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Archive for August, 2017

Snowy Owl Painting

Posted in My Art on August 31, 2017| 2 Comments »

Earlier this summer, I completed an acrylic painting of a Snowy Owl. I painted the piece with hopes of being selected for a print. The painting failed.

Head detail

The Snowy Owl is a beautiful owl. I have never seen one in the wild since they very seldom drift this far south in my state of Pennsylvania. A few years ago one was viewed for a short time near my home. The bird was often spotted on a barn. So, for me I studied available photo images of the owl, before setting down and drawing a host of layout ideas. In fact the original concept occurred during the spring gobbler hunting season. I sat in the woods doing thumbnail sketches. I would choose from them several ideas that I liked. Following the final selection, I began doing bigger sketches until I came up with the image shown below.

After I started this painting I went through a time of internal debate of the positioning. The idea is this owl has the wings dropped to hide the recent catch of a mouse. The tail is spread in a defensive mode. I wondered if this position would be understood for anyone viewing the painting. I have seen Great-Horned Owls do similar shows of defiance. I decided to leave the idea as is.                                                                                                                                  

 

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Todd Nature Reserve

Posted in Misc. Nature on August 30, 2017| Leave a Comment »

Recently, I had to be at Natrona Heights, Pennsylvania by 7:00 A.M. I decided to make a morning of this travel and hike afterwards  at the Todd Nature Reserve, formerly Todd Sanctuary. This wooded area complete with a rocky stream and a pond is located near Sarver, Pennsylvania. The trail features diversified woodlots. hemlock areas along the stream, big timber and forested areas obviously pasture lands in the far-off past. Some sizable rocks are scattered in some areas of the reserve.                                                                                      

The pond was filled with tadpoles. Two Green Herons were making some feasts on the tadpoles. A hen Wood Duck remained perched on some limbs emerging from the middle of the pond. She never left despite my presence. Bullfrogs serenaded me, or , at least, I think they were singing to me.

I saw a doe, turkeys in a field and a lot of chipmunks and squirrels.

The reserve has approximately five miles of trails traveling through the diversity.

  The Todd Sanctuary was from a man named W.E. Clyde Todd who passed away in 1969. Additional acreage has been obtained through the Audubon Society. There are 334 acres of land within the reserve. The web site is: http://www.aswp.org if interested in reading more on this area.

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Bear Shoulder Bone Art

Posted in My Art on August 24, 2017| Leave a Comment »

I just completed this bear painting on a bear shoulder bone. Again, this is something different than the normal painting I might do.

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A Different Kind Of Art

Posted in My Art on August 20, 2017| Leave a Comment »

Yesterday, I finished a painting and had a lot of mixed paint on the palette.   Luckily, I have had this deer shoulder blade on the drawing table for a long time. Today was the day it was to be painted. Of course, painting on this surface is much different than painting on treated Masonite.

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I BELIEVE

Posted in Music, Spiritual on August 12, 2017| 6 Comments »

I have been working on another CD for quite some time. The Cd is called, “I BELIEVE” and is a selection of gospel songs. Deciding on what songs to do proved to be an interesting process for me. I determine what songs to use when I listen to a series of songs and then play any particular song if it is heard continuously within my thoughts. In other words, when I keep hearing a song in my head I believe that must mean something to me. I then consider that particular song. So the selections I am using comes from a number of styles of music. If the song stays in my head the song went on the list!

As I write this entry I have fourteen songs ranging from complete to varying stages of completion. I need some harmonies to complete along with steel guitar and fiddle work. I may add piano and keyboards on a few. I do all guitar work including bass guitar. My melodious voice did all the lead vocals.

This CD, hopefully, will be completely finished within a couple of months.

Current Songs: You’re Worthy Of My Praise; Climb Higher; I Believe; Bless My Soul (10,000 Reasons); I Have A Maker; Come Morning; Revelation Song; Help Me; I Can’t even walk; Wasted Years; Mercy Walked In;  Ancient Words; When He Was on the Cross; Thanks To Calvary

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Patterson Run

Posted in Butterflies and Insects, Hikes, Wildflowers, Wildlife on August 11, 2017| 2 Comments »

    I admit I didn’t make the hike as early as wanted. I had to “slap” on some paint on a new painting  just to get the direction in order. Also, I needed to  record a track on a CD I have been working on.

Water Snake

I was trying to make an important decision, as well. Should I go carp fishing along with a hike? Or should I just go on an “explorative” hike?  I decided to explore and take photos. After all North Korea just may blast a nuke into Pittsburgh and I should check out as many places as I can.

Cardinal FLower

 

 

Wood Turtle

I needed to drop off a Cd at a friend’s home so the decision to hike and explore Patterson Run was made since the drop off home would be in route to this

Damselfly

beautiful stream.

Patterson Run is an approved trout stream in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania. I have hiked along some northern sections of the stream at various times, but I never explored the lower section. That would be my goal!

Bumblebee on Blue Vervain

I walked down over a hill to the stream and began to walk with the flow of water searching for photo opportunities and wildlife. And yes the stream is beautiful! I had on boots that went to mid-calf and much of the time I could find a route to avoid wet feet. Several times I needed to go over the embankment to circle deeper areas. I saw only one trout. The water was low for the most part and deeper holes were scarce.  The water was clear and only the deeper holes failed to see bottom, well.

I saw two deer on the walk. One fawn was bedded down in stream-side vegetation and erupted only when I was about twelve feet from the bed. A second deer was wading the creek, but tree limbs avoided any chance for a pic. I would see two hen turkeys with poults. Just how many poults is anybody’s guess since all I could see of them was moving vegetation.

I located two different Wood Turtles. One I removed from the creek bottom and waited for the inquisitive critter to emerge from the shell and head back to the creek. The second turtle was walking along the sandy ground. two handsome water Snakes were viewed on limbs prior to the falls into the water.

I saw a lot of Cardinal Flowers growing along the water course. This flower grows deep along creeks and rivers, but I didn’t see any more than ten feet from the water’s edge. That seems to be the norm from past encounters. I saw a lot of Damselflies fluttering along the vegetation. the actual name for this species is Ebony Jewelwing.

On another hike earlier this week I saw five deer, three of the deer were buck with nice racks!

Wood Turtle

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