The sun is shining through my clean windows, my spring flowers are growing tall and beginning to bloom.  Nine baby chicks hatched and are running around with their devoted mother hen.  I've been painting Iris, butterflies, flowers, and chickens.  I guess spring is here even though it may turn cold again, and rain will be welcome when it arrives.  Here are two of the paintings I painted this week on Arches Hot Press Smooth Watercolor Paper.  I hope you enjoy the paintings, and I also hope the weather is warming up at your house.

I forgot to tell everyone I am now offering prints of my paintings on Fine Art America:  http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/anne-shoemakermagdaleno.html   I've been painting flowers for the sheer joy of it, and I will soon be painting the cute little chicks running around my front yard with their mother.  I love spring!  The Amaryllis are blooming, and all the spring bulbs are ready to flower.  My home has new tile floors for ease of walking and cleaning, and I've been painting wainscoting for the Bathroom walls, and we've put up new wall paper.  Life is cleaner, neater, and my books have a new built in book case.  Little by little all things manageable will be put right.  I'm glad it's spring, and I hope warmth, sunlight, and flowers are in your life to brighten your day.  Take good care of yourself, and write if I get work!

Spring is Here

Spring is in the California Air.  Chickens are getting broody, and setting on their eggs.  The Hawks are back making love in our old pine tree, and circling above the house.  The air is full of their cries, and the front yard is full of Chickens with a rooster calling out "Duck and Cover".  Hawks are not appreciated by Roosters.  The dogs are barking at visiting coyotes, and the trees are in bloom.  Spring bulbs are popping up out of my planters, and the ones that are in beds are contemplating greeting the bright sunshine and rains we have been having.  So her are some pictures of Chickens, flowers, and spring.

These Chickens are all painted in watercolor on either Strathmore Bristol or Watercolor Paper or Arches Watercolor paper.  The top three were painted in the last couple of days, and the strolling Rooster photograph is one of our 3 Roosters that get to wander the yard.  There is also a flock of 1 Rooster and his ladies that live in a chicken coop.  It's been raining and snowing here in San Diego, but now the sun is peaking through the clouds, and though it may rain off and on today the sun will still let us know that today is still a very good day.  Keep painting, drawing, cooking, sewing, or cleaning house, or all of the above.  It seems to take a lot of time to make a life complete, and you can't accomplish everything all at once.  Enjoy the time you have on this earth, for it seems all to short a stay.  Write when I get work, and I will be working everyday even if there is no money in it.  That's the joy of being an artist.  

Wizards Crows Squirrels in the Woods

I have been really busy painting Wizards, crows and woodland creatures while at the same time renovating the house.  I'm trying to condense the contents of my bookcases and my home.  I still keep painting in the night time and early morning.  Here are some of the paintings I've done on Strathmore watercolor paper and Amate Bark Paper.

These are the hunters braving the cold, trying to find food, and having a hard time because all the mice are running around underneath the snow, and the squirrels are trying to safe and warm inside a nest or tree cavity.

This is the Wizard taking William the Crow with him on his Journey through the woods before the rain and snow.  The Wizard is based on the photos of Marion Skydancer on Deviant Art.  To see his stock photography than you can paint or draw from go to:  http://skydancer-stock.deviantart.com/

The Squirrels, delightful, curious, busy, and the "Fast Food" of the Woodland community.  It is not easy being a squirrel taking care of Squirrel business, and at the same time staying alive!

A Raven chillin' on a pine branch and surveying the grandeur of the Deep Woods!

Skydancer Portrait on Amate Bark Paper painted in watercolor, and he is the Mystic Wizard watcher and keeper of the Deep Woods.  This is what I've been painting on in watercolor, on Amate Bark Paper.  I also painted a transparent watercolor painting on White Strathmore paper.  I will post in the future!  Have a good day, and write when I get work!