It Looks Like Almost all of My Views aren't Real People

 I really don't know much at all about the inner workings of how one gets views and where they come from, and I am too far behind to start trying to learn at my age -- and maybe I would rather make my clay pieces than learn all that.  I just enjoy talking about my work and my life.  But if most all of my views are bots  or whatever's (and it appears from the little bit of investigation I've done that that is the reality), then I don't want to do this anymore.  Maybe I don't know enough and what I do know is out of date, but I'm too busy doing my work, visiting with my family, working in my garden, etc., etc., to waste my time talking to no one.  

So if you are a real person and are interested in what I write, please let me know with a comment of some sort (nice, I hope).  Otherwise, I'll quit writing.

S_L_O_W SUMMER is upon us here in our small town

 Everything seems slow now:   My gardens, my business, my work (it's hard to continue creating new things during this slow summer period), but I do try to keep working because autumn always comes!  It feels as if we are all just waiting for autumn, my favorite time of the year -- winter is second because I enjoy "holing up."  Even our small town slows to a crawl.  

Farmers' Market

I'm going to the farmers' market today, and I'm sure I'll see a lot of sluggish people wandering aimlessly about.  I have an annual goal, though, to buy enough fresh honey for the entire coming year. I've been buying from the same person for the past ten years.  He raises the bees and harvests the honey himself, and it's worth every penny I pay for it!  Last year, he wasn't doing well at all, and his daughter was managing his booth for him, so I'm hoping he's here and doing well when I go down today.

I also will be buying various veggies from farmers whose garden practices are far superior to my own.  And I'll see what else catches my eye, though I'm not much of a shopper.  And we, my granddaughter and I, will also go for a cup of coffee at our most popular local coffee shop.  That's always fun.

My Gardens

My veggie gardens have had a rough time of it this year, so they've been slow since their planting in June.  Why?  While I think the rest of the US has been roasting in record high temperatures, we here in the Pacific Northwest are having a very, very slow start to summer.  We, my family and I, live just on the edge of the "East Side" of the Cascade Mountains, so our climate in the summer is generally very dry and very hot.  This year is different!  We had rather damp, cool days until very recently, and now we've entered a new, uncharacteristic pattern:  while the temperatures are still comfortable (very variable, but generally in the 80's during the day and the low 60's-high 50's during the nights -- quite comfortable for me because my house stays naturally cool most all day, no need for an air conditioner.  

With the very dry times now, my poor flower gardens, trees, and grass areas are showing signs of stress, even with deep drip-watering nearly every day.  So they, too, have slowed down.  And to top things off, our region is suffering from drought conditions now, so we're being asked to conserve water, which I do, within reason for now.  My grassy areas are beginning to look a bit more like straw -- and I'm even reducing the size of the grass areas, one small shovelful at a time.  I'm just moving it to a dry area behind my house so it can compost.  In exchange for removing the grass, though, I'm planting more and more flowers.  My flower-planting rule of thumb is to throw a lot of seeds on the ground and see which ones are strong enough to survive.  

Also, regarding flowers, I'm trying to root a lot of lavender stems to replace a long front garden of irises, which are just not strong enough or long-flowering enough for me.  I think they'll go to my daughter's house, so I'm not abandoning them.  I've rooted lavender before quite successfully in the past, so I expect it to work out well this time, too.  I'll have to keep them indoors, however, until next spring when they should have a strong root system, and then they can go outside.  In the meantime, I can prepare the bed where they'll go next spring.

My Ceramics Business

It's slow -- but expected.  I wouldn't want to be sitting at home on my computer this time of year (yet here I am this very moment!), so I'm glad people are out and about.  They always come back in the autumn, and then I'll be wishing I had made more pieces so I wouldn't run out before the end of the year.  

I do have a few custom pieces I'm working on, but they're slow, too, because I get too "tight" when I'm working on custom work.  I have to recreate a very difficult clock that I used to make decades ago for someone whose clock was broken.  I really don't want to do it, but I'll give it a try.  It was difficult years ago; and even though they sold well, I swore I would never do them again.  But I do often get requests for them, so I'll once again give it another try.  Another customer wants a small sculpture of her dad playing baseball when he was young.  It's going to be rather abstract but with lots of movement.  If I can keep myself loose, it should be a fun project.  Another project is a group of tiny gnomes for my sister.  And I have one more, but I can't remember it at the moment.  I'll add it later when I think of it.  I have a list somewhere at my work table.

I still haven't gotten word for when the "newbie" clay people want to finish their work, which is annoying, I have to say.  But that may or may not happen.  If it doesn't, it was a waste of my time, clay, and kiln space. We'll see.

My Travel Plans

I've been planning a return trip to France for a while now, and this past spring, I almost made concrete plans -- and then things went south politically in this country, so I became afraid to go.  Now, I'm thinking about maybe a shorter December trip.  But if I do indeed decide to go, I'll be buying refundable flight tickets just in case.  I know they cost a lot more; but if circumstances warrant a cancellation, they're less costly than losing everything.   

Okay.  My studio is calling me, as are my poor thirsty plants, and I have a busy rest of the day to get through.  Hope my honey person is at the market!

Another Mixed-Kiln Opening - I've got to stop doing this! Makes me anxious!

This is the kiln after I loaded it.  As you can see, this time I not only mixed bisque and glaze, which generally when I dare do it, I leave all the bisque at the bottom.  This time, I wanted to maximize the density of the load, so I mixed the two.  And fortunately, all came out perfectly! 

                                           Loaded, ready to fire

                                                       Fired!

One of these days I'll get ahead enough that I can properly fire bisque and glaze loads separately.  I just can't work any faster, though -- or won't, I should say!

It was a really dense kilnload this time, where I even stacked the bottom shelf three-high with bone-dry pieces; I did allow for the weight and shape of each piece, of course, and I fire only to cone 05, so I have no problem if the pieces are generally rather lightweight.  

Lately, just for fun again, I've been doing more and more thrown and altered pieces, and it's working out well.  For instance, in this load, I threw several fish-shaped closed cylinders, tail bottom, head top.  Then I hand-shaped the thrown pieces further, elongating here, thinning there, etc., until I got what I was heading for.  Then I drew a like from the top (mouth) down either side to the bottom, then split the piece into two pieces -- two fish for the effort of one!  The rest was easy!  Just add parts, details, hangers, signature, then dry to fire.  I haven't painted the ones I've bisqued yet, but I will in the next few days and will try to remember to show a few of them.  

(By the way, please never, never, ever directly copy my work!  First, it's just wrong, wrong to do so; and second, my style is copyrighted, and I even have strangers who let me know if they see a copied piece somewhere.  Usually, they're so awfully done that I ignore it, but sometimes I go after the malfaiteur ("evildoer") and have them cease and desist -- and tell them to do their own creating and not steal the work and talent of the creator!  

Packing and Shipping Pointers for Ceramics - Part 1, supplies

When I sell one of my ceramic pieces, it's usually on my Etsy site, so it's most often just one item at a time.  I also sell and ship to galleries, but I won't cover that topic unless requested.

Shipping Supplies:

Padding Materials:

In my packing/shipping room, I have all my products listed on Etsy on shelves.  And I keep a reasonable number of various boxes in the room, along with padding (mostly bubble wrap) and packing peanuts.   Living in Washington State, I am required to use only cornstarch "peanuts," which I really don't like for many reasons, but I do understand that they're very low impact on the environment.  But when I can get them, I take the regular styro peanuts given to me from stores in my vicinity and mix with the cornstarch ones.

Boxes, bubble wrap, and peanuts orders:

A huge expense!! Unfortunately, I almost never use used boxes, but I know many people do.  Sometimes, when it's possible, I use unmarked boxes that I receive purchases in, including the boxes my raw clay is packaged in (I actually think customers like these boxes. Maybe a part of the mystique of being a clay artist?

Box Sizes:

It's really, really important to have an adequate supply of all packing materials at all times, depending on your sales volume.  And you never want to have too many boxes, too; I can tell you that!  Just the right amount.

 Almost all my pieces are different in size, but I have figured out the minimum number of box sizes that I have to keep on hand.  If you're lucky enough to live near a shipping supply business, it's worth it to drive to their warehouse to pick up your order.  I'm not so lucky, and sometimes my shipping prices are higher than the boxes I buy. (I use ULine, whether I like it or not)  But for some of my smaller boxes (10x8x6, 8x7x6), I even buy them on Amazon, which saves me a ton in shipping costs.  These can be used only for my smallest pieces, though, and they definitely aren't as strong as the ones I get from the commercial shipping supplier.

The bubblewrap I use is around 1" in diameter and 1/2" high, mostly medium weight, but I usually buy one roll of heavier weight as well.  Never buy the light weight for ceramics, in my opinion.

I covered the peanuts I use up above already.

Packing Tape:

I do buy this on Amazon usually in 12-roll packages.  I have multiple tape dispensers, all from ULine, I think, that I've had for many years, so they're worth the cost, I guess.

Also, when I can get my hands on it, I like to use styro sheets of various sizes and thicknesses.  I have often gotten these from galleries or shops who give me their packing materials from stock that they receive. And I use that stiff, kind of crumpled-up brown paper that often comes in Amazon packages.  It's sometimes a good filler so that I can save a bit on the peanuts.  But I never, ever use it alone.

Business Cards:  I think they're necessary, and I put one into each package, with a short personalized thank-you note on the back.  I just make my own on Corel and my printer, using a good quality photo paper.  

I think that's about it on actual shipping supplies.

In the next post I'll talk about how I actually package my pieces (and I almost never, ever have a broken piece, by the way, "knock on wood!")

New Glaze Firing Thursday Night -- and the Grand Opening this morning, Saturday!

 This past week has been a slow one.  Sometimes I just don't seem to have the energy to put in a good work-week, and this was one of the worst.  And it doesn't help that I had to paint an entire bisqued kilnload, either, because I have a gallery order in there, and it's due very soon.  It's funny; I really like building pieces most of the time, painting much less because painting is so nitpicky.  But this past week, I didn't feel like doing either.  I think I know why:  I really don't like custom work, and I have one custom piece in this kiln -- and I'm still supposed to be making several pieces for a custom request that I haven't even finished building yet.  Any time there's any sort of pressure on me to perform, my perfectionism, hence my procrastination, kicks in, I lock up, and can't complete anything.  It also usually accompanies or contributes to my depression, too -- so I really, really have to stop doing custom work!

I'll see how the kiln came out this, morning.  Unfortunately, I've had to learn over and over the hard truth that if I open the glaze kiln too soon, I absolutely will have some damaged pieces caused by temperature shock.  It's not as big a problem with the bisqued pieces, but still, I need to exercise more self-control!

Okay, I just emptied the kiln, and amazingly, no failures this time.  Yay for my waiting for the kiln to cool!!  It was 71F inside it this morning when I finally, finally got to open it.  I've been doing this for over 30 years, and yet   every     single   time   I have a terrible time waiting.  I'm like one of those little four-year-old kids in the lab experiments where they're left alone in a room with a marshmallow, after having been told they can get two if they can wait 5 minutes before eating it, and most can't wait!

The "realistic dog" on the left was an experiment.  I'm not happy with it (it's actually not as awful as it looks in the photo), but one needs to try new things from time to time.  I love the little guy on the right, though.  He was inspired by a doodle made by my granddaughter.

This bird couple and their cat was something where I played with a simple shape, this time the cone.  Both birds are mostly cones I threw and assembled into what you see.  The tiny cat was just something I pinched together one day.  These two birds actually have names:  The one on the left is Simon Slick, and the one on the right is Samantha Louann.  Sorry, the cat doesn't have a name -- yet.  (The names are in memory of two miniature Mediterranean donkeys we used to have long ago.  We called them Slick and Samantha for short.)

I absolutely love this bird!  Again, it was from a doodle done by my daughter.  It and the little green guy are going to have quite high prices on them because someone interested is going to have to pay more just to get me to give them up.  I often do that with some of my favorite pieces.  If you'll remember in my pricing post, the perceived value of a piece (how much I love it) definitely goes into my pricing of said piece.  And I have lost a few to good homes because of this.

Glaze Kiln Firing and Opening

I just opened a new glaze kiln firing this morning and thought I would show you a before and after shot.  I forgot to photograph the pieces after they had been painted with underglaze.  Maybe another time.

This firing was in my small kiln, so things are very crowded.  These days, since I don't make the large volume of  pieces that I used to, I most often use my small kiln.  To fill the large kiln would take me almost a month, so it's not often worth using it.

The top photo is taken after I've glazes the pieces.  They're still wet.   The second photo is after I fired them.  This is just a photo of the bottom shelf. 

 

Curious Grey Horse, Blue Sky Background

This is a horse painting I just finished, an acrylic painting on a 24x30x2" gallery-wrapped canvas.  Prints and the original are for sale.

As I've probably stated before, I'm doing more and more farm animal paintings and am loving learning new animal anatomy.  Hope you like it!

A Rough-Coated Collie Painting just finished

I just finished this painting a couple of days ago.  It's a beautiful tri-colored rough-coated collie, and the original, an 11x14x3/4" acrylic painting on stretched canvas, is still available.

Also, the original of the cav that I listed yesterday is available, too, and it's the same size as this painting.  Both are in my Etsy shop, along with prints.

Lately, I have been given a fairly large number of photos from a loyal customer, and I plan to paint as many as I can after the holidays.  Many of them are some of the most adorable goats I have ever seen.  I can't wait to get started!  But my family members come first during this holiday season.

We celebrated the fifth birthday yesterday, in fact, of my little precious granddaughter (my only grandchild!), and we did it in as grand a birthday style as we possibly could because, being a close-to-Christmas birthday person, her birthday often gets passed over in all the busy-ness of the holiday season.  Oh, and a happy birthday on the same day to her Aunt Eileen, too!

Speaking French

I've been noticing something recently that bothers me:  I have many friends who want to go to France, as I'm doing, but who are afraid.  They don't know the language, they might get lost, lonely, have their pockets picked, etc., etc.  Well, I share the fears above, all except for one:  I have worked on learning the language for years -- and for the most part, I've done it with no formal instruction.  And I'm not bragging here; I'm telling you that it can be done!  (Well, I guess I'm bragging a bit because, by golly, I've worked very hard at learning this language!)

I do admit that over twenty years ago, I lived in Toulouse, France, for nearly two years while I did some graduate studies in neuroscience.  However, when I went there, I had had no French language education at all -- well, except for about three weeks right before I left, which only made matters worse, not better, because those pitiful three little weeks gave me a false confidence that I knew at least something.  But here was the problem when I arrived there all those years ago:  I could ask where is something or other --- BUT when the other person responded, I had absolutely no clue about what they were saying!!  I bought a French language textbook before I went; and after I got there, I studied it every day, every chance I got.  And I got by.  That's all I did for at least the first year; I got by.  And I might add, too, that almost no one that I knew spoke more than just a few words in English, too, so I didn't have that "out."  I found out, too, that hand signals were powerful and that I could live with making a fool of myself, very often!  I got by.

After having been back in the USA for nearly twenty years, except for occasional European visits, I didn't study French at all until just two or three years ago.  Then I decided I was getting old and that I wanted to complete what I had started all those years ago.  But still being stubborn and wanting to do everything my own way, I decided, once again, to go it alone.  So I started reading everything I could in the French language.  That meant, of course, that I had to have a dictionary beside me at all times and that I spent more time studying the dictionary than figuring out what the heck I was reading.  And I'm not talking simple books, either:  To this day, one of my favorite French authors is Emile Zola.  I struggled with his novels, one after another, for many, many months at a time, each one.  Not only did I not know the words, but I couldn't even understand the sentence constructions.  But slowly, v e r y    s l o w l y, things started to fall into place.  Progress was very difficult even to measure for many months at a time.  But then it really began to pick up speed.  Today, I read without a dictionary present -- except for the occasional word I need to know.  I found out, too, that I didn't have to look up every single word, even back when I wasn't understanding much at all, because I could get the gist of the story -- and I could learn many high-use words by context after a while.

More recently, (in the past year), I upped the demands on myself.  I got a TV5Monde, French language, subscription so that I can watch French (nearly) TV every day.  I say "nearly" because much of it is subtitled, and I find that subtitles are counter-productive.  Even before the TV5Monde, I had discovered France Inter radio station online, and I listen to it anytime I'm painting, for instance.  (I especially like the channel "France Culture.")

I'll continue this discussion over the next couple of weeks and hope some of you chime in.  Are you studying French?   How do you study?  Do you have any tricks you can share?  Is not knowing the language of a country you love preventing you from doing something you want to do but are too afraid to do?   (I love the French culture, the food, the language, the people, the land, everything!)

A Sweet English Bull Terrier Painting I Recently Finished

This is a fun painting I recently finished of a sweet looking English bull terrier with a bit of brindle markings.  It was a pleasure to paint.  I like the sort of dreamy background I put in.

Next I'm working on a couple of custom paintings:  A weimaraner in a most unusual outfit!  And a really sweet-faced, elderly, mixed-breed dog.  They're both due right away, so I'm going to be working hard, hard, hard.

Another Sweet Little Pig Painting

Several months ago I did another pig painting and found it so challenging that I decided to do another one (and I have some more planned, too).  This little sweetie is on a green background.  The original painting (available at the time of this post) is an 11x14x3/4" acrylic painting on stretched canvas, wired and ready to hang).   How any human being could eat one of these beautiful, intelligent animals is beyond me - but that's another post!

I am currently still finishing up the custom cat painting, which I expect will be done in just a couple more days.  Then I'm going to be doing a landscape painting, I think, one I've been planning to do for a long time - of a countryside scene in France, a late-afternoon scene with amazing colors in it!  It's a just-for-fun painting -- well, they'll all just for fun, but some are more so than others!

I'm still doing my ceramic pieces but at a slower pace than I was before.  I still like to do them, but I've been missing painting as much as I like to, so I've gone back to concentrating more efforts on the paintings.  I'll probably change again, though.  I always do.

A Cute Pig Painting I Finished Recently

At the request of a customer, I painted this sweet-looking pig.  The acrylic painting is 11x14" on wood panel.  Several people recently have asked me what the wood paneling looks like from the side, so I shot this pic of it as the painting sat on my easel.  It frames very nicely, doesn't weigh much, and fits into a mat and/or frame just as a painting on paper would.  I like the smooth hard surface for painting as paint flows very nicely on it.  And since I'm such a stickler for detail, it allows me to get into much greater detail on these relatively small paintings that I like to do than I can do on canvas.

Sorry, the original painting has been sold.

Basenji Portrait

This is a little painting I finished yesterday at the request of a customer, who noted that I had neglected to paint this beautiful dog.  They are pretty little dogs, and I had actually painted one several years earlier, sold the original, and then due to a computer crash (and poor backup habits), lost the file of the painting.

I didn't go to Portland Saturday Market this weekend due to weather.  However, unless there's a storm or a bad case of flu or something equally calamitous, I'll be there.

For those of you Portlanders who haven't been there in a long time, you need to come down and check it out.  It's a beautiful place these days, right alongside the Willamette River.

By the way, I must comment on something I overheard at the market last weekend:  I heard a man telling his children who had apparently asked how we artists/craftspeople managed to be able to sell at the market.  The man replied that one only had to pay a fee, and voila, one had a market business!  Well, obviously, that's not at all true.

Each and every artist/craftsperson at the market must go through a rigorous jurying process before we are allowed to sell there.  And we must adhere to strict quality standards throughout our time at the market, too. Each of us there creates his/her own work, from start to finish, and we, as the creators of such art work, must for the most part be present to show and sell it.

The Portland Saturday Market is comprised of a few discrete areas:  First, the beautiful new area designed and built for us just a few years ago alongside the Willamette River, on Naito Parkway; this new area also extends back to and through the underside of the Burnside Bridge, too, due to the large number of people making their livelihood by selling their arts/crafts at the market.  The third area is a quite large area across Naito Parkway from the new part of the market and stops at the fountain on First Street, where the Max passes.

There are "tagalong" markets that have formed all around and even adjacent to Portland Saturday market who, when asked, most often say they are also "Portland Saturday Market."  They are not, and much of their items for sale are not made by them, and if they are made by them, do not adhere to the market's strict quality requirements, and many of their items are imported from other countries.

It's amazing the number of people who come into my booth and ask me where I buy my prints, paintings, who, despite the presence of my name on each and every painting, and the sign in my booth showing me working on a painting, don't understand that I paint for a living and that I love what I do more than anything.
Okay, I'll get off my soapbox for now and head back out to the studio to work on another painting.

A Dachshund Painting I think I failed to post

 This is a fun painting I did a few months ago and I'm pretty sure forgot to post.  I call it "Doxie Field of Dreams."  It's an acrylic painting on a 24x30" (3/4"-deep sides, no staples) of a black-and-tan dachshund seemingly flying over a grassy field.  Actually, the dachshund wasn't really flying (really!!) but was moving along at a really fast clip and was caught by the camera as all four feet were off the ground.  A happier dog I haven't seen in a very long time, and I think it well reflects the vivacity and energy of this small dog breed.

The original (as well as prints) are available at my Etsy shop (see the tab at the top of this page, or click here to go directly to my Etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/DottieDracos.  I also have the original at the Portland Saturday Market if you live in or are visiting the area and want to see it "up close and personal."  Do be sure to let me know if you're coming to the market to see it because I'm taking a little time off from the market over the next few weeks, and I would want to be sure to be there so you could see it.  The prints, both 8x10 and 11x14, have been slightly cropped to accomodate the different size ratio.  Here's an example of the print:

Holstein Cow, Standing, on Blue Background

This is a sweet painting I just finished yesterday afternoon.  She's a Holstein cow that I saw on my neighbor's field when I lived in Denmark last summer.  I couldn't decide on a background, and I love this color of blue that I had put down just to eliminate the white canvas color as I painted, so I decided to enhance it and keep it.  I like the look, modern but classical.

The painting is acrylic, on a stretched 16x20x3/4" canvas, and has been sold.

Australian Cattle Dog "Mr. Redneck"

This is Mr. "Redneck."  I painted him for a customer a few days ago.  She said he's more popular than she is and that he has one of the best personalities she's ever seen.  I can see that personality not only in this painting but in the other photographs she sent to me.

I am currently working on a different painting -- it's not a dog!!  But it is a horse.  My daughter, who is a dressage rider, asked me to accompany her and my little granddaughter to the barn where she rides a few days ago, and I did lots of sketches and took some really great photos.  This painting is coming out of these sketches and photos.  It should be done in a couple more days, and the original will be available on my website.

Basset Hound Puppy Sitting in Field

I really enjoyed doing this painting.  It took me way, way, way too long to paint, but I enjoyed it so much that I took my time.  Some paintings are like that.

Once again, I need to try to paint a little faster - I do have bills to pay, unfortunately - but sometimes I do enjoy really slowing down and savoring each blob of paint I add and work into just the right place.

This painting is an acrylic painting on 11x14x3/4" stretched canvas.  The sides have no staples and are painted the same color as the green and blue background, so it can be hung either unframed or framed, as you wish.

Bichon Frise Portrait 20 of 30 Daily Paintings

This is a little bichon frise painting I did for a regular customer recently.  I said I wasn't going to do any more custom work, but she was a multiple repeat customer, so I couldn't say no.  Plus, she was getting for a relative who had recently lost the dog, so that made it even more important that I do it for her.

It always makes me so sad to do a painting of a dog that is gone.  Even with the still-around portraits I do, I become very emotionally invested in painting the dog's (or other animal's) portrait.  When I know the dog is gone, it makes doing the painting much more emotionally difficult.  It's such a shame that our best four-legged friends live such short lives compared to ours.

Holstein Cow on Blue, No. 14 of 30 Daily Paintings

The following paragraph is by my sweet son-in-law, Mark, who is helping me out a bit with my online work so I can spend more time painting!

"This is a painting of a Holstein Cow, which originated in the Netherlands. It is today the most efficient dairy producing animal in the world, and in my opinion, also one of the cutest!
Holsteins have been known to be all black, all white, a mix of the two, or even red and white, which is slightly less common than the traditional black and white mix. Their reason for import to the US was due to disease spreading amongst the cattle, and 8800 Holstein cows were imported to the new world, where they, obviously, flourished to become the most efficient species of dairy cows currently in existence."

I think he did a great job - and he's helping me immensely!  Mark, if you read this, thanks so much!

The painting is a small one, 8x10" on stretched canvas, with 3/4" sides, painted blue.  The back is wired, so the painting is ready to hang, either framed or unframed.  This cow is another one I got sketches and photos of on my fairly recent trip to the dairy farms around Tillamook, Oregon, on the Pacific Coast -- well, a bit inland, I guess, but you can certainly feel the sea air around there.  It's available for sale on my website, and here's the link for it - and other farm animal paintings I've done:  http://wildwildthings.com/originalsgalleryFARM.html.

I'm now working on a larger painting, which is going to take at least three days to finish.  I'm really enjoying it so far.  It's an Australian shepherd, a tricolor, sent to me by a dog-lover.  He has several Aussies and I'm going to try to paint all of them over time.  I'll post the painting in just a few more days.

Oregon Junco Bird Art Painting, Daily Painting No. 10

Okay, I'm moving along at a better pace now.  This is my tenth painting, a painting of a little male Oregon junco, a subspecies of the dark-eyed junco, a species of the American sparrow.  They are prevalent in my home state of Oregon, and over a large part of the Northwest as well.  As I've been trying to do paintings in and about Oregon, I've been researching some of the wildbirds commonly seen here.  This little guy -- and his friends -- plays outside my house in some bare bushes.  They are amazingly tiny and so much fun to watch!

The original painting is available on my website, http://www.dottiedracos.com.  It's an acrylic painting on an 8x10x3/4" canvas, with the sides painted the same color as the background.  It's wired to hang immediately, either with or without a frame.

I have twenty paintings to go in my Daily Painting self-challenge, and I do feel that I'm finally starting to benefit greatly from my challenge.  One of the things I've most learned about is using my palette more wisely.  In the past, I included way too many colors of paint straight out of the tubes instead of mixing my own colors.  With this bird, I had a palette of three colors:  phthalocyanine blue (cyan blue), magenta, Naples yellow, plus white.  So I had a lot of mixing to do, but I feel I am really getting to know the properties of each color I use now.  It's amazing to me how many wonderful colors, including a dark purplish black, that I can create with just these three colors.