of different species of waterfowl as well as songbirds congregate here and make a racket! I was here on the day that they finally "capped" the well in the Gulf of Mexico. And it makes me think that I should keeping a record of what these places look like to me when I am here. I mean, we can all admit that humans have continuously altered this planet we're on. And there's no way that New England looks like it did 100 years ago. (which was a farm land - stripped!) or 200 hundred years ago.

Still life with Skull, Bottles and Vegetables

Watercolor 8x10

Another still life with the skull. T and I did Wednesday night creativity last night and I thought that we should revisit the skull. I think that I need to spend more time on these paintings. I don't know if I'm thrilled with this one. Again, the bottle in back is glass, the one in front is a ceramic but could you tell the difference? My issue is texture and still trying to work with it. I think next time I'm going to do a still life with only glass. Superstar challenge. And that I can't use what we're having for dinner as the still life. Get some pizzas and make it easy.

Next week I'll be in Montana!! On a dude(ette) ranch http://www.bonanzacreekcountry.com/ woo hoo! I plan to take a ton of pictures with my heavy 35mm and bring a sketch book! I'm so excited!!!