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?
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