Books
December 13, 2022
Ready to study? Here is a stack of school books, see the dreaded math book on the top of the pile… it’s waiting for you. Free Graphic: Image of a stack of schoolbooks
Ready to study? Here is a stack of school books, see the dreaded math book on the top of the pile… it’s waiting for you. Free Graphic: Image of a stack of schoolbooks
Oh how fun… a slimy little green slithery friend with a coy smile who is looking to peruse your garden before it’s even full grown. Watch out! Free Graphic: Image of a slug
Say hello to my little friend! This painting was inspired by a close encounter of the arachnid kind. Walking outside to get the mail one sunny morning not too long ago, I walked full speed, face first into an occupied orb weaver web. There was a scream (from me, I didn’t hear one from the spider) as the poor web
Zucchini, Patty Pan Squash, Cucumbers, Tomatillos, Ground Cherries, Okra, Basil and Tomatoes — the first significant haul of the harvest season is upon us! Amazing colors, inspiring art and amazing smells, inspiring cooking. 🙂
I finally finished my painting series of a tree in a field at different times of the year. I started with winter (a borrowed painting idea), moved on to autumn, then did summer and finally spring. So no kind of order whatsoever. Soon I shall find a nice empty wall to hang the series on! These paintings were painted using
I was painting away, and when I looked down, here is a little face looking back at me… peeking cat!
This summer we’ve had flurries of fluttering visitors to our garden, and especially to the three butterfly bushes that was have growing in different locations. Most magnificent among the flighty little visitors are these impressive yellow swallowtail butterfly, which could be a fun painting model, if you ask me. Courage, painting friends, courage! If you mess up, just paint over
Also known as a cornflower, you will normally find these tall, lanky flowers growing wild along the roadside in striking cobalt blue. However, this fellow in our garden is lavender purple! We grow a variety of wildly colored bachelor buttons in among the garden vegetables most years, and this year this one wins a spot on my list of favorites.
We’ve had our little brown and black hens for a year now, and they are still fantastic producers! The gray Sapphire Gem hens turned out to be poor producers after about a year, though, and had problems with weak shells, even with calcium supplements. We lost one of them due to being egg bound, poor sweet girl. So this year
Another selection from our adventures in Bandon, Oregon — this is a very interesting way to walk to a viewpoint! The viewpoint itself looks out over a variety of haystack rocks known as the Face Rock area. One of our very favorite haunts.
This is a very paintable nasturtium that we found growing in Bandon, Oregon. Oregon coastal towns are shrouded in fog and clouds for most of the year, avoiding the worst of the blistering summer sun as well as the killing winter freezes. Tender, moisture-loving plants like these nasturtiums thrive and flourish, and can even overwinter and shine again the following
Timmy is a ridiculous cat on his best day… and this was probably not his best day. 😀 I was sneaking up on him to take a picture of him pressed face first against the glass door. At the moment I opened the shutter, he whipped around and licked his chops. This ridiculous face was what got captured… I can’t
Well our silliest chick has turned out to be a rooster. He is a cross between a Rhode Island Red and a Rhode Island White… such a pretty boy! We live in city limits, so can’t have a rooster, but fortunately we have found him a very fine home outside of town with some kind people that we know. He
My child’s favorite kind of flowers are Zinnias, so I plant them every year, as many different kinds as I can find seeds for! They are big and bright and have neat little stars that often grow around their centers… perfect for attracting the interest of bees… and apparently kiddos! This one was a salmon colored one, mixed in among
The Western White Trillium (also sometimes called Wakerobin or toad lily) is a white lily that springs up from the damp forest floors of the pacific northwest U.S. and Canada in early to mid spring. Each plant has three green leaves, and each flower has three bright white petals. As the blossoms age, they turn from their brilliant white to
I painted this one (semi-gloss acrylic on canvas) about a year ago in celebration of the early-blooming flowers here in the Western Oregon rainforest. Snow Queen is one of the earliest wildflowers to bloom and pokes its fluffy little purple/pink head up through the damp moss even before the last frost has come. Western Trillium (or Wake Robin) is a
A few weeks back a couple of my friends went on a moonlight hike (yeah, I would just break my legs and face if I tried that) on one of the hills looking down on the Eugene area. They took a picture of the city lights with the moon setting in the background, but since it was just shot by
We got chickens for the first time about two years ago and discovered that they are really neat pets and make a great addition to the garden. They lay delicious eggs, and they make heaps of really great fertilizer. (Better eggs and fertilizer than you can get at the store, but I wouldn’t say cheaper, just to be warned. Dang
Looking for plant markers that are renewable and biodegradable? How about inexpensive? If the answer is “yes” to either of these questions, then I’ve got the perfect solution for you… wooden popsicle or craft sticks. You can get them by the box of hundreds or thousands, and they last a year or two before getting all funky. After that, chuck
I know… I know… it’s a little early for spring. But I noticed someone was looking around the site for this cheerful cherry blossoms photo and I thought I’d add it back real quick. So here ya go. I have this one in my “maybe I’ll try painting it” folder, so it was handy. 🙂 Don’t be fooled… there is