Now this is almost too much fun! It is an excellant way to be productive while sitting in front of the TV in the evening. My paints are a tad old (1994) and stubborn to work with and my brushes are very frayed and will not hold a point but for learning how they'll do.

Here's my first rock kitty...what fun. It's a bit rough but it the first afterall...hopefully I'll get better at it as I go. My assortment of old brushes is a bit lacking in the fineness of line department plus my hands are not all that steady. It was good fun to paint and there will be more.

Yesterday was a totally outdoorsy day...mostly sitting on my dirt pile sifting out rocks so I can turn it into part of the garden this summer. The wonderful thing about sitting in the dirt is that one has lots of time to observe what's going on. I spotted these first few wild strawberry blossoms and this lovely purple blossoms by being close to the earth. They are both very tiny and hard to see...the purple one expecially as it is about 1/4 of an inch in length and very tight to the ground. And this lovely sparrow came and sat on the fence to see what I was doing too. Once again my graphite drawing has ground to a halt...too many spring distractions. Popped into the library and got a book on drawing animals on rocks...I have some old acrylic paints and the fun idea of lining the walkway up to my dog grooming shop with rock kitties. I haven't got that underway yet. I'm waiting for a tube of black acrylic paint to arrive...the only color I don't have and it's in every design.

I'm still keeping an eye on the nesting eagles across the way from us. In these shots which I caught yesterday the eagle is calling to her mate. He showed up about 5 or 10 minutes later with a fish. He perched up on a slightly further away tree...too far for a good photo...ate the fish and when she flew from the nest to his perch...he immediately flew over to the nest for his turn at brooding. I can hardly wait for the hatching time.

What a great way to spend the afternoon...again! I found a new position to shoot the eagle nest from. The view is clearer and it's quite comfy too. I waited there for a couple of hours in hopes that the mate would return and provide me with some flight shots again. But alas all I got was mom brooding away. Then as I waited 6 deer hopped up onto the road and pranced about for me. What good luck and fun. I nearly fell out of my perch as I swiveled my camera around to catch their antics. A good day for photo ops!!!

Not too much going on with drawing lately. Lots of garden preps and dead fall clearing from our forested area has been keeping me busy. I've been keeping an eye on two eagles which have been hanging around a near by nest. I was able to get these photos today over a period of three hours. It was a great day for sitting in the woods on the side of a hill! The sky was overcast yet bright. I'm not sure whether that was a help or hindrance for photograpy but I'm happy with the shots anyway.