30 separate pieces of watercolor paper, cut with an exacto knife. This guy is about 4 inches long.
A few days ago, after picking up Danny from work, we all went fishing at Golden Ponds in Longmont. There were some suprisingly large birds handing around. And for once, they weren't herons. There were pelicans on the lakes. In Colorado.
I'm not a birder, but I don't really consider pelicans to be Colorado birds. In my mind, pelicans = saltwater.
When the pelicans realized that Danny was pulling fish out of the water, they crowded around and followed his bobber into shore repeatedly. From their posture and expressions (if pelicans can be said to have expressions), they might as well have been saying,"You want to fish our lake? Well, we get a take. Let's just call it insurance. Against... catastrophic worm loss."
Well, they were out of luck, as he caught no more fish. (perhaps the looming pelicans scared them away?)
Anyway, it was a good evening, which we capped off with ice cream at Sonic.
***
And here's my newest Etsy listing. This is a framed, cut-paper silhouette of cats in the moonlight.
It was a rainy, rainy day today. Rather than sit inside all day, I took Zoe to a small history and culture museum in Longmont. She was mostly bored, but loved an interactive exhibit that allowed her to adjust water flow on a topographic map of Longmont. Basically because she could stick her fingers in the water.
After the museum, we stopped at a restaurant for lunch. The supplied olive oil for the bread, which I loved, but Zoe demanded butter. The olive oil, she declared, looked diff-gusting.
Butter arrived, and I spread it on her bread. She took a bit and shock suffused her face. "I don't like this butter!" (This is a kid who would eat a stick of butter like a popsicle if I allowed it.) So I tasted it. It was margarine.
I explained what is was, and said that some people, and restaurants, use margarine in place of butter. She screwed up her face and requested another piece of bread - plain. A moment later the hostess walked by, and Zoe declared, loudly enough for the whole section to hear, "Hey! This isn't butter. It's Mar Jarred Tin." Then she scowled.
(After I recovered from smothering my laughter, I explained why that was rude.)
And here's another pet portrait for you - this one was drawn in pen and ink, then painted with a watercolor wash. I'm very pleased with this one.
Danny took Zoe fishing for the first time today. We tried going to the reservoir in Nederland, but the water was low (though the creek is running high and fast!) and the wind was blowing with a vengeance. So headed back to Boulder, and the kids' fishing ponds. She didn't catch anything today, but any day that you have sun, water, and a Scooby Doo fishing pole is a good day. We'll try again tomorrow.
The next picture is from the Creek Fest last weekend. Zoe is riding on the little toddler train. Her friend Kira is in the barrel/car behind her, but I could not get a good picture of both of them. I need a camera with a faster shutter. Regardless, they had a great day, and got seriously wired on sugar and rides.
And just in case you thought I stopped drawing, here's a picture I finished and scanned today. It should be up at the new site, InkPets, sometime tomorrow. (I have to let Danny load it.)
Today we had rain, wind, sun, hail, and tornado watches. A cougar was seen peering into the windows of the cafeteria at Boulder Community Hospital. And they guy who was supposed to come get our extra air conditioner called to change the pickup time, twice, then didn't show up and called half an hour later (while I was standing outside, waiting in the weather) to say he's not coming til tomorrow. Grrr...
But I still finished a small drawing. Now I think I'll finally eat some pie and relax.
I seem to be getting back into the swing of pen and ink drawing. I'm actually pretty proud of this one, though my neck and shoulders are currently paying the price for trying to finish this in one day.
As promised, here's the sun conure painting (gouache.)
The scan doesn't quite do it justice, but I'm quite happy with the way it turned out.
What do you think?
My attempt with acrylic didn't work so well. It just ended up looking too... hard. I'm not gooding at getting soft detail with the acrylic paint.
I'm working on a parrot in gouache, and it's almost complete. I hope to post it tomorrow morning. In the meantime, here's a pen and ink drawing of an Abyssinian kitten.
