My Favorite Gift

My Fav Gift

6x7in watercolor on Yupo  NFS


Below is a photo of a gift from a blogging friend.
Plus a bit of seasonal holly!

The true spirit of Christmas giving is in
this gift. Can you imagine how my heart
jumped with pleasure when I opened this up.
This gift is from someone I have never met but
when she saw this beautiful glass ball filled with
feathers she thought of me and my feather series
Her thoughtfulness left me speechless.
It arrived just as we were leaving on a 6 hour
drive. I hung it from the car visor so I could
try and paint it while we traveled.

First I explored with some sketches.

and then I went into my first ever Yupo
experience...and what an experience THAT was!
Can you imagine every bump in the road...
The journey flew by.

I sincerely wish everyone's Christmas will be 
full of love for those with us as well as those 
who have departed, but live on in our hearts.

Feather Series - Kris's Feather

Kris's Feather.

6x8 aquarelle graphite  on paper NFS

I have a remarkable friend called Kris
under Hospice care at home, and I
am one of a group of women friends who
were regularly scheduled to visit so her
devoted husband could attend to his business.
Never complaining and totally unselfish,
Kris would always ask me how "I" was doing,
and when she found out I was
painting a feather series she directed me to
a place where she kept this rather large feather
...hawk or owl?
I sat and drew this as we chatted quietly
in-between her drifting in and out of sleep.
Several of my other feather drawings have been
worked on while sitting with her.

Kris passed early this morning with her loving
husband holding her hand.
Kris had breast cancer.
She put up a long and magnificent fight against
this stranger in her body, inspiring a whole
lot of us with her grace, strength and good
humor through some rough times. She will be
deeply missed and will always be in my heart
...until we meet again.

Feather Series - Chicken

Chicken Feathers

6x6in oil on canvas panel NFS

I am very fortunate to be a member of our
artists guild. Another member came in on
Friday with a bag of feathers for me. She
owns four chickens and the brown one
(called Bunny) is molting at the moment.
Thank you so much Phyllis Davis.
I loved painting these.

Artist Note.

The previous  dove and parrot
feathers had a certain weight and form
to them. By comparison, these chicken
feathers were almost weightless.
Soft, curved, speckled with fluffy ends near
the quill. My goal was to capture the feeling
of how light these feathers were.
That - and how to make a painting out of them.

Feather Series - Parrot

Parrot Feathers - study

pencil and watercolor NFS

I would like you to meet Bonnie Marie.
She is 17 and ...you have to love this,
a Pionus Parrot.  I am lucky enough to follow
her owner's blog and she follows mine.
Check out this post about the feathers. Blanche Niznik

Blanche was good enough to mail me some stunning feathers.
I am lucky - the timing was great because it is molting time.
The feather with red must be on her tail. I am starting off with
several studies because trying to catch the iridescence is going
to take quite a few attempts.
Thank you so much Blanche - you have a heart of gold!