Every morning I get up and see a family of birds playing with each other, swooping and sailing around. I’d never seen this bird before and it’s intense colours made it a favourite. It’s taken me 2 weeks to finally get a picture of it, and I gather, this is quite a coo. I 

showed this photo to a local, and she says that although it’s a very rare bird in these parts, the area is part of it’s migratory path. If anyone out there knows more, please share, and I will edit this blog post. 

Apparently this is a baby, as the adult version has a fairly long tail feather. But the head is as intense a red as you can find anywhere, and love the limey green too. This bird comes and sits on my window sill and pecks away at himself, in the reflection-- like he is a wood pecker! Tanya thinks it might be called an Immigrant Bird. That’s it’s name!

Every day I get up early for a walk in the cool morning air. Once the sun comes over the ridge- 8 am., it’s hot. So I am up early, discovering side roads, secret vistas, and one sweet waterfall after another. 

Don’t fool yourselves- these rocks are gigantic! Is this going to become like cathedrals in Europe,….yawning and tired after seeing one more? Not yet,….

sweet side road that could well turn into a painting. Many vistas, many paths,….it’s all in your decisions, as the artist asks the most quintessential question there is,……Who am I?

I’ve had to put the oils painting supplies away and hope that the paintings will all be dry before I have to leave my mountain home. Just can’t travel with wet or even sticky oil paintings. It’s become part of my routine, to lay all the oil paintings out in the sun around 8 am. or 9 am., and let them sun for the day, praying for them to dry. They are getting there! This painting was done in front of a flowering bush, not an uncommon sight around here, in the nearby town of Canaan. Canaan boasts an Avocado farm, a cheese farm, a chocolate place ( where you can take a workshop and make chocolate from cocoa beans!) and of course, a bar.  It’s summer here now, and everything is in bloom. But then, when is it not? Especially flowers. Going for the colour as usual. One more layer and it’ll be done. Check back with me another time. Now it’s time to go back to pastel.