Saturday, April 5, 2008

A Beautiful Spring Day

What a beautiful Spring day! I think Spring has finally arrived after the long, snowy Winter we had. I started seeing the robins in our yard last week, and this little bird has been a frequent visitor to our deck railing. What a joy to hear the birds singing their little songs in the morning and throughout the day. As I sit by the patio doors in the kitchen, I hear the robins singing their little 'scolding' tunes, and this little finch has a softer, higher-pitched song that he likes to sing. I took this photo of the little finch on our deck railing the other morning. It looks a little off-focus because I shot the picture while looking through the screen in the window, for I knew if I opened the door, he would surely fly away. The geese are also enjoying the weather today, as they are swimming and splashing in the river. I suppose one of these days they'll be out there with their little gosslings, teaching them how to swim.
But I'm still watching for the herons.....

For the past two years that we've lived here, we were blessed with several pair of blue herons that lived by the river. They have a noisy squawk that is different from the geese. My day wasn't complete last year without seeing at least one of them in the river during the day. They stand tall in the water with their stilt-like legs. And slowly, one step at a time they walk, always watching the water for a fish. It's fun to see them actually catch them and watch the fish flopping around in its long beak. I thought I heard one this afternoon, but I didn't see any. But one of these days they're bound to return.



When I opened the door to go outside today,
I was shocked to find this little guy right outside
the door. I guess he is happy Spring is here too,
and is enjoying the sunshine along
with everybody else.

Girls Day Out


Yesterday morning, while I was busy working on my gallery projects, I got an unexpected phonecall from my artist/friend Bernie Berlin. She asked me, "what are you doing right now?" I told her that I was busy doing my art projects. She told me to stop doing that and meet her and my other artist/friend Kim Nugent in Mequon. Well, you didn't have to twist my arm too hard for that! I met up with the girls, and we went on to spend the day in the Third Ward in Milwaukee, taking in all the art galleries and shoppes. We had such a good time, and we sure did a lot of laughing and being silly! From there, we were on to Barnes & Noble to check out the art magazines and the latest art books. We all left with bags in our hands, but I think Bernie gets the prize for buying the most. She had an armload at the checkout. Finally, we made it to the "Cheesecake Factory" for dinner. I was a good girl and didn't even have any of their 'to die for' cheesecake! Now THAT was willpower! I finally got home around 9:00 p.m., so needless to say, the progress on my art projects yesterday was slim to none!

Monday, March 31, 2008

"The Egg Project"

I've been trying to come up with ideas for the gallery portion of my layout in Workshop. My brother-in-law Nick came up with a great idea for one of the pictures I had done - it's a picture where I took a baby picture of my dad and put him in a nest with an egg on his head and added wings to him. Nick suggested having him in a larger, decorated paper mache egg. So that's what I have been working on for the past how many days. I spent hours and hours on the stupid egg, putzing away at it, and doing all the work on it freehand. It ended up morphing into Humpty Dumpty. Unfortunately, Humpty and the bird baby won't mix. So I guess I'll have to start all over with another paper mache egg and this time make it more 'egg-like'. So much for thinking I'll get the artwork for the gallery done ahead of time! Humpty still isn't finished, but he will have to go on the shelf in my chaotic-looking studio down in the bowels of the basement, and collect dust until I get around to finishing it.



A New Day

"This is the beginning of a new day. God has given me this day to use as I will. I can waste it or use it for good, but what I do today is important, because I am exchanging a day of my life for it. When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever, leaving in its place something that I have traded for it. I want it to be gain, and not loss; good, and not evil; success, and not failure; in order that I shall not regret the price I have paid for it."
- Anon.