Friday, January 8, 2021

Winter kitchen.........and birds everywhere!





I aways keep a wall calendar in the kitchen to stay organized.
 For many years it was Swedish artist Carl Larsson's lovely paintings of
 his home and family. 



Last year very few of those daily little boxes were filled in!  Any that 
were displayed reminders of birthdays, anniversaries and such, definitely
 not appointments, places to go, celebrations to look forward to.

This year I decided to give Carl a rest and start my new, and hopefully
busier year with a nature inspired calendar by one of my favorite
 English artists, Angela Harding.



Angela is a fine art painter and illustrator specializing in lino prints.
  Her work is inspired by British birds and the countryside and, in recent
 years, she has worked as an illustrator for Gardens Illustrated,
BBC Countryfile and UK Country Living Magazine. I've also seen
book covers and tea towels, the latter I would love for my kitchen.


Last year I found an older calendar illustrated by Angela which I purchased
 to use some of the prints to frame - this one of hares in the snow is my
 'fridge art' for this winter season.



We were expecting a dusting a snow late this evening into the morning
 however it now looks like just rain!  Disappointing as waking to a light
 blanket of fluffy snowflakes sounded fun. . . . and oh how we need some fun!
The birds were extremely active in the garden all day - often 
a sign of a weather change - so I'm still pulling for at least one light snow
fall this winter.

Here are just a few of our many colorful feathered friends - taken through
 the window today as it has been rather chilly and damp to stay outside for long.


Northern cardinals - female above, male below


Male American robin



Male House finch


Male and female Eastern bluebirds above and below



Male Pine warbler


Female (perhaps) Carolina wren

I wish I had Angela Harding's amazing talent and could use 
my bird photos to make paintings. . . . . I certainly have taken 
an unbelievable number of photos starring beautiful birds!

Which takes me to a question for you:
 What do you do with all your photos, especially the ones you take for
 your blog?  Do you leave them on your computer, move them to 
external portable hard drives, delete them perhaps?



10 comments:

  1. Oh, the birdlife is wonderful at your place. Hello to the cardinals, the robins and the bluebirds and all their friends. I too love a nice calendar on the wall to keep track of my year, (and always keep them during the next year for quick reference about what happened when). Thank you for introducing me to Angela Harding, whose work is so appealing. The hares in the snow is a gorgeous picture. I do hope you get a pretty snowfall, it will be so uplifting in difficult times. xx

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  2. good question, my pics are in cyberspace on a cloud. Lovely calendar, the pictures are worthy of frames :)

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  3. The lino prints are beautiful, I have seen them a lot in England on greeting cards, tea towels, coasters - you name it. I believe this artist has also worked with the National Trust. Carl Larsson‘s drawings and paintings are also wonderful! A Swedish blogging friend of mine has given me a tea towel with a red house in the snow, it is my winter towel.
    Photos that have appeared on my blog are usually not stored anywhere else, unless they are special memories and I want to keep them for further use. Then I copy them to a USB stick.

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  4. Oh Mary .... we have such similar tastes .... I have had Carl Larsson calendars but, this year I have a Vilhelm Hammershoi one ! I wish I had known about the Angela Harding one as there is no room to write anything on mine ! ( there again, there’s nothing to write apart from birthdays ) XXXX

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  5. What a lovely calendar. Beautiful photos of your birds. My pictures stay on my computer for the most part.

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  6. Dear Mary,
    Carl Larrson has always been one of my favorites. I even copied his color scheme for my cabin at the old farmstead. It was complete with green walls and orange plate racks.
    I have often wondered why you don't take your beautiful collection of bird photos and use them for your own calendar. I have used Vistaprint. There are other companies.
    I used to transfer my photos to an external hard drive. Have decided that it's too much trouble. I organize my photos into folders. Every now and then I do delete a few photographs because they are not good enough to keep.

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  7. Love the bird calendar, and such a good idea to use photos as fridge art.

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  8. Dearest Mary,
    Lovely bird photos you took!
    Hugs,
    Mariette

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  9. You find the prettiest calendars! Love all the bird photos. I delete the photos on my computer if they are ones I don't need to keep. In fact, that's one of the big organizing projects I need to do. I still have way too many on my computer.

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  10. I always love, love your birds. The frig art is such a good idea. Love it all. Some mornings before anyone else is up and the sun is just appearing I love standing at my window and watch the birds come by for a visit.

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