My Little Chickadee

                "My Little Chickadee", 4x4" oil on black canvas panel

"Life is strong and fragile. It’s a paradox… It’s both things, like quantum physics: It’s a particle and a wave at the same time. It all exists together." — Joan Jett

The most challenging human condition is to live a life that's humble, fragile, vulnerable, giving, and seemingly weak. Yet lives each day, like there is no tomorrow: brave, strong, patient, tolerant, trusting, loving, kind, selfless, and resourceful. 

Great truth is heard from silent, tiny voices.

Thank you for the oneness of imperfection shared by all the members of our human flock. 
nancy

To see more of my art or to contact me: Online Gallery  • E-mail  • Website  •  Graphic Design Studio •  Saatchi Gallery •  Fine Art America

Heart in Darkness

     "Heart in Darkness", 4x4" oil on black canvas panel

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"We live as we dream...alone..." — Joseph Conrad

Ever feel like this diminutive robin red-breast? He/she speaks to me of the inner strength of human spirit, and its ability to struggle and survive against seemingly insurmountable odds.

We've had our share of whoa lately between a car wreck, flood in our home, two huge dead trees ready to fall on our house...all resulting in major unplanned expenses. A lot of whoa? So I think, until I am reminded of so many others without even a roof, or a warm nest where to lay their children's heads. 

This is the time of year I look around and see how truly blessed we are for so many countless gifts, but most importantly the gift of life itself. This is what the merry in Christmas is about. The very gift of heart that continues, on from where it began in a stable, to burn bright with ongoing life into our surrounding darkness. 

I am thankful for the warmth and support of each of you on this branch beside me. I wish you all a very Merry Christmas! 

nancy  

To see more of my art or to contact me: Online Gallery  • E-mail  • Website  •  Graphic Design Studio •  Saatchi Gallery •  Fine Art America

Little Bird Come Sit Upon My Window Sill

"Little Bird Come Sit Upon My Window Sill", 4x4" oil on canvas board

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"Use what talents you possess; the woods would by very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang the best." — Henry Van Dyke

Winter is here and my urgent need to paint birds has once again returned. In fact, I painted three over the weekend. I don't know why I am so drawn to paint birds in the winter months, but do love capturing their little forms all plumped up with added layers of fluffy down.  

Bracing cold and chill from solitary icy limbs and dangling phone wires, these tiny creatures appear so vulnerable huddling together for warmth in single-line formations. Sitting still, like hooded monks in pews at early morning vespers, their holy chants of praise are dimmed only by the numbing roar of engines processing bumper to bumper on the street below. 

I am sure my concerns for these feathered neighbors are amplified after just losing two huge old trees from our yard. First the towering pine sucked dry by thirsty pine beetles in a matter of days, followed by the gnarled and twisted oak that lurched like a staggering old man on crutches over our driveway and house the result of a lightening strike. I lay awake at night wondering how many homes were lost in those fallen trees. Where do those refugees go when abruptly finding themselves and their families homeless? Am I the only person who worries about this stuff?

Thanks for perching here today. I'll be tweeting more birds shortly. 

nancy

To see more of my art or to contact me: Online Gallery  • E-mail  • Website  •  Graphic Design Studio •  Saatchi Gallery •  Fine Art America

SOLD Arctic Fox

SOLD "Arctic Fox", 29x24", Prismacolor on Cranson paper

Polar bears may not be the only Arctic wildlife threatened by global warming. Scientists have discovered the arctic fox also struggles as ice disappears because they rely on the frozen seas to survive the bleak winters. 

A smaller cousin of the red fox, the arctic fox's fur camouflages to white in winter and brown gray in summer. The species can be found throughout the Arctic tundra, Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Russia, Norway, Scandinavia and Iceland. 

Arctic fox were one of the first mammals to colonize Sweden and Finland at the end of the Ice Age. As the ice retreated they remained in the mountain tundra areas. High hunting pressure led to a drastic population decline in the early 1900s. The arctic fox has not recovered despite protection and most likely would have gone extinct in this region.

The major threats for this fox species are lack of rodents and increased competition from the red fox which take over dens and kill the arctic fox. The increased abundance of red fox in the tundra in northern regions is most likely caused by climate change. With increasing average temperatures, the loss of sea ice, and greater tree coverage in the region predator red fox populations have increased.
   
ARTIST STATEMENT 

My goal in this series of endangered species, created in the mid-80s, was to capture the souls and spirits of our mute neighbors with whom we share the planet. I was captivated and haunted by the frank eyes of all of these creatures, so human in their longing and need, pleading silently for their future and ultimate survival. 

This is the final drawing from my endangered series.  
Thanks for viewing,
nancy 

 

To see more of my art or to contact me: Online Gallery  • E-mail  • Website  •  Graphic Design Studio •  Saatchi Gallery •  Fine Art America

Brown Pelican

"Brown Pelican", 29x24", Prismacolor on Cranson Paper

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In the 1970s, the Brown Pelican's existence in the southeast United States and California was threatened by pesticides like DDT and Deildrin which caused the pelican's eggshells to become too thin and incapable of supporting an embryo to maturity. With the ban of DDT in 1972, the population of the brown pelican increased enough to be removed from the endangered list. 

However in 2009, California brown pelicans—a slightly smaller version of the subspecies seen on the East and Gulf Coasts —experienced unprecedented nesting failures, and have starved to death by the thousands because of a sharp decline in Pacific sardines, their most important food. The U.S. sardine famine is now in its sixth year and the production of California brown pelicans is extraordinarily low. 

To learn more see full details in this article by Ted Williams, longtime contributor to Audubon magazine, in the Yale Environment 360.

ARTIST STATEMENT 

My goal in this series of endangered species, created in the mid-80s, was to capture the souls and spirits of our mute neighbors with whom we share the planet. I was captivated and haunted by the frank eyes of all of these creatures, so human in their longing and need, pleading silently for their future and ultimate survival. 

Thanks for viewing,
nancy

 

To see more of my art or to contact me: Online Gallery  • E-mail  • Website  •  Graphic Design Studio •  Saatchi Gallery •  Fine Art America

When, When Little Wren?

"When, When Little Wren?" 6x6" oil on Ampersand board

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When, oh when, little Carolina Wren?...Will warmer weather come again? 

BRR! It was 26 degrees on my thermometer here in Conroe, Texas this morning. I get up at 4:30 a.m. several mornings a week (or is that still the middle of the night?) to swim laps at a local outdoor pool, covered only by an unheated tent. When I returned to my car after this morning's swim, it was so cold, I had to scrape ice off my windshield with a credit card in order to drive home....now that's cold!!! I know I can't complain compared to others in many parts of the world but it's all relevant.

NOTE: No matter what I do, I always end up having to post blurry photographs of my work. So, I am experimenting with scanning my paintings on my flatbed scanner directly to my computer. The quality sure looks a lot better and much more accurate. It's a tricky process since my paintings are always wet, but I took four paper clips and placed one under each corner of the painting, just barely catching the tips of the corners, so nothing would touch the glass except the paper clips. After scanning, I touched up the tiny bits of paper clip that were visible in the final image in Photoshop. Pretty cool, huh?

Thanks for dropping by!

nancy

A Cardinal Point

"A Cardinal Point" 6x6" oil on Ampersand board

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I didn't chose a cardinal for today's painting just because I grew up in St. Louis and was a huge Cardinal's fan for many years. Here's the real reason I happen to love cardinals. 

From the time my husband was a little boy his mom told him repeatedly, "David, if you are lucky enough to see a cardinal that's a sure sign you are going to have a great day." He believed this with all his heart and began telling everyone and anyone who would listen. To this very day, he still gets excited at the sighting of each and every cardinal. He even insisted on placing a pair of cardinals at the top of our wedding cake.

Many years later, while looking over our wedding photos, his mom asked us why in the world we chose to put cardinals on our cake? A very sentimental man, Dave gave a long affectionate sigh and reminded her of her eternal promise of a good day he'd always remembered. She looked at him like he was crazy and in one sweeping crush of a blow, said she'd never heard of such nonsense. Go figure?... Oh well, after 31 years of marriage, perhaps there was a glimmer of truth in it somewhere? 

Heaven help us if Dave ever finds out that the Bluebonnet song, he joyfully croons every spring, about a "princess being offered for the rain" is only a legend. YIKES!!!

You've seen your cardinal for today...go and have a great and blessed day!

Thanks for perching with me for awhile.

nancy