Waterfowl Festival and more

This fall was exceptionally beautiful! As usual for November we headed to Easton,MD for the Waterfowl Festival. Vic took a few days of vacation so we could arrive early for some special time together. We let our favorite b&b, the Ruffled Duck Inn, Oxford,MD, pamper us.

 Every morning our gracious hosts, Joyce and Dennis, surprise us with both a visual and culinary feast. (I highly recommend staying there when you are in the area.)

As a special treat this year Vic booked us for a 2 hour horseback ride (one of my favorite activities) through beautiful Lumas Ponds State Park, in Deleware. We couldn't have asked for better weather. Our horses were a treat. Mine was a sweet, rolly polly boy named Tonto.

Vic and his sturdy mount.

After our ride, we headed back to Oxford with a detour through Bombay Hook. Fall and evening light made it a most wonderful ride. We were greated by 2 foxes almost as soon as we started the drive in the hook. As we continued through, there were many birds and spectacular foliage.

Vic and I continued our quiet moments together in Oxford over the next few days, taking walks around Oxford. We love the boats and the peaceful little town.

You can see what a colorful fall it was!
The Waterfowl Festival was blessed with perfect weather. The crowds filled the town of Easton. my booth was in the little historic Christ Church again, so it was easy for old friends to find me. They are gracious hosts there and it is one of my favorite shows to take part in. Here is a peek at my booth before people came to enjoy.

The show went very well and it was especially nice to spend time with our artist friends.

September

September, Magic and I completed our migration, returning to PA. Paula and I converged in Lancaster for the Pembroke Welsh corgi National specialty. Combining her paintings and my sculptures resulted in a lovely booth. It was a pleasure to be around so many wonderful dogs (and people). It definitely brought up wonderful memories of my Tinker and Topaz. Paula immortalized them in her painting "Security".

You might remember from my posting in May, all the wonderful corgi reference I gathered. The inspiration resulted in the dreation of a number of new works featuring the corgi.  The smaller pieces are little studies capturing some typical corgi attitudes. "Sleepy", "Sit" and "Rollover" are miniatures in bronze.

Slightly larger, in the 3-4" high and about 6"long, are "Speedy", and "Playful". All these have been done in red and white and tri.

Corgis are very curious and have an abundance of energy. They were used to drive cattle, herd ANYTHING else, keep the rats down and take care of the kids. They are a large dog in a small package. Their curiousity is insatiable, and they can crawl into your heart in a moment. Well, at least into mine. In this larger sculpture  the corgi had been playing ball when something came by on the other side of the fence, a cat? another dog? maybe a butterfly, or better yet, you. 'The Garden Fence" is 12"high.



Summer Continues

August proved to be as busy as can be; exciting and challenging. Magic and I continued our regular walks, one of my favorite times in Colorado. Morning sunrises and evening sunsets are renewing inspirations for me. Hands in clay occupied my day. New Corgi works, touch up on an elephant I had started at the Evergreen Gallery during a wonderful open house, and for fun, (as if all that wasn't fun) a roadrunner! After Vic and my adventure at the Brookfield Zoo watching the roadrunners in a fun natural exhibit, I knew one would errupt at sometime, so here it is in clay. (#1 is taken, bbut let me know if you are interested, edition of 20).

The sculpture shows in Loveland came and went so quickly I hardly knew what hit me. I had a lovely booth at the Invitational. Weather was good and so were the crowds. "The Offering", my giraffe with its 2 hornbill friends, sat in the center where many people stopped to get have a giggle. Love all those smiles!

Best of all was getting to deliver it to its new home after the show. It will live in a lovely rock garden.

It was only a short time of working on waxes, getting the next group of pieces ready for foundry when it was time for the next big adventure:

The 50th Anniversary show/celebration of the Society of Animal Artists!

Off to San Diego! Many of us stayed at the Town and Country resort where meetings and greetings and headquarters were set. It's a lovely place, roses and cosey places to sit, 3 restaurants to choose from right there as well as being right on the trolley station, and a mall across the street. I shared a room with artist Sandra Blair. We had a blast!

Getting in a day early allowed me to visit with an old friend and then a special surprise (indulge me, I'm a grandma) a surprise visit from my daughter and grandson Isaiah!

We found a lovely playground and of course some water!

The Society had so many activities! Besides our wonderful chances to meet and greet ( I don't think Bob and Diane Mason had a moment of privacy) we headed to the Wild Animal Park. My favorite was the shoebilled stork. It looks like it stepped right out of Alice and Wonderland.

Another highlight of the day was the cheetah! My favs always. 2 young cheetahs got lunch, hand fed by a keeper who obviously addors them.The cheetahs each had their own place to stand and waited patiently as she alternated handed them their yummy meat.

Oh, confusion set in here. But then, the order doesn't matter, just that it all happened. Our first adventure was a whale watching adventure! Although the whales were scarce, we saw seals, sealions, gulls, pelicans, and much more. Porpoises played with us as we returned to the harbor.



Being animal artists, we couldn't have been happier with a day at the San Diego Zoo. Since my piece in the SAA show is my Guenon monkey, "The Sage", I was happy to find that the zoo has Guenon's! (photo of live guenon courtesy of Annie Coulter who came to my rescue when my camera decided not to work in the low light).

We spent the whole day winding the many paths through the zoo, spending much time in the aviaries. By evening we were quite happy to enjoy a wonderful dinner right there in an area just for us.

The bird show was amazing, clever and entertaining. Before the show we enjoyed an intimate moment with a young Eurasian eagle owl who needed some exposure to people for his training. Sweet!

I couldn't help but make friends with this little polar bear.

Saturday was our meeting with an amazing talk by Robert Bateman. After a wonderful lunch I had the priveledge of riding with Bob and his lovely wife Birgit to our opening at the Natural History Museum. There I was one of a few of our artists to be giving demos for the public. Kids love to see the animals happening out of lumps of clay and I had clay to share with those who just couldn't help but get their hands busy. A few of us took an extra day to just wind down and visit the harbor in San Diego. All too soon we were on our way home.

Summer

Arriving back in CO for the summer, Magic and I fell into a wonderful schedule of walking and work.

 An open house at Evergreen Fine Art Gallery had me talking to some wonderful people while working on a new elephant sculpture.

Inspiration and fun came from a visit to the Denver Botanical Gardens where instalations of Henry Moore sculptures were framed by beautiful plantings.

July some very special people came to visit. My daughter Heather and grandson Isaiah! (see them in the web series http/www.lienonmetheseries.com ) We visited the zoo, played in fountains at a park, visited the mall downtown Boulder and met friends at my favorite place for brunch (and hike) Chatauqua park.

One of my favorite places, The Flatirons.

Isaiah and I shared a special moment together.

A special treat at the Denver Zoo was a chance to see the new infant orangutan and we saw a fossa!

I had never seen a live fossa before! Unfortunately he was not very cooperative as far as photography.

They are found in Madagascar

I really did get some work done, but the high country called me again and a trip up Mt Evans became a necessity. Beautiful mountain terrain just fills my soul and the area is known for good mountain goat viewing. We were not dissappointed.

What Happened to June!

Well it was as busy as ever!

"The Sage", a Guenon monkey, (7 1/2"H, 4"L, 4"W)

 and "Speedmaster", a cheetah, (12"H, 13"L, 8 1/2"W) are in the Art of the Animal Kingdom XV in Bennington, VT until Aug 18th.

Vic and I took a short trip to Chicago visiting family. A trip to the Brookfield Zoo added even more wonderful reference material. I was quite taken by a wonderful exhibit of the southwest featuring roadrunners, Gambols quail and Montezuma quail.

A new exhibit featuring north American mamals had recently opened, including a small herd of bison.

But.... my favorite animal at the zoo was this one

From Chicago I flew to Denver for the book signing and events at Saks gallery in Cherry Creek, Denver. I am pleased to be one of 97 artists featured in the book "Sculpture of the Rockies".  My kiwi sculpture, "Nosing Around" is in the book, but "Free Spirit", giraffe (10"H,8"L,5"W) represented my work at the gallery for the show and signing.

 It was a treat to meet the other artists and all the wonderful people who came to see our work.

"Take a Stick of Bamboo"

While in Colorado I picked up the finished pandas that where the quick sculpt at SEWE in Charleston, SC in February. I think they are just charming!

Vic and I spent a wonderful anniversary in the Denver area and then flew back to PA. After a few short days of packing the truck and last minute organization, my trusty travel companion, Magic the Newfy, and I hopped in the truck and made the trip back to Loveland, CO. Here we will be for a busy summer!

"Along came pretty little May"

Sculpture In the South in Summerville South Carolina came upon us all too quickly. The drive in that direction was much more pleasant than in February and we left plenty of time to hit the beach in Mt Pleasant first. We welcomed the chance to cool our feet in the sand.

On the way back towards Summerville we took a detour to Cypress Gardens (not the big one in FL). A flat boat took us around the lovely glassy black waters.

I came face to face with an alligator who "ate" me.

The show went well and the weather stayed nice the whole weekend. Thank yous to all who made the time so pleasant, especially our wonderful hosts Ned and Nancy who welcomed us like family into their home.

"Butterflies are Free" got a lot of attention outside the tent.

I wan't home but a few days when off I went with my good friend to visit a new friend for some Corgi reference. New sculptures are on the horizon as I will be vending the Pembroke Welsh Corgi Nationals in Sept. Thank you Gigi for sharing your wonderful dogs and especially those yummy puppies!

I have a special new friend! I just know there will be another corgi in my life.

Memorial day weekend had Vic and I on the road again. We visited his sister and family for an exceptionally fun time. Side trips to the Brookfield Zoo and the Botanical Gardens were a treat. A special bonus was visiting the Chicago Art Institute for a Monet exhibit (preceeded by a yummy lunch of dim sum with Laurie and Ron) 

At the Botanical Gardens, Vic and I spent a quiet moment together.

 

And time does fly. Memorial day Vic dropped me at the airport and he continued home. I flew to Dallas and soon will be on to Denver for the book signing "Sculpture of the Rockies" at the Saks Gallery in Denver. Come if you are in the area! Sat. June 12th from 1-4. (http://www.saksgalleries.com/ )