Blog Archives
Van Gogh Journal Pages 39 & 40
Hello Friends!
Yesterday I decided to put two of Vincent’s self-portraits together which he painted after he cut off the tip of his right ear. I also added some animal friends. The rabbit is a copy of the one I drew several years ago. And since it was done in pencil, I decided to add some Liquitex Burnt Umber acrylic ink to color it and black ink for the fur. Then I had a random piece of blue paper, so I made it have a blue eye.
I bought some little animal rubber stamps on Etsy, so I used the parrot and the turtle. I stamped them in black and colored them with acrylic inks. I added a little flower to his lapel on the left. Then I looked up quotes Vincent was known for and wrote them out to fill three big spaces. ( You may have to enlarge the picture to read them.) Vincent knew he was mentally ill, but I am so glad it fueled his art instead of squashing it! I like to think he was a genius at expressing himself. He saw things so vividly with his heart, you know?
I copied the swirly markings from the background of a portrait he painted of a boy he knew and used it to make the smoke from his pipe more elaborate. That was fun.
I hope everyone has had a great week, and for those who celebrate Easter, have a beautiful one!
Have a wonderful day! đ
Share this:
Box Turtle
Hello Friends,
This is Virginia, the little Box Turtle that we saw at Turtle Bay last month! She is showing the kids the hinge in her plastron that allows her to completely close herself up inside! Cool, huh? Hopefully, I didn’t post this picture already.
Have a wonderful day, and give someone you love a big hug! đ
Share this:
Galapagos Tortoise
“Gordy” the Galapogos
Hello Friends,
I hope everyone had a good weekend. Mine was pretty productive. First, I spent most of Saturday writing my article about sea turtles and a few of the perils they face every day that could maim or kill them. I have the rough draft, but still have to get it into my laptop as I wrote it out by hand. I think better that way and enjoy scratching things out while writing.
Then on Sunday I finished this drawing of a Galapogos Tortoise that I have been working on for a couple of weeks now in the evenings. I decided to finish it, because I would like to get this article done soon and do some painting which I haven’t done in a while.
In case you don’t know much about Galapogos Toroises, here is a link to an article about them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gal%C3%A1pagos_tortoise
(I think he kind of looks like E.T.!!)  đ  They are certainly beautiful creatures. When my husband went on his trip recently and spent the day with some old friends, he discovered that they own tortoises. He said when they went into the back yard to show them to him, they called its name and it came running up to them like a dog! Pretty cool, I thought!
Have a wonderful day, and give someone you love a big hug! đ
Share this:
Bruce Explains Box Turtles: About the “Box”
I wanted to share this post from my turtle friend, Shannon along with a picture of the box turtle, Virginia, who lives at Turtle Bay.
Have a wonderful day, and give someone you love a big hug! đ
Bruce, showing off his skills at âclamming upâ by completely enclosing his body inside his shell.
Box turtles, regardless of how many toes they have, are called âbox turtlesâ because of one unique trait they all share in common.
That trait is quite amazing. Every box turtle is able to pull all of its body parts â head, tail, legs and feet and claws, all of it â inside its shell and lock it all inside.
When a box turtle decides to âclose downâ â for example, to hide from a predator or a perceived threat â it pulls its top shell (carapace) and its bottom shell (plastron) together so they meet at all points around the box turtleâs body.
The reason the box turtle can get its carapace and plastron to touch completely while other turtles canât is because of a unique hinge that occurs about halfway down onâŠ
View original post 76 more words
Share this:
Edible Six-Pack Rings?! Wow!
Hello Friends,
I just have to share this before I forget about it. It will possibly be part of my next writing assignment for my class since I believe I am going to write about at least three ways sea turtles are injured or killed by trash in our oceans. Anyway, I can’t believe I have never heard of this before! I only have the basic bones of information right now. I am planning on calling the company and asking more questions.
Did you know that a beer brewery located in Delray Beach, Florida, called Saltwater Brewery, created EDIBLE SIX-PACK RINGS for their canned beer?  I didn’t! I happened to stumble onto this short video when I was looking into ways that the six-pack rings from canned products can injure and kill sea turtles.
These six-pack rings are made from barley and wheat ribbons from the beer brewing process. They can be eaten safely and are 100% biodegradable. Isn’t this wonderful? I am going to be researching more information about this and will keep you posted. In the meantime, check out this short video!
I can’t believe it is Friday already. I think I may be spending mine writing! Also, at some point I will still be sharing soon about the rest of the trip to Turtle Bay Exploration Park that my daughter I took last week. AND…I am almost finished with the Mama and Baby pigs drawing.  I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!
Have a wonderful day, and give someone you love a big hug! đ
Share this:
Turtles, turtles, turtles…and…birds!
Hello Friends,
Well, my daughter and I visited “Turtle Bay Exploration Park” the other day. It was a nice cool October day which I was very thankful for! Yes, this is me, at our first stop in the park, The Parrot House. They currently have about 30 Lorikeets, an Australian type of parrot, which are very colorful… and friendly!! As soon as we walked in, one lighted on my hat and another on my shoulder. They stayed there the whole time until the one on my shoulder flew off and its feathered friend followed. I used to own Cockatiels so this was a treat for me. My daughter was glad none landed on her, however.
We did get to see many turtles on this trip which has never happened before. And no, “Turtle Bay” isn’t named so because they have lots of turtles. That section of the Sacramento river where they built their facility used to be called Turtle Bay, and it may still be, but I am not sure about that. They are also under a lot of added construction right now, revamping the playground where I used to take my kids when they were little, and adding a hotel! Supposedly, it is to be finished by December or January. So we’ll see!
So here are more pictures AND a couple of short videos from our little adventure. Enjoy! By the way, they had a tarantula, but I didn’t take any pictures of it…not my favorite animal. Also, I am not including everything we saw either.
Here’s a red-eared slider turtle who tried, tried, and kept trying to get up onto this rock…alas, it never made it. I guess it was just too slippery for it. đŠ
Here are three Western Pond Turtles which are native here in Northern California. They were in an aquarium inside the museum.
“Hey, do ya mind? I’m tryin’ to sleep here.”
“Yeah, I ain’t even comin’ outta my shell today folks.”
“HEY, I’m awake! Watch me swim!”
This is “Virginia” the Box Turtle… She says, “Hey! Watch this, but be patient!” Â
These are the Red-eared Sliders that were in another aquarium. My daughter took this picture. Awesome, huh?
“Awww…look at our beautiful reflections, Melva!” Â
This is perhaps the most amazing thing I saw. Unfortunately, it is only the shell, but this is a Hawksbill Sea Turtle Shell!!! Isn’t it amazing? I thought so. I didn’t even know they had one there years ago when we were members. I forgot to ask how long they have had it. And yes, even though I paint my sea turtles the colors I do, it is because when they are in the water, reflections of the sun down in the water depending on where they are, make their shells look like those brilliant colors!
Later this week I will have another post about our trip to Turtle Bay and show you the other wonderful animals we saw. I didn’t want to make this post way too long. Plus, I wanted to share the turtles mostly. Until then…
Have a wonderful day, and give someone you love a big hug! đ
Share this:
Pig Mama and Baby…almost finished.
Hello Friends,
I started sketching this mama pig and her baby the other day. The mama pig’s eyes are completely closed, so it may look funny when I finish. The photo is from a very nice gift my daughter bought for me a couple of months ago. The gift is a book called “The Wisdom of Moms…Love and Lessons From the Animal Kingdom” by Bridget E. Hamilton. She thought I would like to draw the animals; they are all beautiful. My daughter was sad that there were not any turtles in the book, but when I received it from her in the mail while she was gone this summer, I probably don’t have to tell you how much I cried. Just knowing she thought of me when she found it was a gift in itself.
The quote on the next page for this photo says “Love the moment, and the energy of that moment will spread beyond all boundaries.” Sister Corita Kent. This is so true! Learning to live in the present has always been a challenge for me. I used to preoccupy my thoughts with things I was dealing with from the past or worrying about the future, but I do very little of that anymore. The present is beautiful in itself!
At the bottom of the page where this quote is, it says, “Free-range farm pigs will make a nest for their families, gathering straw for warmth when the piglets are young.” The photo shows them laying in some straw. This is going to be very challenging to do in pencil!
I love all animals in the book, and I still can’t tell you why when I was a teenager I began to love turtles so much, but as I have said before I love sea turtles now, because they are so beautiful, graceful, and endangered. For my fourth assignment for my writing class I am working on gathering current information about sea turtles, picking the most endangered type, and writing about conservation. I think this assignment is going to take a while…just doing the research will take quite a bit of time.
In the meantime, another project I am going to have to start soon is working on a painting of our dog for an auction on eBay to benefit “Forever Foster Homes” and the “Old Friends Senior Dog Sanctuary.” Their notice said they are “currently providing lifetime care for over 300 senior dogs.” My daughter told me about it a while back. It is not a contest; they are just taking donations of people’s artwork. The deadline for donations is November 1st! The auction starts the second week of November.
So as usual I have my work cut out for me. I also want to write a piece to send into “Chicken Soup for the Soul” which would be my first real writing submission anywhere. It has to be a true story. I may have told you all about it already. There is no deadline for this, though.
However, the institute where I am taking my class is having a poetry contest. The poem has to be about an animal, but I really don’t write a lot of poetry, so I’m not sure I’m going to have time to submit anything. Also, the deadline for that is November 5th! Whew! Lots of opportunities but I need to choose wisely.
I hope everyone will enjoy your October, the beginning of fall, and Halloween if you celebrate it. I hope to make a few more posts this month, but my creative life has gotten pretty busy these days! I am hoping to get the first couple of 5×7 paintings of my sea turtles I did to a printer this month also!
Have a wonderful day, and give someone you love a big hug! đ
Share this:
But She Is “Just” a Turtle
Read about Shannon and HER love for turtles! She even owns some! Have a wonderful day, and give someone you love a big hug. đ
originally published on Malti & Me on May 30, 2016
Oh boy.
Let me tell you what.
Being a turtle mommy, for me at least, has been like winning free tickets to the âlearning curve rollercoasterâ â that really fast, scary one I never wanted to ride in the first place.
If youâve been following Maltiâs adventures here and on social media, you probably remember that she recently went missing for 6 days.
Those were pretty much the 6 longest days of our life together to date.
Malti sitting securely in her mommyâs lap immediately post-rescue.
In our personal network, no one seemed surprised that I would ditch work, socializing and pretty much everything else for 6 consecutive days to search for my baby turtle.
(This, of course, is because our flock has the coolest network ever.)
But outside our network, and sometimes outside (literally) as I was searchingâŠ
View original post 1,303 more words
Share this:
Aldabra Giant Tortoise Drawing
Hello Friends,
Here is an Aldabra Giant Tortoise I drew in graphite pencil. Â I drew it from a photograph taken by Peter Weimann in the children’s picture book called “Turtles” by Trudi Strain Trueit. It took a few days working on it here and there between trying to get rid of my sore throat, which is gone now (thanks Anneli and Jill for the saline advice. Â I think it helped. Â Plus some cold medicine and extra Vitamin C.)
This tortoise is one of the largest in the world.  It can live up to 150 years in the wild and longer in captivity.  You can read more about them here:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldabra_giant_tortoise I just don’t have the energy to write much more about them right now.
I tried to paint my Australian Flatback sea turtle in watercolors the other day, but the colors came out horrible!! Â So I will have to try again. Â I think when I don’t feel very well, I can’t concentrate on what I really want to do.
I turned in my third writing assignment to my online class. Â I haven’t heard back from my instructor yet, but I just turned it in Friday night…after hours.
Things have been slow moving around home in the last few days but always good. Â My husband is away until Wednesday, but my daughter is here, which I am very glad about!
Have a wonderful day, and give someone you love a big hug! Â đ
Share this:
Radiated Tortoise
Hello Friends,
Here is a very different looking kind of tortoise!  This was really a challenge to draw in graphite pencil.  I have been working on it for about a week a little each day. They live in Madagascar, are endangered, and can live as long as 188 years! You can read more about the Radiated Tortoise here:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiated_tortoise. They are beautiful!
I was working from a children’s picture book called “Turtles” A TRUE BOOK by Trudi Strain Trueit. Â I found it at the library. Â It was published in 2003. Â The photograph I drew this from was taken by Paul J. Fusco. Â There are many other different types of turtles and tortoises in this book, so I may draw a few more. Â There is one I plan to try and paint when I am feeling better. Â It is a spotted pond turtle.
I have been fighting a sore throat since last night so my energy level is pretty low right now. Â I usually get one this time of year when the weather changes suddenly. Â We have had really hot weather all summer, then this past week, the temperatures plunged about 40 degrees! Â It is crazy weather here this time of year. Â However, the cooler weather is kinder to the arthritis in my feet so that’s good! Â I just pray I never get it in my hands.
I have spent most of the last couple of weeks working on a story for my third assignment in my writing correspondence class. Â And of course I have been reading a lot. Â I finished Stephen King’s book “On Writing.” Â I really love his sense of humor and style of writing about his life and craft. I am going to be finishing his novel “Misery” soon which has been quite entertaining. Â I have seen the movie several times which I think is different in some ways, but I still am hearing Kathy Bates’ and James Caan’s voices in my head which has been fun.
I hope all of my blogging friends are doing well.
Have a wonderful day, and give someone you love a big hug! Â đ
Patsy's Creative Corner 