Narragansett, RI

Tags

Atlantic Ocean, birds, Cee's Photo Challenge, gluten free, Narragansett, Rhode Island, seagull, Shore, Stone building

I’m in love. With Narragansett, RI. I’m sure I’m saying this about somewhere after each trip we have taken to some new corner of the East Coast, but this place really resonated with me. And it had a fantastic restaurant with lots of gluten free options! We went there for 2 meals in the 2 days we were in town! We loved the Anchor Hotel, right across the street from the shore – I have some photos of that which will be included in my Thursday Doors post.

A lovely shoreline.

A seagull (or gulls) who insisted on posing for photos in the atmospheric setting and on the hilarious sign (with edits) Click on photo above to read the sign. I thought Cee would like this sign and the benches.

It is funny how my blogging friends come with my on vacation now, even when I don’t go online. I’m saving some door photos for Thursday Norm.

The most distinctive thing about Narragansett was the tower!

I hope you enjoyed your virtual vacation.

Sunday Trees: Merry Christmas

Tags

birds, mystery, photography, Robin, trees

I don’t know if this is unusual for New Jersey, but it was 50 degrees F here today! My sweetie and I decided to go for a walk and explore a new part of the Patriots’ Path. On the way there we stopped so I could photograph some woods that have mystified me.

Ok, it isn’t the woods that has me stumped 😉 but the massive gate or entryway. Closer inspection did nothing to explain the presence of these pillars. There is no sign of an old road or a house foundation. There are fallen trees all around them. I particularly like the one that fell right in front of them!

The part of the Path we explored is in the Frelinghuysen Arboretum. We don’t see Robins in Wisconsin in the winter no matter how nice a day it may be so imagine my surprise to see this one in New Jersey on Christmas!

I wish you peace and beauty today and everyday.

Draw a Bird Day: Blue Jay

Tags

acrylic paint, bird, birds, Blue, Blue Jay, collage, Draw a Bird Day, Painted paper

Here are my 2 blue jays that I made for Draw a Bird Day.

I’m planning to use one of them for my Christmas Card, but I can’t decide which I like better. Please let me know which one you prefer and help me select my centerpiece for my Christmas card. I love how my painted blue jay paper turned out.

I have been working on building up my painted paper stash because I want to get into more painted paper collages. This texture and color combination screamed blue jay to me. I grabbed an awesome reference photo from Kathy at backyard bird nerd and I was off! Laura at create art every day is taking a break from blogging, but I wanted to keep in practice for Draw a Bird Day.

 

Draw a Bird Day: Swallows

Tags

art, art journal, birds, collage, gratitude, gratitude journal, trees

While the birds may be a little lost in the page,  I wanted to participate in the Draw a Bird Day with Laura at Create Art Everyday.

I heard a quote somewhere about the sky holding a memory of the shape of the bird as it flew and it was really beautiful, but I can’t find quite how it goes or the notebook where I wrote it down. These Swallows are my attempt to illustrate that quote. They are attached to a pair of pages with lots of gratitude laid down in layers. There is a lot of shower curtain development in some of the early layers. There is also evidence of unpacking. Part of the reason we have so much stuff is illustrated by the birds. They are made from the inside of envelopes. I saw some art somewhere by someone (again with the faulty memory)! and it included collaged pieces of different envelopes with the varied blue patterns and it was lovely. I Also included some prints from leaves from trees in my back yard. We have a little Japanese Maple, which is a tree I have coveted for a long time. Unfortunately it is not very healthy. I will do what I can to nurse it back to health, but I’m not optimistic. We also have a few lovely towering oak trees (another tree I have coveted). And they are very healthy. So much beauty surrounds me. I hope you were touched by beauty today.

Wings

Tags

100 Mandalas, art journal, birds, butterflies, collage, gratitude, Mandala

The prompt for Journal 52 is wings and that fit so well with these journal pages. They also had some tips on using napkins in collage and I had planned to use the butterflies from a napkin.  I will fill you in at some point, but I have been really busy lately.