Daylily E-Packet

I had a wonderful time this past weekend down in London ON teaching my coloured pencil method to a great group of ladies.  The Trompe L'oeil lily is a fairly simple repetitive piece in that if you grasp the method for one petal, you can complete the rest the same way but at the same time it has the detail and realism that demands your attention and concentration....if you want it to turn out looking like mine!

Everyone did a fantastic job, even those who were absolute beginners to the media and I am looking forward to returning to Krafty Kennedys next spring with a new project. Special thanks to Barb and to Pam for organizing the seminar.

I have added the Daylily to my E-Packet page for anyone who might be interested in giving it a try.

Cheers!
J

Cherry Tango winner!

First thing I have to say Happy Anniversary to my husband, 33 years seems like a long time when you say it, but it truly has gone by in a flash and I wouldn't have wanted to have spent those years with anyone but You.
Love You Forever!

and a big Thank you to everyone who sent greetings along to us, all of your warm wishes made the day even more special for us!

...and now for the winner of Cherry Tango...

Not knowing what we were going to do with our day I thought I would get the business out of the way early so I have actually known who won since this morning.  I had seen "random number generators"  before on other blogs but hadn't really gone to look for one until this morning so I typed it into Google to see what I would get and....I had no idea that so many of them would show up! 

I picked one, plugged in the numbers and  #23 came up as the winner....isn't that a hoot!  now how did it possibly come up with the day of our wedding???
...maybe it had something to do with the random number generator I chose

23
Random numbers generated Sep 23 2011 at 8:53:29 by www.psychicscience.org 
Free educational resources for parapsychology, psychical research & mind magic.

(cut and paste from the page)

maybe they really are psychic and random numbers aren't so random after all? LOL  our day started off with a good laugh over that one!  hmmmm...mind magic???

#23 was a comment by Randy McCord - Congrats Randy!

Thank you to everyone who came to visit and left a comment, I hope that everyone will continue to drop in now and then to see what I am up to, there will be more give aways coming up!

Cheers!

J 

KIDS!!!!!!!

To find the post with the Cherry Tango original art give-away scroll down.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you have ever wondered if you are the only one that is going grey and tearing your hair out from the stresses of raising a family in todays world, I think that I have found proof that will reassure you that you are not alone... in fact, as many know it is not only the human race that has to deal with the demands of keeping a family fed, sheltered and out of harms way.

3 short weeks ago I posted this photo on my Nature page of a male Northern Cardinal that I had taken in my back yard. At the time, "Mr C" had been coming steadily to our sunflower feeder for about a week numerous times during the day, stuffing his beak with seeds and flying off again...Cardinals mate for life, but all we saw was the male no lady Cardinal around, so although we had seen females around previously we didn't know if this was an unattached male or if something had happened to his mate.  After another week or so of this behaviour, we again observed a female cardinal at the feeder, sometimes with the male but usually the 2 of them were a tag team of red coming and going all day long.

Hmmmm.....this behaviour made me think that they had a nest somewhere and when "Mrs C" was absent she was sittin' and he was busy carrying seeds back to the nest to feed her. Once the 2 of them showed up together and started stuffing seeds greedily into their beaks and quickly flying off I knew they had a baby cardinal stashed somewhere.

Moving forward a couple more weeks and now we have the whole family coming to the feeder, there isn't just one baby cardinal (which is all they have had in the past) they have 3 babies this year!!! They are noisy and fussy and demanding and they sit in the apple tree and chirp and flap their wings and open their mouths wide for the seeds that Daddy and Mummy Cardinal can hardly split open and feed fast enough!

...so go back up and take a look at the Daddy on August 26th.....isn't he a beauty, so red and proud!
...and here is a shot that I took of the daddy today:

 (((sigh))) Can you believe it!  Poor fellow, his beautiful crest is completely gone and he is going grey, and not just on top of his head! LOL!

and here is a photo of the Momma with the 3 babies in the apple tree, the mother is the one on the left side of the 2 sitting together on the branch. Observe that the babies are as big as her but a lot fatter and fluffier! Momma is looking a little ragged but she hasn't lost her crest like her mate.

and here is a shot of one of babies closeup, no idea whether a he or a she, they all pretty much look the same right now! very pretty colouring they have, almost a peach colour with grey and touches of olive.
I am very pleased to have been able to help this family to get this far, I hope the babies stick around at least for the winter, we have only ever had one pair over the winter in all the years of feeding the birds.

So, there you go, if you ever wondered.......8-)

J

Cherry Tango!

Cherry Tango is finished and photographed, my notes are finished and ready to go!

If you are a Coloured Pencil artist (or would like to try coloured pencils) and would like a free copy of the instructional packet for Cherry Tango then mosey on over to my E-Packets page for more information on how to get your copy.

(I have a few days of family commitments coming up so if I don't get back to you right away be patient please)

Not finished yet!

If you would like to be entered into a draw to *win* this original artwork then all you have to do is leave a comment right here on my blog any time between now and September 23rd, 2011 which just happens to be the 33rd anniversary of my being married to my best friend and the best man in the world . 

On the 23rd I will plug the total number of comments into a random number generator to find the winner.  

Cherry Tango will come signed, dated and matted ready to be framed!

Good Luck, and I look forward to your comments :-)

J



..and to whoever the lucky winner is, I will need an email address to contact you, if your profile doesn't show your contact info just keep checking back here after the 23rd to see if you have won.

you don't have to be a blogger to leave a comment...just click on comments below and a window will pop up for you, check anonymous but please leave your name and remember to come back after the 23rd to see if you have won.