Monday, February 7, 2011

Birds Nest Painting


This is my newest painting to go with the blue bird I did a little while ago. I love all the texture of the nest. I used torn tissue paper and sealed it with gel medium.  The vintage music and lyrics are from an old Bing Crosby song. I highlighted a section of lyrics with pencil that says "But it brings back sweet memories of you." Around the painting there are definitions for wish, memory and dream. There are several layers of paint then I removed some sections with sanding. I used hard candy crackle paint by Tim Holtz on the music then antiqued the areas with brown paint. Sorry for the slight blurriness if the photo I need a new camera. I am happy with how it turned out and am listing this one for sale on etsy. I'm still holding on to the blue bird though! ;) More birds for the next paintings. Guess I'm wishing for spring already. I love to garden and be outside and now that my son is a little older we'll be out a lot more than last year.

My Garden

I've been in the house I live in now for about a little over eleven years. I started to put in some perennials when I first moved in and as plants have died I've found different ones that work for me. I have a 250 square foot section just for veggies every year. In the rest of the yard I have 2 kinds of grapes, blackberries, rhubarb and a peach tree. I planted one of those trees that has several different kinds of apples on one tree and by this spring we should have a great crop. Around the yard I have lavender which I highly recommend. I love to go and just brush my fingers through it and get the smell of the lavender. Some years I hang it to dry and put a bunch of it on presents I give. I have a whole herb garden on my patio and then some throughout the yard too. My sage bush comes back every year and if I cover my rosemary right sometimes it will also. I have a large lemon balm bush but haven't really used it a lot but it is a nice plant for the yard. My peppermint just goes nuts and I have to really thin it back but when the dogs run through it they smell great for a little while. I have three shih tzu's. Frasier my male is on the header for my etsy shop. The funny thing is I have found several shops with shih tzu headers or avatars too. Ashley and Madison are the two females. If we had a bigger house we would probably have two more. We always joke about having a shih tzu farm, not for breeding just for having. They're the neatest dogs I have ever owned. Anyway, every year I pretty much plant close to everything you can imagine in the vegetable garden except corn. In southern Colorado area we get fabulous sweet corn from the farmers and it takes up too much room anyway. When we move I'll start with more fruit trees as soon as we move in. I really have never understood why people don't have at least one fruit tree in their yard. I eat organic whenever possible so I like to grow what I can. Shallots are so expensive in the store  and I really like the flavor so I do two rows of those and if I don't get to them they just come up next year. When the spring comes I'll start to show pictures. We will probably do giant pumpkins this year for my son. We've done them before and the largest was 74lbs. Enough with the gardening for now.

17 comments:

  1. Great canvas Leslie, so pretty - I love the music paper, nice touch! Thanks for visiting my blog, and for the coffee recommendation - will have to see if I can find it!

    I love lavender too - there's some growing near my office and if I'm having a stressful day I go and run my hand along it and inhale! :)

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  2. i love the birds nest painting. it is wonderful. i have a big thing for birds, too. thanks for popping by my blog for the owoh giveaway. cheers! olwyn

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  3. thanks for visiting my blog - lovely to visit you too
    Dale

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  4. hi there...thanks for popping by my blog....xxx

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  5. Your blog is delightful! Thank for leaving a comment on mine, which lead me to yours.

    Your art is wonderful! And I had to chuckle at your comment about selling some of your creations or getting another neck - too funny! I need another neck, arm, more walls in my house .. think we can make this work? lol

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  6. Nice to meet you, proud to find me from the far away colorado. Loredana

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  7. This is a fabulous painting. I LOVE the texture in the nest and the song lyrics. Fantastic job!

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  8. Thank you for dropping by my blog. I have enjoyed reading your blog enteries. I love your use of texture in the above nest. It is very creative.
    mustlovepaint.blogspot.com

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  9. This is beautiful as well as are your other projects. Keep smiling and creating
    got you in for the OWOH draw

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  10. Hello Leslie, It's nice to meet you. Thanks for visiting my blog and the invitation to visit you. I'm one of your newest followers now. I love the textures in your painting. Your jewelry pices are beautiful. The bunny project is really cute. You might want to post the bunny to Pink Saturday sometime. Have a lovely Valentine's day. Linda

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  11. Thanks so much for stopping by and visiting my blog! Your art is wonderful! I'll be back to see what you are up to!

    Blessings!
    Amy
    theweavershand.blogspot.com

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  12. Thank you for your kind words of encouragement regarding my sons surgery tomorrow. Thank you for praying for me and my children. The prayers from around the world are truly felt.
    God bless you,
    Sharon

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  13. thanks for visiting my site and inviting me to yours! We are right on the edge of the time to start thinking of going outdoors and prepping for our garden,...although winter is most certainly not done with us yet!

    I love your little nest painting. I'll have to wander through your earlier posts so I can see the bird that goes with it! :)

    Great to meet you!

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  14. OMG you have really beautiful things. I love seeing them.

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  15. Hi Leslie, thanks for visiting my OWOH :) I like to garden also, but haven't tried veggies. I think this year I will. The art on your posts are all quite lovely. Have fun romping about OWOH.
    Sandi #559

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  16. Leslie- Thanks for your visit! Love the birds nest. Enjoy your OWOH flight. Patricia

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  17. Leslie, Thanks for entering my OWOH-giveaway! Good luck!

    Greetings, Saskia :)

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