and it looks like....RAIN

this is how a painting starts out...i try to not draw it out too much, but.......
something like this i got no choice.... there is way too much going on in this to wing it so to speak
(and yes i know that bird looks like shit)
meanwhile i am painting in the corn field in the background... and DREADING when i have to go back in with the sky....which is gray..... and stormy.....
however once i do that, i can finish the shadows on the other stuff and correct the colors etc
and make that damn bird look a lot better...he does look pretty iffy
i don't know if i am going to like this yet when i'm done...i do like that corn in the background......i love how it sort of looks down on the crow (sorta like it's going to get that crow for eating it's babies)
and of course i love the pumpkin....i LOVE pumpkins!
now this is also much larger then i have been working lately... (not as big as my black and whites but bigger then the color work i've been doing)
there is a reason....
i didn't want to crowd this too much and i did want to get a LOT of background corn stalks in there
so i went bigger
not quite as large as i wanted to
but big enough that i can put in detail and still scan it here
WHAT?
doesn't everyone do halloween in june/july?

still raining

and i am painting nests ...........and birds...AGAIN
this is one of the middle photo's...it's not finished in this one.....however in real life it's done and in the box for the printer
believe me it's MUCH better then what you see here..... light years better.

tomorrow i will most likely start another painting, if i don't start one tonight.
i am thinking of another small furry mammal as i have to finish that series

i need to do a few portraits of kids.....
i would like someone around 5 years old or younger....
3-5 is probably perfect
normally i would do girls as i was so used to looking at my nieces but i would like to do some boy's portraits instead
anyone want to volunteer their kids?
i'm not that good an artist so they probably won't be recognizable
hahahahahaha
oye
meanwhile, even though i am not posting, i AM still working my assets off.......still researching wide bed printers.....still trying to find a good way to digitize these paintings so i can print them and then sell the originals- it's a lot of work
and my acute bronchitis is going away- i am coughing up stuff here and there.... but i haven't had to use the inhaler for two days now....
today i didn't use the allergy meds either and i can breath!
i helped bernie bring the ducks in (in the POURING monsoon rains) and was ok to breath!
so i am getting better it would seem
but i am out of stuff to read......(yes me, in a house made of books, i have nothing to read.....nothing NEW to read)

ok then, back to the drawing board

didja miss me?

life goes on....budgie life that is

mrs fezziwig is fine it looks like
she is out from under the heat lamp..
meanwhile stella and emma are laying now
so we are having eggie days here

i can't believe that mrs fezziwig made it.....what are the odds?
but i am so glad
what a plucky little girl

meanwhile, i will be wondering if we are going to have baby budgies here or what?

mrs fezziwig the budgie

 a lot of stuff has been going around here
one bad thing was that mrs fezziwig was egg bound
we soaked her yesterday and put the heat lamp on her
today she passed two eggs
then took a HUGE poop ( you could SEE the relief on her little face)
we think she is going to make it
we hope she will
she's still under the heat lamp as she hasn't moved out from it
but she's eating so we count this as a miracle
we also hope that it's the sign of better things to come......

half done oven bird