More bird paintings for the challenge...

Painting #70, Meadowlark Peeking Among Poppies

Acrylic, 6x6 canvas paper

Painting #69, Three Little Birds

Acrylic, 6"x12" canvas paper

Matty helped me name this one. He thought Bob Marley's song, "Three Little Birds" fit it perfectly:

"Rise up this mornin',
Smiled with the risin' sun,
Three little birds
Pitch by my doorstep
Singin' sweet songs
Of melodies pure and true,
Sayin', ("This is my message to you-ou-ou:")"
Boby Marley, Three Little Birds

Paintings 63 - 68, Red-headed Woodpeckers and Northern Flickers

ATCs, mixed--water color, acrylic, and colored pencil

Paintings 57 - 62, Red-bellied Woodpeckers and White-breasted Nuthatches

ATCs, mixed--water color and acrylic

Remember these? Paintings 57 - 68 are all ATCs. I sketched them back in September and painted them shortly after, but I forgot to scan them and put them in the challenge. I kept looking at my total and thinking it was really low...then I remembered the ATCs! D'uh! Now I'm completely caught up and should be able to make the challenge by the end of the year.

Art in five-minute bites...

...tastes just as sweet!

Over the past couple of days I've been sketching birds on tiny sheets of paper sized 2.5" x 3.5". The sheets are called Artist Trading Cards (ATCs), and I'm having a lot of fun with them. My two friends, Amy and Chelle (waving to them), gave me a couple of packs of "assorted" Artist Trading Cards five or six months ago. I've moved them from here to there, always intending on getting started with them, but never really knowing what to do with them. A couple of days ago, I opened a pack and read about the ATC movement. I'm so out of the loop I really didn't know what there were about. Here is blurb from the introduction of an assorted pack of Strathmore ATCs:

"Artist trading cards (ATCs) are miniature pieces of art that are traded around the world. Artists create, trade and collect art at organized "swap" events, either in person or online. It is a great way to meet other artists and share your work. The only official rule for ATCs is the size: 2.5" x 3.5"."

Seems in 1997 a Mr. M. Vanci Stirnemann from Switzerland created 1200 of these small cards by hand for an exhibit. On the last day, he asked the other participants to create their own ATCs and trade with him at a closing party. That was all it took. The movement took off as other artists started creating and trading miniature pieces of artwork. I've started using them to sketch whenever I have a few extra minutes. I have the cards by my computer and all I have to do is bring up old photos to get started. I just did 12 cards and can already see a style emerging.

...first three ATCs are of a Red-headed Woodpecker. I took these photos on 12-05-09. I was in Cleveland and went birding with Loopy and the Doodles (from Birds from Behind). Bringing up old photos and drawing them brings back all the memories from that day. The images on the first three ATCs are very small and light with nary a hint at detail or accuracy--the paper was slick, and I think they are destined for pen and ink and watercolor. Click here for the original post of photos.

...the second set of three are of a Northern Flicker. I found this little lady at Fort Ancient. I can see more detail emerging and the images are larger (less bird fits on a card). Click here for the photos that inspired these drawings.

...set three...a White-breasted Nuthatch from the Little Miami River Bike Trail. He was so sweet. These photos never made it on to the blog because they were a bit blurry, but for sketching I don't need high quality. I can see the style getting darker and and larger. Less and less of the bird fits on the card, but it's cool, because the bird's personality is starting to show through. This series might end up as colored pencil renderings.

...finally, in the last set I've switched to just head shots. The eyes always bring art to life, so it doesn't surprise me that I'd focus on the head. I found this Red-bellied Woodpecker on the Little Miami Bike Trail as well. I remember watching him eating the berries. I could hardly breathe trying to capture that moment when he had a berry in his bill! You can find the post of these photos here.

Rick snapped this photo of me late last night as I sketched out the last Red-bellied Woodpecker in the series. You can see the other ATCs on the desk. It's a great way to get art into your life when you don't have a lot of time. I leave the cards on the desk and whenever I have a few extra minutes I sit down, pull up a photo on the screen, and sketch it.

...now...let's see how quickly I can get color onto them to get the 100 Paintings in a Year Challenge back in swing! I've completed 37 paintings. That only leaves me 63 paintings to complete by December 31. Oh boy...

The Art of the Flying Fan Dance...

Just outside my kitchen window, this Northern Flicker showed an intruding Starling who was boss. We don't normally get to see such a grand display of those beautiful yellow feathers!!

A male Northern Flicker takes on a classic threat display to make himself look bigger and stronger. The starling didn't stand a chance and soon left.

The Northern Flicker is a new bird for the kitchen window feeders, and this winter marks his return. Flickers have been absent from our yard for about 3 years. Yesterday was a snow day, and I was in the living room when I heard this fellow announcing himself in the side yard. "Don't move Matty, I hear the Flicker!" Poor kid, he gets that a lot. I quickly grabbed the camera and snuck up beside Matty to snap the photo. It's a hard-to-reach window just above the sink and a step stool, climbing, and balancing are needed to get into the sink to get the angle on this feeder (you've probably done the same thing to get that kitchen window shot!). When his friends are around, I stay out of the sink with my camera...

...could you pass the berries, please? I haven't had enough...

...continued from the Red-shouldered Hawk post at Fort Ancient.
Carolina Chickadees and Tufted Titmice were calling back and forth in the empty woods, hopping from branch to branch, foraging from tree to tree. I could also hear a White-breasted Nuthatch and Downy Woodpecker...then a Northern Flicker, and what do you think he was doing? ...eating berries, of course! Those Flickers are berry-eating maniacs.

Even though these berries are invasive Asian Honeysuckle and don't offer the nutrition of other native berries, the birds don't care. To them, they are red, and they taste good.

...I always love the over-the-shoulder-backward-glancing shots. 

Basically, "I see you, I hear you, I don't care that you're there, but take one step toward my berries..."

The last time I posted a Northern Flicker he was munching on Poison Ivy berries on the Little Miami Trail. This time, further up the river at Fort Ancient, he was devouring horribly invasive Asian Bush Honeysuckle berries, but he can't help himself. He's just looking for the sugar, which I can totally understand! :-)

A Northern Flicker munching on Poison Ivy berries...

...continued from the post on the Red-bellied Woodpecker eating greenbrier berries along the Little Miami River.

I love the call of a Northern Flicker, but don’t hear it as often as I would like. Luckily, Sunday, right after I saw the Red-bellied Woodpecker feasting on her store of berries, a Northern Flicker swooped across the trail, landing in a tree on the hillside. He wasn’t in the best location, but I was able to squeeze out a shot or two. He had found Mother Nature’s bounty as well, and was consuming his calories in the form of Poison Ivy berries. Poison Ivy leaves are so gorgeous in the autumn. Bright red wrapped around trees, I always love picking them out as I drive down the streets or walk the trail. I don’t see the little white berries as often, and these would have gone unnoticed too if the Northern Flicker had not pointed them out for me!

It looks like he's been to this stash before. Many of the little white berries have already been plucked from the Poison Ivy vine.

We have the Yellow-shafted variety of Northern Flicker here in Cincinnati. Isn't he the noble gentleman for turning around to flash us those lovely yellow tail feathers! If you look closely, you can even see the yellow shafts under his wings.

Now for the view of the beautiful red crescent on his nape.