photography

Avian Obsessions

~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ 17 Comments

I, yes I! I have been accused of nefarious misdeeds.

Contemptible, despicable, nefarious misdeeds.

I have been accused of …(oh the horror)…of

BIRD STALKING!

Sure I occasionally take photos of birds..

Like this pelican I saw today over the Mississippi.

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And  this one is actually a photo of a turtle. The black swan just jumped right in and hogged the shot.

Black Swans are like that.

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Speaking of black swans, did you know there are also black ducks?

Yes, yes there is.

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And in this shot, the sparrow  landed right on the lion’s fence. I was taking a photo of the fence to make sure it was secure and all.

What a showoff.

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As for this odd little goose, I don’t’ even know what it is.

But it’s so pretty…

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This Canadian goose appears to be up to something. I had to take his photo, lord knows what he’s planning.

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And you know peacocks are soooo vain, he insisted I take his photo.

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Oh sure I know what you’re thinking..

Excuses, excuses…

I mean it’s not like I’m following them home..

(baby wren)

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Or watching them bathe..

(Mourning dove)

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Or eat…

(flicker)

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Some of them like this bird  (I don’t what it is) come right into my house, well my garage anyway.

This one looked so haughty, he obviously wanted his photo taken.

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I mean I can stop anytime..

(cardinal)

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Seriously it’s not a problem..

Ignore the skeptical look on his face, eagles always look like that.

They’re very cynical birds..

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People can say what they like, to me, it’s water off a duck..

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I can, yes I can do other things

Like right now for instance, I’m feeling creative.

I’ll take a 3 x 5 piece of card and some construction paper and some glue and I have my scissors and and…

Oh….

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Okay, maybe I do have a small bird stalking problem.

A very small problem, I’m sure no one else has noticed yet.

Raise your hand if you’ve noticed..

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Alright then, that’s it.

Unless I see another cool bird.

I mean I can’t quit cold turkey.

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{Note to self…remember to check spelling of “obsessions” before naming post “obessesions”….Oops.}

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©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog, 2012

Duckzilla and the dancing chickadee…

~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ 23 Comments

Once upon a time, in a land far away (well not too far away, I mean it was actually quite close) there lived a terrible monster.

Grrr! it said! “I will stomp on EVERYTHING!” it said.

“Everything in the water” it clarified for all who were listening.

“I am Duckzilla!” it yelled for further effect.

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Then it tripped.

And it was so mortified, it came out of the water, shook itself off and behaved itself for the rest of it’s life.

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Meanwhile, back on the ranch, a chickadee was doing the Hop.

“Let’s go to the Hop..oh baby”

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A swan was having a serious chat with some fish.

Swans do like to carp.

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As a heron eavesdropped for any good tidbits of gossip.

He was very koi about it.

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A real monster stared cross-eyed at the tree fuzz on his nose and wished he didn’t have hayfever.

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While a little dog begged for a treat.

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So he was given one and all was well.

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And everyone was happy.

.The End.

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©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog, 2012

It’s Spring!

~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ 18 Comments

Spring! Spring!! Spring!!!

Makes me sing sing sing!!

What a grumpy looking cardinal!

Cheer up Buddy.

It’s Spring!!

No? Hmmm. I wonder if he’s heard about Zeus’s bird catching abilities.

That’s right Zeus, my lab, catches birds.

He doesn’t hurt them. He simply catches them then stands around looking like a fool with wings flapping from both sides of his mouth.The birds freak out of course. Lab spit just isn’t a good cologne during mating season. Normally they prefer Old Spice.

I think he thinks they’re small planes. We live near an airport where many hobby planes are. I quite like them myself especially the old painted bombers. Zeus thinks he can catch them too. No such luck so far though.

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He’s been trying to catch this flicker, but he tends to stay up high. He looks like such a soft sweet bird but let me tell you when his suet is out that bird yells his fluffy little head off.

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So I told Zeus to stop catching birds. It’s weird.

To which he replied..

“Birds! I wasn’t catching birds! I was catching little planes!”

*sigh*

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In the meantime since my eyes are feeling a bit better I’ve been doing some quick sketch paintings to get back into the swing of things.

This is an acrylic of the sun setting over the Mississippi. It’s 5×7 and I spent about 20 or so minutes on it. It seems to me to be a bit off balance. The positive and negative spaces aren’t doing it for me. I do like the way the blues came out. They’re a combination of prussian blue, violet blue, olive green and naples yellow with a bit of white (all Liquetex brand).

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I also did this 8x 10 of my grandmother from a very crumbly photo circa 1920. There were parts of her face that were not distinguishable so I used my sister Yvonne’s face. She’s a cutie with lovely brown cow eyes.

This is also acrylic and I spent about 30 to 40 minutes on it. This is just a quick sketch for a real portrait eventually. I’m not sure why I signed it, I don’t remember doing that. It must just be habit or my mind is going, either way, it’s all good.

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I hope you all enjoy your first day of Spring and have some time to get out and smell the crocuses, crocusi? crocs maybe?

Beats me, but enjoy them all the same.

Happy Spring!

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©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog, 2012

 

 

Oh Dummy Boy…

~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ 14 Comments

Dummy decided to drive some snakes around in honor of St. Patrick. I wouldn’t let him borrow my car so he had to take the train.

His friends are Choral snakes. Choral snakes unlike coral snakes are nonvenomous. As you can see they have round pupils as opposed to slitted ones. If you see a snake with slitted eyes stay away even if they try to lull you with a song.

The Choral snakes are named Finbar, Ronan and John (their mother is a big fan of the Irish Tenors).

This is the song they sang for Dummy, it was quite lovely if a bit lispy.

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“Oh Dummy boy, the paints, the paints are calling

From glen to glen, and down the mountain side

The glazing’s gone, and all the brushes falling

‘Tis you, ’tis you must go and I must bide.

But come ye back when acrylics are in the studio

Or when the watercolor is fresh and oh so clear

‘Tis I’ll paint there in sunshine or in shadow

Oh Dummy boy, oh Dummy boy, I love you so.”

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!

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The theme for WordPress’s weekly photo challenge is “unusual”. I thought I would enter Dummy’s pic into it. Let’s just keep that between ourselves though, I don’t want him getting a big head.

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Thanks to all who have expressed their concern about my eyes. They’re still a little sore but much much better then they were. I’ll be back to painting soon!

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©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog, 2012

Twitchy eyes and pirates

~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ 24 Comments

I’m suffering from eyestrain. My eyes are hot and dry. And the right one keeps twitching.

twitch twitch twitch…

I also pulled the arch in my foot.

limp limp limp…

It’s so bad now that when I went to get the mail with my hair unkempt, limping and twitching, small children and animals ran away from me.

It probably doesn’t help that I call the mail “My Precious”.

So I need to take a break.

I could put a patch on my eye. But then I would have to say “Arrrr” and “Matey” and get a parrot. I’d also have to get my boat out and float up and down the Mississippi pillaging and looting.

But the boat is still winterized and Sampson is not fond of parrots (he has met a parrot and it mocked him). And to boot my mother would be mortified if I pillaged and looted.

All together it’s just too much work.

But that’s okay, I’ll be back in a week or two. In the meantime Dummy has decided he’s capable of helping me out. He played a couple rounds of golf with some doctors and now he thinks he knows everything.

I just hope he doesn’t try to use his stethoscope.

It’ll break his heart to find out that he doesn’t have ears.

I did this little acrylic, ATC size 3.5 by 3.5 inches before my eyes went buggy. It’s of the Chicago Lighthouse that can be seen from Navy Pier. As always it will appear bigger than it actually is.

So I hope you all have a nice couple of weeks. Enjoy yourselves. Run amok.

But if you do happen to see a wild haired limping twitchy person, please be kind. Really really kind…

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©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog, 2012

The Abominable Snow Dog

~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ 27 Comments

Yesterday, I was bit by a mosquito, the no-see-ums were out in full force and flowers were blooming.

Today I walked out and saw this.

Well Helloooo Winter..

While I was admiring the snow and wondering how that tree in the back manages to stay at a 45 degree angle I heard a loud roar.

Roarrrr!

Oh no! it’s the Abominable Snow Dog…


Grrrrrr..Look at those teeth, those claws!!!

He’s attacking!

I”ll distract him with my boot..

Run Away! Run Away!!

Wait a minute, come back.

It’s okay.

Apparently he only wants to Conga.

Bum bum bum bum bum chhh, bum bum bum bum bum chhh….

Meanwhile back at the ranch, Zeus pondered life’s oddities and wondered why his brain was cold.

And here’s to warmer days on the South Dakota Plains or wherever I was.

This is an acrylic, 4×6 inches.

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©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog, 2012

The Badlands…

~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ 16 Comments

I was looking back at photos from the past year and I realized I didn’t share the photos of the Badlands of South Dakota. Badlands are a geographic feature where the earth has been stripped to the bare rocks as opposed to the Naughty Lands which only go topsoiless.

They’re a pokey bunch of rocks. Trust me don’t trip..

Doesn’t this one look like a bunch of medieval Sci-fi castles?

This one looked liked  a temple with a pagoda.

There’s most likely a bigfoot monk living up there. Bigfoots can be deep.

And baaaaa or maaaa or blehhhh or whatever it is that goats say..

I’m still playing with this lightbox thing.  I’m boring Dummy so much, he decided to take up a hobby.

A closeup of the painting which is acrylic, 2.5 by 3.5 inches.

It’s of downtown Deadwood, South Dakota. Why there are Wii people walking in the background is beyond me. (and why Wii people have big fat heads is also beyond me.) Looks like city hall is ready to collapse there, I really should pay more attention to perspective.

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©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog, 2012

Blue Moon…

~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ 10 Comments

“I saw you standing aloneeee….”

Love that song.

The moon was not blue this morning but it was big and cold…brrr..

I took this in my backyard about 6am as I was braced against my house. This photography thing would probably be a lot easier if I had a tripod.

 

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©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog, 2012

Dummy’s photo shoot…

~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ 8 Comments

Dummy has been a bit miffed since Christmas. You would think after all we’ve been through together he wouldn’t mind having a felt Santa hat stuck to his head. Sure it took a few weeks of having towels soaked in lemon oil wrapped on his head to get the glue off but still, what’s a little glue between friends. Besides he now has a lovely lemon oil sheen to him, he should thank me!

Nevertheless, I decided to really go for a nice photo outdoor photo spread to make him happy. Unfortunately Mother Nature is intent on making my backyard look as creepy as possible..

Fog and frost, brrrrr.  Doesn’t it look like a zombie or a rabid yeti is about to come stumbling out?

It was an odd  frost too. It was coming off in strings and floating to the ground.

We had to take photos inside, however I needed a light tent. A light tent is basically a small white tent  that disperses light making small objects look clearer.  I’m not a professional photographer so I didn’t want to spend a tonne of money on one. I decided to make one. I looked up several tutorials on YouTube, finally found one that seemed fairly simple. It was only about five minutes long though it was sped up a bit and this guy made a working light tent with a cardboard box, glue, some poster board and white T-shirts. I thought “Great! I’m an intelligent woman, I can figure this out, should take me fifteen minutes at the most.”

Four hours later with tape in my hair and glue on my shirt awash in a sea of cardboard shavings I finally finished.

Dummy inspected the box, made a few ho hums and decided he needed to get into a little set design. He couldn’t fool me, he was happy.  I have been trying my hand at making some jewelry in the last week and he went hog wild among the beads.

He is wearing a moss jasper and cultured pearl necklace, a hand blown green glass and cultured pearl necklace and an aventurine, purple quartz, and cultured pearl necklace all with silver chains.

He is so vain.

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©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog, 2012