You know those pesky squirrels that visit your yard, take your acorns and bury them in your ground? Well, it turns out, that storage serves a positive purpose. We just have to wait thirty thousand years.It was an Ice Age squirrel’s treasure chamber, a …

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Did you know that male Dark-eyed Junco’s are darker than the females. I did struggle a bit with this one because of the dark feathers. I let it sit overnight so it would be easier to see what I needed to do to improve it. I had it to dark and flat so…

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Several have asked how I de-emboss around my mini art work so here is my attempt to show you how. First of all I call it de-emboss because I am pushing the image back rather than forward. To me embossing means pushing a design forward.  So If yo…

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UPDATE: I am pleased to announce that the White-throated Sparrow has SOLD!
I am having fun with the new mini art!  Amazing what you can do in a small space. My first mini original of the Tufted Titmouse sold. So here is my second creation and …

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I have been wanting for some time now to work on small pieces of art in between larger pieces and other work that take me away from painting. I also wanted the work to be affordable and a nice way for the buyer to frame easily.

Taking a few sheets …

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Sunday the sun was out and Presque Isle was beckoning to me. To much time has passed since I last took my camera with me and wondered the trails on my own deep in my thoughts and watching for winter birds. Since it had snowed the day before I stayed …

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Camera Stuff: Date Taken: August 20, 2011Camera: Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XTF-stop: f/6.3Exposure time: 1/320 secISO Speed: ISO-800Focal Length: 270 mmBird Stuff: This is Lady Hawk, she is a red tailed hawk and an education bird for Tamarack Wildlife Re…

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On Dec. 11, 2011, in Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, Annette Swoffer walked in to her kitchen and quickly met Lucky, the seal pup. “I was in my office and I heard an awful racket down below… I thought the cats have brought a rabbit or something in s…

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Date Taken: April 6, 2011 at 9:22 EDT Camera: Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XTF-Stop: f/22Exposure Time: 1/160 sec.ISO Speed: ISO-400Focal length: 27 mm

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I am so excited! I created my first Etsy treasury. Sound silly? But it was fun exploring and finding new treasures.  Check it out.

Enjoy,
Toni

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Date Taken: April 6, 2011 at 1:56 EDT (Eastern time even though we were in Arizona – I’m too lazy to do the conversion).Camera: Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XTF-Stop: f/20Exposure Time: 1/160 sec.ISO Speed: ISO-400Focal length: 55 mm

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‘Empty Nest’ 10 x 20 inches Watercolor on Canvas

On many of my walks at Presque Isle State Park I was able to witness a
Yellow Warbler dipping in and out of some Japanese Honey Suckle next to
the path. Carefully I pushed aside the leaves and foun…

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This Great Horned Owl is part of the traveling education birds of Tamarack Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Center in Saegertown, Pa. His (I’m not sure he is male, but I think he is) name is Ick-a-Bobette.Tamarack specializes in the rescue, treatm…

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It’s difficult enough trying to catch a steelhead in toe-deep, 70-degree water. Try doing it with baseball-sized black walnuts crashing down around you. My wife and I dodged them Saturday at Boro Park in Girard. They didn’t seem to bother the steelhead, but then nothing bothered the steelhead, especially our flies. The walnuts did bother [...]

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Tonight I am gathering materials for a demo I am giving on Wednesday evening on using clear gesso, acrylic medium, and DS Watercolor Ground when in my search for older material I came across images I took when I painted John Muir. This was done in 2005…

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The Red-tailed Hawk is a bird of prey weighing from 1.5 to 4 pounds and measuring 18 to 26 inches in length, with a wingspan from 43 to 57 inches. The Red-tailed Hawk displays sexual dimorphism in size, with females averaging about 25% heavier than mal…

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The Peregrine Falcon is a widespread bird of prey. A large, crow-sized falcon, it has a blue-gray back, barred white underparts, and a black head and moustache. The Peregrine is renowned for its speed, reaching more than 202 mph during its characterist…

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This photo was taken on April 4 in Sedona, Arizona. It is a view from the Chapel of the Holy Cross (a spectacular church built in the side of the rocks.) The cactus in the foreground is Plateau Cholla or Whipple Cholla  (or maybe they are the same…

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 ’Birch Stand’  Watercolor and Collage on Gallery Wrapped Canvas

If you follow your intuition and trust your creative muse what wonder and excitement awaits you while working on your art and oh the creative end can be a delight. If you che…

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WOP  no title yet.

… and responding to spontaneity. I’ve been having this vague image popping into my head for some time now. It has never been complete in my vision but yet desperate to come out. I purchased this 16 x 20 gallery wrap canvas …

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Barn Swallows

The Barn Swallows are finished and ready for the exhibit coming up at the Stonewall Gallery. But I had to do a little fix first. Here is where you are going to love the new DS Watercolor Ground. If you loose  to much of your white…

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 The other day I was starting to feel as if my work did not belong in the art group I belong to where I live. Most of the members are focused on the abstract, and work large. I mentioned this to my husband and as my biggest supporter he made me …

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Finally you say! Yes I’m done with Letters to Chloe Series. Finished number 4 last week and they are all framed and waiting to be hung in a show opening the end of July. The NPAA Bienniel Exhibit opens July 28th.

For this last piece in this series I…

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‘Taking Flight’ Mixed Media on 8×10 canvas. I’m working on 5 canvas pieces for the NPAA scholarship event. When I’m done I will be offering these pieces as a print if you are interested.

Lately I feel like I have been taking flight all over the plac…

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Presque Isle State Park! I love it! There is nothing about this little gem of a park I don’t like. And although I have lived here all my life it wasn’t until I started birding that I finally realized all this park has to offer. As a child and teenager…

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I had forgotten how wonderful it feels to make a new book. It’s been a couple of years and long overdue. I promise not to wait so long next time. This is my new sketchbook I will be using this growing season in my garden. It is 6.5 x 6.5 inch pages ma…

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  The second Letter to Chloe in this series is done! Ok so now that I have showed you the finished piece lets go back to where I left off from my last post in which I was getting read to transfer the image of the bird to my paper.
I got so ex…

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