Squirrel Bank Tellers

Squirrels.

Just the word conjures up fluffy creatures that jump around,

rarely slow, but always fast paced from branch to branch.

At least here in Maryland. They are about as busy as ants!

The branches bow to the squirrels when they leap through the air 

onto them like the branch is saying, "You're welcome,"

and then tossing them back up in the air.

It's a jungle gym out there in the woods. 

In town toothy squirrels scold the cats, dogs and 

even birds down on the sidewalks.

So I was wondering do you feed the squirrels during the winter months?

Like most people feed the birds?

Our neighbors put out salt blocks and apples for the deer and it keeps 

them coming back for more.  If someone put out salted caramel apples

for me I would keep coming back too. That is a given. 

We have four chestnut trees and the squirrels get more than we 

do every year. To pick the chestnuts you need some major insulation

on your hands. The outer part is like picking up sea urchins. 

Meanwhile the squirrels who have the daintest paws ever and can

only carry one heavy chestnut at a time to their secret hideaway 

still manage to get more than we do.

So here is the real news.......

I am writing and illustrating a children's book

Illustration has worked it's way back to the very tip top 

of my creative endeavors. 

Stay tuned and in the meanwhile I'll be feeding the squirrels.  

        

Vintage Sepia Photo Look App

Thank you Blogger for making it easy to catch the latest posts on the blogs I read. Tonight when I got online Minna from Blomsterverkstad introduced me to Old Photo Pro app on her iphone. (We learn so much from other bloggers!) I fell in love with her photo and immeditately went to the app store on my iphone and downloaded none other than Old Photo Pro for free and it took about one minute and I was taking old-timey pictures! Mina is a garden stylist that shares her art with all.

I have always admired Z, from the old grey mare, blog's sepia photographs for her white Wednesday posts. (I learned what pop-up blogger means from her blog recently). Now my orange pumpkins are instantly white in this photograph. It's neat how the photo looks like it was folded and came out of someone's wallet. Yet it's not seen paper yet.

My education continues...pretty soon I might be above average!

Tonight my feet feel like they belong to someone else. Nothing that a little rest won't take care of.

Hurricane Irene is Visiting Maryland

The sound of soft rain continues to drizzle. Sometimes it is so soft I think it has stopped until I look outside. 40,000 homes in Maryland are without electricity because of fallen trees. We are fortunate as ours is on and hope it stays on all night. If it does go off I might have to make campfire coffee in the morning. The huge fir and pine trees that give so much shade in the summer I now eye warily hoping they continue to stand tall and strong. The ash and sycamore trees have strewn some branches here and there. The maples are hanging in there. The lawn is such a dark green now more like the beginning of June.

I hope everyone closer to the eye of the storm is safe.

Peaches Say Sweet Summer

Hello! How is everyone? I have been busy and my computer crashed and burned. But then there is peaches. So sweet! I think they are my favorite fruit. Favorite at the moment. They are like golden sunshine balls filled with sweet tart sugar. I could sing praises all day for peaches.

I have enough to make some french tarts, peach and lemon jam and peach banana and soy milk smoothies with a pinch of honey. So delicious. This all sounds heavenly but I have lots of other things to do as well on the farm.

Edible Heart Treats

Dress up your breakfast for your Valentine.



Instead of a just a slice of bread use your heart shaped cookie cutter for a perfect heart. I then put some delicious apple butter on top in a heart shape...and now I feel like a princess!



Here we have the westie who is the Queen's Food Taster. These hearts are very cute too and tasty. An watercolor 2.5 by 3.5-inches aceo I have for sale.

Maple Syrup Art Snow Candy

Instant candy. I took our maple syrup put it in a plastic bottle and made some candy art. It's an hard to recognize owl that is endangered to our sugar cravings. It's the perfect winter scene here. No wind at all the past few days and lots of fluffy white frosting, sugarless frosting on everything. We were thinking of Laura Ingalls and their snowy winters long ago.



A country lane. Yes this is a road.



With all of the running and jumping through the snow our westie finally felt tired yesterday. Last night he was enduring my photo snapping trying hard to keep his eyes open. Right after this picture he put his head down and with an oomph sigh he was fast asleep. We haven't seen any squirrels at all the past few days. It must be too hard to navigate the snow on all of the branches. Every twig and branch is a snowy mountain peak.

I'm glad the birds are playing hop-scotch on the wild plant seedheads. That will mean less weeds to pull this spring. The chances of them eating every last seed is slim but it's still a beautiful sight to seem the birds cleaning up.

Westie Dog Aceo Oil Painting Portrait

Westies are so playful and full of energy 99 percent of the day. I don't often paint them sleeping because my westie does very little of that. He is like a jumping, spinning, running, laughing cheerleader. And he wants to share all of this fun with me which makes me a very lucky person!

This aceo I listed on ebay today it is an canvas oil aceo size, 2.5 by 3.5 inches and titled, SNOW DAY. These small little paintings will grab your attention especially when they are filled with cotton candy dogs.

Bunny Rabbit Doll Folk Art

Bunny has slippers that look like Easter peeps marshmallows. This new little rabbit is about as sweet as you can get without any sugar.

One might be surprised at how long each clay doll takes to make. I make them without molds and I shape them with my hands over a wood and foam base that I have assembled first. This makes for a good, sturdy clay rabbit. It takes a day or more to dry. Then I gesso it, paint it, antique it and varnish it. By that time Bunny and I have shared many conversations about life and know alot about each other! Thus the big ears. They are good listeners and all the while Bunny is as pleased as punch about the pink slippers and is not moved by any of my stories.

Life is good. Especially when cute shoes are involved.

Mixed Media Valentine Frog Girl Mushroom Art

Caps come in all sizes, shapes and colors, but these two wear the cutest caps of all. Mr. Frog has an acorn cap. You have to love the rich burnished color of acorns and they are so little, yet a mighty tree is tucked away inside. Which is exactly like Mr. Frog, small but has a mighty jump. The girl has a mushroom cap hat to shade her lovely face. She will be wise in her old age, but never weathered because of her hat. You see that is where her and myself will part camps. I will go to the weathered one and she will stay in the cute one because I love to be outside gardening.

These two share a love for caps but today they are going to share their love for chocolates, that is what best friends do, with a valentine box! This original mixed media/altered art painting is for sale on etsy today. More information here.

I've got some exciting/nerve racking news. It's rather like falling in love. You're excited and yet the butterflies are fluttering in your stomach making you feel sick. Flat on your back one minute and jumping for joy the next, saying, "How can I do this?" More soon.

Mixed Media Elephant Art Paper Mache Sculpture

"How much do I love you?" Elephant asks.
"This much," Elephant exclaims.

When you were little were you one of those kids that wanted an elephant? I was. I told my mom I wanted a monkey, too. (She was secretly horrified, but didn't show it.) Those were just a few of the many things that I remember asking for. My mom calmy thought it impossible to keep them as pets. It didn't stop me from dreaming and wondering about them. If a horse could pull a wagon surely an elephant could do just as good or better. No?

I've created an elephant, not any elephant, but Elephant Love! You see it's telling us how much it love's you. It was made by my own two hands with a wire underbody for support and then paper mache, gesso, paint, antique wash and varnish in that order. It took a few days dry...while I thought of other elephants.

For more information and pictures view it here. You could be the keeper of this elephant. (Your Mom won't mind at all.)

Designer Paper Dresses for Dolls?

I've been working with paper mache lately. It's a love hate relationship that teeter totters back and forth during my day. I love the rough bumpy texture most of all.

The dislikes are mainly one: It takes a few plus days to dry. Patience is required.

But it is forgiving medium. You can add on after it's dried. If you are antiquing there are all sorts of crevices for the antiquing gel to find. It is lightweight! It adheres to almost anything. You have to love it before and after the few days you dislike it.

Today on Crescendoh.com Christine, a dollmaker, pointed us to Isabelle de Borchgrave a Belguim artist. Do click on the link to see some pictures on google of her dresses. She is into every medium there is and excels at all she puts her artistic mind and hands to. Her paper dresses are mouth dropping. You can add fabric to paper mache, but to make a paper dress to go with the dolls is such a fantastic idea. More on this at a later post. For now I must worry about the hands and feet.

The above photograph is the creation that Isabelle de Borchgrave and Rita Brown made of Jackie Kennedy's gown that is an exact paper reproduction. Amazing. (Can you imagine the patience these two ladies have?)

*The best part is that Isabelle is coming to the United States. She has a number of books on amazon.com. Best of all a pop up book! Her website is here. You can buy books directly from her website. For up to the minute information about her work and visits she is on facebook
here.

Watercolor ACEO and Colored Pencil Art

Rainy days always make you want to try something new. It happened to me and this is the result of my little watercolors and colored pencils. I normally paint with acrylics on a black background to get that block print look. This is the reverse on a white background and I immediately fell in love with watercolors. They're a bit more illustrative with darling color washes. I do believe I am hooked. Line and sinker. Kit and kaboodle.

These wee paintings each measure 2.5 by 3.5 -inches. The group consists of a girl and her westie, Frida Kahlo, Siamese Cat, and Raccoon. They are up for sale on etsy now.

Scandinavian Mixed Media Westie Scottie Paintings

These colors are so soft and sweet like new fallen snow. I lightened up in my colors in these two mixed media originals and I feel like I am in Europe with the brightest lights and soft pastels. But I'm really here in Maryland at 44 degrees and no snow on the ground...yet! See the westie racing down the hill. That is exactly what our westie does when our son sleds. They have energy and then some. Both little boys and westies.




I put westie's cousin, Scottie, in this painting. A sweetheart. Karina is ice skating in Sweden! We are going around the globe here. Both of these will be on ebay for sale. 5 by 7 inches each and on stretched canvas with collage papers and acrylic paint. Pink colors are so restful and calm.

Pumpkins and Westie Rascals ACEO

Pumpkins are grown even for puppy dogs to pick out. They like the smallest ones that they can find in the field. Puppy found the perfect mini pumpkin for halloween but still too big for him to carry.

For more info and to see other my other art for sale click here.

Painting Wood White Wednesday

A sad, dreary writing organizer got a new look this week. This was a thrift shop find and I almost missed it because it was so dark and lighting is usually dismal at these stores. Out came the white paint and wow, I'm loving this piece.

I put it on top of a table to hide all of my goodies in. Doesn't everyone have seeds and plants on their tables? And bits of fabric, paper and lace? Tea and a teapot?

I also found a paper mache box that held 6 smaller boxes and a spool of thread fits neatly in it. They would also be good for button collections and to hold seeds.

These vegetables I have to plant today. They are beets and their foliage is a gorgeous burgundy. Their name is less lovely, Bull's Blood Beets. After I plant these it will make room for something else pretty and leafy on my table.

The before picture. The way the sun is reflecting off of it it looks lighter. Under our pines trees is where I painted it and now when you look out the window you see "white clouds" there on the ground where I've been spraying bits and pieces of furniture white.

Don't you agree it looks much better white? I am linking over to fadedcharmcottage for her White Wednesday fun. Do link over for some inspiring painted white items.

Back to home page.

Vintage Roses ACEO Oil Painting

Roses are very calming. There is something so beautiful about the old fashioned cupped roses that we are at a loss for words when we see them. Only quiet smiles come forth from our mouths and ohhh's and ahhhh's which say more than any one word can. They are always the center of attention in every handpicked bouquet, that is if roses are in it.

I painted this 2.5 by 3.5 canvas with roses and other sweet companions in the softest, sweetest colors, and it is for sale on ebay

Damask, gallica, portland, or bourbon roses I love them all.

Collect White China with Roses

Sugar bowls are the most inexpensive items to collect. I'm going to share a secret.






First this little pink dianthus. I love how it looks like someone used pinking scissors on them, but that is how God made them. So perfect and a wonderful spicy clove fragrance to go with them.







I've also loved roses forever. A wonderful way to collect them is on castaway vintage sugar bowls and china plates at thrift stores. The best part is that I use them for small vases on the table pictured here outdoors. You could even put in a name card in each bouquet if you have one for each guest. The secret is they are beautiful and all very inexpensive vases, but all the things we ohhh and ahhhh over. The one above was 1.50







Another beautiful white china plate with rose wreaths on it. 1.50 The back of the plate is stamped FRANCE Depose.






I love these roses too. 1.50 This one is stamped WINSFORD, England, W.H.Grindley and Co. on the back. All ready to serve little tea sandwiches or tiny confections. They really set the country white mood with their blush of pink roses. Now for tea.


Do visit other funWhite Wednesday and Outdoor Wednesday posts.

Original Hula Girl Painting Aceo

We here on the east coast are only one shell away from Hawaii Nei. Just pick one up and listen. It dials directly and instantly to hawaiian beaches. Even when the electricity is out...Hawaii is there. It also sounds alot like standing on top of the pali lookout. The wind snaps your hair around, but you don't care because white gingers are blooming all over wild in the woods. All you do is inhale Hawaii.

Moonlight Hula is an ACEO painting that I have up for sale here. They are small works of art 2.5-inches by 3.5 inches and they are original paintings. Often you can purchase from different artists cheaper than a larger painting. You may matt it and frame it or slip them in a album specifically for trading cards.

Original Frida Kahlo Painting by Candylei

Making Room

Frida Kahlo's two cats are very creative. One empties out the clothespins to make room for the two of them. Cozy cats. The cozier the better. Here all of this time Frida Kahlo thought it was the birds emptying them out. (Birds would probably fill it up with their 'junking' treasures, I believe. We have birds that are trying to fill up all of our chimneys one stick at a time.) Cats are curious and cats are clever.


Original painting for sale on ebay.

Exotic Echinacea Flower Trail

This is the time of summer when we come to expect bold, splashy colors. Gone are the days of spring pastels. (Even though we still love and have white gardens.)

Top photo is Flame Thrower echinacea or coneflower. I took the pictures of the standard pink coneflower in the background so you can see the difference in colors.

These all look spectacular against burgundy foliage. Like these flowers in front of tall, large- burgundy-leaved cannas would be smashing.

The other two photographs are of the lovely neon-ish Tomato Soup coneflower. The color combinations you would know are my favorite. Orange, pink and burgundy. And just the right amount of each.

Prices are kind of high for each plant, (like $14.) but be patient as they will come down next year when newer ones are offered.