EARTH DAY. I KNOW, THAT WAS SO LAST WEEK!

Let's catch up. I bought a tree and started a new mixed-media piece to celebrate Earth Day. The weather was too dismal to plant the tree on Wednesday, but It is safely tucked in the ground now and our whole property is bursting with new growth. 

Japanese Maple.

Layered paint, paper, charcoal, and ink on canvas, then printed the piece on fabric and added more layers of fabric and stitching.

As we're just back from the East Coast Paddlesports Festival, I added a kayak and paddleboard. Don't laugh at my little stitchy stick figures.
The apple blossoms have peaked, but are still lovely.

"Everything is blooming most recklessly; if it were voices instead of color, there would be an unbelievable shrieking into the heart of the night." ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

All the wild things are stirring as well. On Sunday morning a fox chased Fitz through our woods and he shot straight up a loblolly pine to escape. Fortunately, Mike heard the commotion and chased the fox away. Abby is shedding like crazy and I am tossing all the hair from grooming out for the nesting birds.

The martin house is a beehive of activity. I'm thinking there may be no vacancies this year. The bluebird house is also occupied, though I'm not sure the occupants are bluebirds

Down by the river, the osprey are nesting.

It was good to be home on the weekend for a change and even better because our daughter was home as was her best friend, our almost daughter. Did a little pony shopping on Saturday afternoon with the girls. Took this guy for a test drive. Hmmm....

More on this next week. Hopefully. 
Stay positive, blog friends. XO.

SPRING THINGS

Although this week began with some wheel-spinning, and a loss of creative mojo, and a bit of unfocused dithering around, things are looking up.
It finally, truly, looks like spring...

It even feels like spring, now and again, which has brought Miss Mathilda out from under the "cat toaster" in the tack room, and outdoors to glare at the birds.

Yesterday, was delightful. My aunt and cousin came for a visit, and a Girls' Day Out at Blackwater. We're all budding photographers, so auntie brought some appropriate boardwalk bling...

And some goodies like this worn, but oh so lovely old quilt from her sewing room de-stash, which just happens to coordinate perfectly with the watercolor I painted earlier in the week. 

Now my stitch-y wheels are turning and I envision a fabric version. Mojo unblocked!
A camera day in Blackwater is something we've planned for a long time. We were lucky to have a gorgeous day and very obliging wildlife.

I'd never caught more than a fleeting glimpse of a muskrat before, but we were able to get quite close to a pair who rolled around in the shallow water, and nibbled on green twigs, seeming not to mind us at all.
We watched an eagle catch a fish so large that he could barely carry it, and this osprey sitting in a tree with his lunch.

A late lunch at Stoked and some shopping at Sunnyside, and A Few of My Favorite Things, and it was time to go home, to take care of my critters and dash off to photography class. 

A lovely long spring day.

Have a dandy weekend, blog friends! XO.

PAINT, SCAN, PRINT, STITCH

Lots more stitching going on here. This time, I sketched a figure over paint and layered paper, on canvas. I then scanned it, printed it on fabric, backed it with black linen and a layer of quilt batting and stitched. Also added scraps  (the seagull, the beach house, etc..) of previously printed fabrics, old beads, hand embroidery and machine-stitching. 
Here's the original canvas...

And the finished fabric piece...

She loved to breathe the sea air. It soothed her soul but troubled her hair.

In other news, I am still stopping frequently at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. So much squawking, flapping, and nesting going on there now. I wish you could see...

The osprey gets my vote for the best stinkeye. His nest was quite close to shore, and he looked as though he would happily use that beak to defend it.

Blue heron.

Lots of snowy egret around.

Good thing I had an outdoorsy weekend, because it's raining buckets now. Stay dry, my friends. XO.

SPRING WEEKEND

Today is such a gloomy, rainy, Monday. Glad we had a brilliant sunny weekend to remember. All sorts of springtime fun was afoot on Saturday. Took Scout and Nigel to Oxford Day. Mike likes to call Oxford, "Mayberry for millionaires." It is charming and if you long for sailboats and picket fences, it's just the thing.

The dogs enjoyed the parade except for the drums. Poor Scout does not like drums. At all.

The way we should all feel on a sunny Saturday in spring.

Poor doggers were exhausted, and asleep before we left the parking lot.

Dropped the pooped dogs at home. Ate the first Trappe Lions barbecued chicken of the season, and popped down to St. Michaels for Wine Fest.

Glorious bloomers everywhere.

My guy at the St. Michaels Brewery.

Guess who rode 22 miles on her bike on Sunday? This girl. Took the bikes down to Dorchester County, parked at a public boat ramp and pedaled the 11 miles to Hooper's Island and back. Oh the sights you see, when you're on two wheels instead of four!

Thought this looked like a sad sea serpent, washed ashore. I did want to bring it home, but it was about 8 feet long, and it was all I could do to haul my own washed up carcass that distance.

Mike loved this house we spied from the top of the Hooper's Island bridge. It looked as if it was crouching there, bracing for the next hurricane.

Watched Papa Osprey scoop up a fish and deliver it to this chimney nest.

Hope you had sunny weather and a chance to get outside and enjoy! XO.