Feathered Sunshine

Finches in general have a beautiful song.  We would always have several of them when I lived up in Pennsylvania every year.  Where as they're small birds, their bright yellow colors always made them easy to spot in the crowd of sparrows and chickadees.  They also have a very distinct flight pattern, so even if you can't catch the yellow across the sky, you can follow the wave like pattern...flap flap flap drop flap flap flap drop flap flap flap drop.  I'm not sure why that always amused me as a child, but I thought it was the funniest way to fly.

This goldfinch is perched on a branch of dogwood.  I haven't seen any since I've moved to the island, but I'm hoping that one of these days, I'll spot one amongst the birds that visit the museum gardens.

Writing Spider

As I believe I had stated before, I'm not fond of spiders.  I personally have a strong dislike for the 8 legged creatures, even if I understand where they fit in the ecosystem.  However, we have very large visitors to our porch every year that I've become quite accustomed to.  We have several writing spiders grace us with their presences every year.  And while they are on the large size of spiders, I've gotten to kind of like them.  I still don't like them that close to me, or would be willing to hold one...but I've stopped trying to swat it with a broom.  They make huge webs, with a thick zig-zag pattern down the center.  Every now and then, we catch them bouncing up and down like they're using their web as a trampoline.  I'm not sure whether they're trying to attract bugs, test the strength of their work, or just having a bit of fun.

A Lovely Amur Leopard

Way back when I started this painting, I had in mind to gift it to a woman that is doing some work for me.  However...it kept looking horribly disfigured.  I'd see what was wrong, try and fix it, but to no avail.  It would just look screwy in some other way.  Only after I sighed and said "fine, it'll stay here, I just want to get it done" did everything magically work out.

Big cat medicine is temperamental...it does exactly what it wants when it wants.  I guess this is just yet another example!

It's a Little Bear

I was doing little clay sculptures one night (when they're done I'll post them as well) and any time I went to do a bear...it started to look like something else instead.  And while that can happen with paint...I have more play room than with a chunk of clay that wants to be a badger or a frog.

More Double Earrings! This Time in Pheasant

There's not much to write on here about the new feather earrings.  I have a small collection of pheasant feather and guinea hen to do crafts with, and while all of these are in pheasant...the others are soon to come.

 The earwires are still surgical steel, but plated in gold or silver.  I've never been fond of gold personally, but they seem to look very nice on some of the stone combinations

 One of these days, I shall make several of each design, but for now I'm just trying out different color combinations.

While they are somewhat easy to do, and it's fun to have conversations on Skype while I'm working, they still can take a bit of time.  The most delicate part is making sure the feathers are facing the correct direction before they're set.