An armadillo and a very lucky sparrow...

Sketch 62 of 75 

This week I actually have a bird tale with a happy ending. Last Wednesday I was at the re-homing centre and I was washing up the food bowls when I heard loud chirps. 'Oh, has someone brought in a bird?' I wondered. I walked out to the corridor to listen at the door of the small animal room, waiting for the chirps to come again.  Next thing I saw a little blur as a tiny sparrow flew past the end of the corridor straight into the dog kennel room!

I ran down and saw it flutter around in a blind panic before flying through the bars into one of the indoor dog kennel runs!  I got in and stopped the curious wee terrier in that run from going after this exciting fluttery toy that had landed in her kennel area.  The poor wee bird flew off again before I could catch it - straight into the kennel run of a much larger dog!  He caught the bird in his very powerful jaws but, more credit to his sweet natured wee soul, as soon as I told him to drop it, he did just that.

I scooped the wee bird up and took her down to the office where the assistant manager (who I later discovered just happens to be a qualified Reiki practitoner) held the terrified wee bird cupped in her hands for about half an hour.  There was a puncture wound just under one wing and, as birds don't have a lot of blood, they can't really afford to lose any.  Anyway, after half an hour of being held, the wee bird calmed down, started showing signs of wanting to be let go and pooped in the assistant manager's hand by way of thank you for saving his life!

I took him outside and set him down at the back of the shelter where the sparrows had made their nests so he could be found by his mum or siblings. When we went back to check on him 10 minutes later he was gone so thankfully he was still able to fly despite his wee injury. Never a dull moment at the animal rescue shelter!!

In other news, today I'm off to Latheron to drop off 4 pieces of art for the first of the exhibitions which is on next weekend. I'm taking the Puffin that finished last week as well as Phillip the Pheasant's painting and these two older pieces (in place of the Highland Coo and the Lost Sheep pieces that sold).

'The Clown of the Sea' - acrylic on canvas

'Not fair game' - acrylic on canvas

In you I trust - acrylic on wood

A view less ordinary - acrylic on canvas

We're going to the preview night next Friday with my new arty friend, Angela, and her husband, Michael, which I'm looking forward to. 

I'm linking to Sunday Sketches, hosted as always, by Alexandra.  Still working my way through posting these darned sketches from the 75 day challenge!

The Clown of the Sea...

I wanted to paint a puffin for my series of animals of the Highland paintings for the upcoming local exhibitions but unfortunately we are yet to spot one of these elusive little clowns of the sea up here yet (perhaps the never ending winter might have something to do with it?)  

Anyway, Paint My Photo and artistic licence came to the rescue once again. There were lots of great puffin photos to choose from and I used this one kindly posted by Lynton Bolton and just placed the puffin against the backdrop of Duncansby Head up here on the north coast of Scotland to give it a local flavour. Well, that is one of the spots where they have their burrows so if the puffin won't come to Duncansby Head, I'll just have to bring Duncansby Head to the puffin by way of some acrylic paints and a bit of pointillism!

This is the photo I used as reference for the background:

Duncansby Head

Here are the stages the painting went through:

Session 1

Session 2

Session 3

Session 4

Session 5 - final piece

I'm linking, as always, to Paint Party Friday, and will endeavour to visit as many folk as I can get round tomorrow. I've sold a couple of the paintings I had planned to put in the exhibits in May, June and July, which is brilliant except it means I have to work extra hard to finish a few more or I won't have enough to show!

Nosy cows & a gecko...

Sketch 61 of 75

You'll be glad to hear that I don't have any sad tales of nature today. The sheep which were living next door to us with their adorable little lambs moved to a new field last week and yesterday we got some new neighbours who think nothing of staring straight in our windows - the proverbial nosy cows!

The old neighbours

The new neighbours

The bottle of pearlescent medium I ordered to make Phillip's feathers pop arrived so I went over the painting a little with it - it actually really makes a difference.  Hopefully you can see it a little in these photos.  

Happy mother's day to those celebrating it this weekend (we had ours in the UK back in March) and Happy Sunday Sketches hosted as always by Alexandra.

Phillip: A Eugoogly...

This really hasn't been a good week for birds at Craggis Cottage.  First we had Reubengate, which if you missed it you can find out about here, and now our beautiful feathered friend, Phillip, is missing, presumed dead.

Last Friday, he got in a big fight with some of the other male pheasants over mating rights with the ladies. He injured his foot  - it was swollen and he was limping badly but still making it over to his little spot at the fence for his dinner when he saw us shaking the seed bag and calling to him.

On Saturday and Sunday his limp got worse and the young contenders to his alpha male title were circling him like little colourful vultures, trying to steal his ladies and taunting him because he wasn't able to stand on both feet.  He valiantly tried to keep fighting them off. On Sunday evening, like defensive parents, we shooed them away so Phillip and his ladies could enjoy a meal in peace. That, sadly, was the last time we saw poor Phillip alive. 

I started my new job on Monday, he wasn't around before I left in the morning and still hadn't appeared in the evening when I got home. However, the other male pheasants had started hanging around his spot along with his ladies which gave us a sense of impending doom as to his well-being. 

We didn't know for certain that Phillip has shuffled off this mortal coil, however, we feared the worst, that either he had succumbed to the infection in his foot (I had wondered if I could take him into the re-homing centre, for the vet to have a look at, if I could've caught him but, alas, it is not to be) or had been too slow getting across the road from the woodland where they roost to the fields where he entertained his ladies. 

Then, on Wednesday, when I was driving back from the re-homing centre, I saw a pheasant lying in the middle of the road in our village. He'd obviously not long been knocked down. I couldn't leave him lying there to be squished into the tarmac, so I pulled over and lifted him onto the footpath. As I set him down (checking to make sure he was definitely no longer with us as there were no obvious injuries) I noticed that his right foot was badly swollen - I can't be certain, as surely Phillip wasn't the only pheasant in the village with a sore foot, but my heart sank a little with the knowledge that it quite possibly was our little feathered friend.

So, sadly, my latest painting has turned into a memorial of the lovely Phillip, taken from us too soon. Still, at least he wasn't shot by some arrogant twonk with a need to prove either their masculinity or their aristocratic bloodline and ended up on someone's dinner table.  

As for my painting - the colours are more vibrant and the blue is more teal in real life than I was able to capture on the camera.  Also I've ordered a bottle of medium which you mix with acrylics for a pearlescent effect which should hopefully bring out the shimmery beauty of Phillip's feathers. 

Here are the stages he went through:

Session 1

Session 2

Session 3

Session 4

Session 5

Session 6

Session 7

Session 8 - Final 

In case you've never seen Zoolander (if not, rent it right now, it's the funniest film ever) and are wondering what a Eugoogly is, this is one of my favourite quotes which will lighten the mood after my rather depressing post.

'I thought you were going to tell me what a bad eugoogalizer I am.'

'A what?'

'A eugoogalizer.  One who speaks at funerals.  Or did you think I'd be too stupid to know what a eugoogly was?'

I'm linking up, as always, with Paint Party Friday (just a little bit early this week) and thanks to everyone again for popping by and leaving such lovely comments.