June is "Busting out all Over!"

Our great-granddaughters came with their mom and grandmother for a few days! Such fun!!! And now it's already almost the middle of June - and I've done very little painting this month, as of yet - although I have prepared several drawing that are ready to go.

Meanwhile, here is what's happening in our yard and garden. Enjoy!

Heuchera

Roses

A Grackle - aka "oil slick bird" as our granddaughter calls them

Two fledgling House (English) Sparrows

A tiny egg found on my concrete porch - we believe it belonged to a House Finch

And a lovely fledgling Bluebird - their mom/dad was teaching them to feed from our worm feeder. After just two days, they were eating without a problem. No parents needed to stuff their mouths!

I bought these Sunflowers as inspirational for my watercolors. Keep watching to see what happens!

Sharing Photos Taken in the Past Month of So...

While Penn State continues to pummel Pittsburgh, I'm painting in my sunny studio and looking at recent photos. Thought I'd share some of each, the paintings and the photos!

Enjoy!

Last night's double rainbow shining over our townhouse - taken from the car as we left for the Art Alliance for the art show opening.

Above, one of the triplet cubs born to the roving mama bear that roams a 300 mile or so radius including our neighborhood. This photo was taken by one of my neighbors, but I thought I'd share it as it's emblematic of our "edge of town" location in central Pennsyvania.

The calico cat I began a few blogs ago - it's improving, but I'm still not happy with it. We'll see what happens in time!

This is the "Hungry Fledgling Bluebird" I completed awhile ago - but it didn't quite 'work' and I couldn't figure out why. Here's a photo of the older version so you can compare the two. The one below is missing some essential spots - my neighbor and I were in agreement on that, so today, I updated the fledgling and am 'fairly happy' with the results...

Back to central Pennsylvania! Below are two photos from our visit to the Great Blue Heron rookery just outside Fisherman's Paradise park. Spring Creek, a major trout fishing stream here, supplies the environment for a great deal of wildlife, apart from the trout adn the fishermen... The "sentry" heron below seems to be the first to arrive, and he/she stands up there on the top of the ridge until all the herons in the rookery have soared in and landed at their nesting sites. Be sure to click on the images to see them enlarged for better viewing!

Above, as dusk settles in, we can barely see the heron families gathered in their various nesting sights. We have watched them flying in from all directions and seen some of the flying antics these large, somewhat awkward, yet very agile birds can accomplish in the air. It's always thrilling to spend the hour before dark witnessing this spectacle.

And finally, a few farm photos. The first two are a farm located on business hwy 322/Atherton Street as one approaches State College from the east. I have photographed this farm for over a dozen years, first during our visits to our daughter and her husband, and then after moving here in 2008. It's one farm I want one day to paint - in watercolor, not in acrylics. But until I practice a lot more in watercolor, that farm will wait!

The farm above is one I can see in the distance from our kitchen window. On foggy mornings/evenings, it's especially entrancing, as it is in the sunset, etc., etc.

More another day!