Soar - Bird Adventures

Soar - Watercolor by Amy Woods

The baby blue jay didn’t look like much of a baby to me.  He was as big as his mother, but his feathers were fluffy and he looked scared to death perched on the branch of a rather pathetic looking rose mallow bush.  According to my husband he didn’t move from his branch the entire time he mowed the backyard, which was probably about 20 minutes.  When we all moved it for a closer look, the little jay took flight.  Apparently we gave him the last bit of motivation he needed to take flight.  He flew so slowly I could see his wings move and if I had wanted to, I feel as if I could have reached up and caught him like you would a lightening bug. 

We were all surprised and relieved that he made it to his next perch.  His momma was carrying on the whole time.  Those blue jays can be quite noisy if they want.  So when we all went outside to eat and Baby Kitty dashed out between our legs, I figured I let my 15 year old clawless cat couldn’t do a thing but get heckled by a blue jay.

Kitty heard the blue jay right away.  I could tell by how her ears perked up and then laid flat.  She just sauntered to the exact place where the baby jay was catching his breath and probably trying to gain courage for his next short flight.   And my aging, clawless, fluff ball of a cat is as arrogant and sassy as her hair is long.  I imagined her mumbling under her kitty breath at the annoying bird in her Mexican American accent (born in San Antonio),   “Joo want some of this?  Good for nothing stinkin’ birds! Ai ya ya”

While I was cleaning up after lunch I heard some truly serious jay squawking and I looked out of the window to see Kitty pawing vigorously at something, I’ll assume the baby jay, in the ivy.  I dashed out the door and scared the jays and kitty back to peace. How it the world did that jay get from the branch which was at least 6 feet from the ground to my the fluff balls claws?  I will never know.  Apparently I underestimated my cat

Baby and mama jay are fine.  Kitty sauntered but with a gloat back in to the house.

I painted this little painting for my dad as his father’s day card.  Like a good blue jay he has done all he can to help us soar and protect us from fluffy mean cats.

TWO! Two? Two!!!!

How did this happen?

My little Little who stands so tall turned two last week.

I remember bathing her in the sink, wasn't that just last June?

I know there are a million two year olds and a two million parents who post pictures of their little ones on InstaBook and FaceGram and any place on the World Wide Web.  Let me be another of those annoying people just for the day ( or maybe a few more).  I just can't believe we were blessed with a child who, well, came from us! Yikes

So let me tell you about Daisy Doodles

She sleeps through the night!!

Loves Baby Kitty and tries to hug her several times a day even though there is always a slight chance she will get a swat or a bite.  

She is learning her ABC song and loves the letter X.  

She likes to eat "two nuts" - though it's more like 8.  

She would go to the zoo everyday if she had her way.  "Mamma Elephant, baby Elephant and big poopoo." She has touched the iguana, the tortoise, the rabbit and the guinea pig.  But we were both afraid to touch the sting ray. EWWWW.  And she says EWWWW too, probably because I say it.

 She also says "Right Now."  Because apparently I say that a lot, as in a lot,  a lot!.  

She sings about Jesus and likes to write in her Jesus book, like her Momma.  

She dances and twirls to music and loves the Pharrel Williams song "Happy."  But then, don't we all.  

And when you ask her how old she is, she says, "Daisy".  I like that answer.  Next time someone asks me how old I am I'm going to say, "Daisy!!!"

OH JOY - "The Little Paris Kitchen"

I just had to share with you all my newest happy place -- "The Little Paris Kitchen" featuring the lovely food creative Rachel Khoo.  No, I'm probably not going start cooking, but I just love the fact that she really is cooking in a teeny tiny Parisian kitchen with just a small stove top and oven and she creates beautiful masterpieces for the tummy.  I love her kitchen full of character and beauty in their use and function.  I love the fact that she celebrates her little kitchen and it doesn't seem to matter to her one bit. (And the fact she is wearing a dress and red lipstick is pretty neatO too)  What an encouragement to see someone creating without all the space and devices.  And this little show has really encouraged me to be happy painting where I can and when I can.  That life doesn't always offer us a huge space with all the utensils, devices or time,  This afternoon I painted on the kitchen table with the crumbs from our lunch still on the table and floor. (Daisy still likes to toss her food around) I thought about walking upstairs to paint in the "studio" area, or what's left of it.  But I was too tired and knew what little energy I had should be used for the little time I had to good off with my watercolors.  I listened to Miss Khoo in the background and just wished that I at least could one day be paining with the perfect french red lipstick on my lips too.  

Let me know if you make the quiche! 

Invitation

If you are a dreamer come in
If you are a dreamer a wisher a liar
A hoper a pray-er a magic-bean-buyer
If youre a pretender com sit by my fire
For we have some flax golden tales to spin
Come in! 
Come in!”

by- Shel Silverstein

A Soothing Place

My mind tends to race.  There are times I think I will explode - with ideas or worries, well mostly worries.  Trying to ease a pacing mind is so hard.  A couple of months ago, I placed this grouping of watercolors I had done in my bedroom.  Quite frankly, I was tired of tripping over them and when I finally put them on this lone white wall, it hit the spot.  It felt soothing.  It became a place that I could rest my eyes and the chatter seemed to stop in my head.  

I think that's why when I'm really tired I like to look through magazines,  I don't read, I just look at the pictures. 

Gardening does that for me too.  I love weeding.  Nothing feels better than cleaning a bed full weeds so all you can see are the flowers.  When so much seems to be uncertain and with the hard realization of how little control I have in life  weeding can feed that need for control and structure in the chaos.

I Often from other artist's how they think watercolor painting is so hard because they have so little control.  I do remember when I first learned to work in this medium, it was unnerving.  The water would just pull the paint every which way.  I didn't like that.  But then over time, I learned that I wanted the water to do it's thing and surprise me.  Soon those elements were the parts of painting that I loved the most.  And I soon learned that the controlled perfect paintings weren't always the most intriguing.  

Again, I'm back to how my art informs life.  But lately I've really longed for control and order and  a plan to actually fall into place and work.  I'm not always enjoying where the "water pulls the paint."  

So, I look to my wall and I'm reminded of that which soothes my pacing mind.  What you don't know is that in each of these pieces I painted, there were some unplanned surprises that I didn't like and actually worked best for the piece.  I enjoy them now, but back then, I thought of ripping them up or even not finishing them.  The biggest irony is they now soothe my mind, the one that needs control, order and a solid plan. 

(By the way, I did stitch the ABC embroidery using Alicia Paulson's pattern and instructions.  You can find more info on her lovely website http://aliciapaulson.com.)