This is one of my new paintings called Thailand Parrot Flower. The botanical name for it is Impatiens psittacina. This plant was identified at the Royal Botanical Garden Kew in 1901 and was discovered in 1899 in the Shaw States of Burma. It is only found in portions of Burma and northern Thailand and as such is quite rare. According to the grower it is very difficult to cultivate and requires a local natural pollinator to produce the seeds. It also requires very specific soil pH in order to prosper and produce the “blue” coloration. You can read more about this plant at www.ExoticRainforest.com.
This is another of my newest paintings and it is called Blue Jay at Home in Pine Tree. Blue Jays prefer mixed woodlands, particularly those with clearings. They are also common in suburban areas and city parks.
The big, noisy blue jay is one of the most colorful of the wild birds that have responded favorably to civilization and become common in the shade trees of eastern towns, but it is essentially a woodland creature and is still most abundant in open oak and beech forests. After breeding, jays gather in flocks that do much to enliven the fall woods with their calls and flashes of blue.
The blue jay is about three quarters vegetarian—acorns, beechnuts, and corn being its staple foods. During summer its diet becomes preponderantly insectivorous. Jays bury more acorns and beechnuts than they can eat and are therefore important agents in planting oak and beech forests.
Their voice is extremely varied: harsh calls, a trumpeting whistle, a scream like a red-shouldered hawk, a flicker-like call, and a song of soft warbles and twitters.
They make their nests in a tree crotch or on branches near the main trunk up about 10 to 15 feet: made of sticks with grass and other softer material at the center to form a cup.
I did not finished my Angel painting and was not in this newsletter but will send it out probably when I get it finished by the middle part of September. .Also I am working on another painting of "Rivers of Living Water".
