Black-Capped Chickadee and Cherries 

The black cap separates this species from the more northern brown-headed chickadee.  The narrow white feather edges which give the folded wing a finely striated look and the white tipped lower throat feathers which effect a gradual transition from the black of the throat to the white of the breast are only plumage differences between it and the Carolina chickadee.  In the field the difference in voice is the best means of identification.  
In summer this is a woodland species, but it often ranges into adjacent orchards and shade trees. Later the birds roam more widely in small noisy flocks that are often joined by other birds.  Their easily whistled notes, a kiss on the back of the hand, or a screech owl imitation attracts them.  They come readily to window-shelf feeders baited with `sunflower seeds, suet, or peanut butter.  Their natural food is chiefly insects---adults and larvae in summer, eggs and pupae in winter---plus some wild berries, seeds, and fruits.


Easter Lilies and Baby's Breath

The Latin name for the Easter Lily, is native to the Ryukyu Islands of Southern Japan. The Latin name is Lilium longiforum. 

Today over 95% of all bulbs grown for the potted Easter Lily market are produced by just ten farms in a narrow coastal region straddling the California-Oregon border, from Smith River, California up to Brookings, Oregon.

Dating back to Biblical lore, the lily is mentioned numerous times in the Bible.  One of the most famous Biblical references is in the Sermon on the Mount, when Christ told his listeners:  "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they toil not, neither do they spin; and yet ....Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these."

Often called the "white-robed apostles of hope," lilies were found growing the Garden of Gethsemane after Christ's agony.  Tradition has it that the beautiful white lilies sprung up where drops of Christ's sweat fell to the ground in his final hours of sorrow and deep distress.  Churches continue this tradition at Easter time by banking their alters and surrounding their crosses with masses of Easter Lilies, to commemorate the
resurrection of Jesus Christ and hope of life everlasting.

This is a poem by Louise Lewin Matthews capturing the essence of the Easter lily:
Easter morn with lilies fair
fills the church with perfumes rare,
as their clouds of incense rise,
sweetest offerings to the skies.
Stately lilies pure and white
Flooding darkness with their light,
Bloom and sorrow drifts away,
on this holy hallow'd day.
Easter Lilies bending low
in the golden afterglow,
Bear a message from the sod
to the heavenly towers of God.

Until next month, hope you enjoy these paintings.  I have been working on another painting and you will have to wait until next month to see it.








      

Lilacs
 

Aside from Roses, there is no flower as beautiful and aromatic as Lilacs.  Of the two, Lilacs have a stronger scent that carries quite a distance.  Unfortunately, Lilacs bloom for only a brief couple of weeks in the spring.  To prolong their presence in your yard, grow a variety of Lilacs, including, early, mid and late varieties.  With variety and luck, you may be able to see Lilacs in bloom in your yard for up to six weeks.  Weather will have a lot to do with how long your blooms last.  Once the buds begin to open, pray for a cool dry spell.  Once the blooms are over, you still have a nice shade bush, but you have to wait for up to fifty more weeks to see them again.

Lilacs in the United States date back to the mid 1750’s.  They were grown in America’s first botanical gardens and were popular in New England.  Both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew them in their gardens.  Lilac bushes can live for hundreds of years, so a bush planted at that time may still be around.  Lilacs originated from Europe and Asia, with the majority of natural varieties coming from Asia.  In Europe, lilacs came from the Balkans, France, and Turkey.

Rochester, New York is the Lilac Capital of the World.  Its love for Lilacs dates back to 1892 when Highland Park horticulturalist John Dunbar planted 20 varieties on the sunny southern slopes of the park.  Highland Park in Rochester is the scene of an annual, two week long Lilac Festival, with over a half a million people attending the event each year.  This park has over 500 varieties of lilacs and more than 1200 lilac bushes in the parks’ 155 acres.

On August 18, 2006, New York State Governor George Pataki proclaimed the Lilac as the State Bush.

I love painting flowers and have painted many but there are more for me to paint that I have not considered yet.

Duck Season

I have enjoyed painting ducks, geese, birds as well as domestic animals. 

The ducks in this painting are flying over the pond at autumn time with the log in the water and the bright colored tree on the right side of the canvas.  Hope you enjoy viewing it as much as I enjoyed painting it.

Siamese Cat Kristie

This is a Siamese cat that my daughter owns and she named it Kristie.  The other one that looks like Kristie is Smokey.  I cannot tell them a part but they know.  I only had a good photo of Kristie so that is the one that I painted. I have painted cats, dogs, and old homesteads in the past for clients.

Until next time enjoy my paintings and hope everyone had a nice Valentines Day. I did get some photos of the snow we had on the 11th of February.  The snow was so pretty and hanging on the trees limbs was so beautiful. 

 
"Autumn Time"

I was inspired to do this painting because I love the autumn season with the bright cheerful colors in the leaves of the trees as they change colors and the coolness in the air.  The time to walk through the woods and hear the birds and the rustling of the leaves under your feet as leaves fall from the trees.  The time to bake those fruit pies from apples you have picked from the trees or maybe those berries you saved from the summer and froze so you could make pies.   The time for harvesting of wheat in the fields and gathering your crops before the winter. I have never lived on a farm but the farmer has a lot to do in the spring and autumn because of planting for crops that he will harvest at autumn time. It is still autumn and we had some snow here in Denton on the 2nd of December.  It was so nice to see but was not expected.  A friend got a good photo of the big trees in her yard with the snow hanging on them and it was beautiful. I have accomplished 28 paintings this year and working on another one that is on my easel.  I donated two paintings this year to our church, one for the First Fruits Offering and the other one for the Childrens Ministry.  I have made many art friends thru the websites at www.RuthHousley.com or www.RuthHousley.blogspot.com and www.RuthHousley@FineArtAmerica.com  and enjoy viewing their work as well as seeing their accomplishments for the year.  I have ten paintings on the Art-Exchange website as well as they are putting a coffeetable book together with some of my paintings which will be out in the spring of 2010 and I will receive a copy too.  They will be doing a show with some of my originals and prints in Dallas in 2010.  I have some paintings in mind I want to accomplish in the new year and try to accomplish more than I did for this year.   That will be one of my goals for the New Year.  I also want to continue to do my best at whatever artwork that I undertake in the New Year.  I have a painting on my easel but have not finished it yet.  December is a month with putting up Christmas decorations, mailing Christmas cards, baking, shopping, and just being busy, busy, busy.   Until next time have a blessed Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

   
I was thinking about doing several angels but since there is a lot of detail to do I just decided to do one and have a small child chasing a butterfly.  She is protecting him from falling off of the cliff.  I am always inspired about angels and how they watch over us and God sending them out.

 Psalms 91:11 "For he will his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways."
 



I  was inspired to do this autumn scene because I like this season of the year with the leaves changing many beautiful colors.  We do not have much changing here where I live unless you go to East Texas or the hill country. 

This painting has a lot of bright colors which I like and the blue in the water to compliment the orange in the trees as well as the rust colors.  It has dark browns, as well as rust colors, oranges, yellow, yellow oranges, reds, and some greens.  I sketch out some of the painting to know where I am going with the painting so it will be easier.

When I grew up in West Virginia the autumn time was very beautiful and my sister and I would go and pick leaves that had fallen off of trees to see how many colors we could find, different shapes and sizes.   Our parents would take a drive sometimes on the weekend and we would go to the Allegany Mountains or other counties that surrounded the county where we lived which was Mineral.

I like the coolness in the air at autumn,  NFL football games as well as college and high school games and having hot chocolate, caramel apples or popcorn balls which I don't eat much. 

Psalms 24:1 "The earth is the Lords; and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwelleth therein."

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".

Woodward Park, Oklahoma 11x14 oil medium on canvas

Sunset over Water 8x10 oil medium on gallery wrap canvas

My husband was in the hospital for three weeks and I did not get to paint as much as I wanted to going back and forth to the hospital.  He is home and doing good and thanks for all the prayers.   

My daughter finally picked up the cat portrait that I did for her.  It was the cat (Precious) that she used to have when the kids were very young.  She has two Siamese cats now and I can’t tell them apart. 

I have a blog spot that you can see my art as well as on www.RuthHousley.com 

It is www.RuthHousleyblogspot.com.   I also like to put scriptures below my art too.

My oldest granddaughter is the art lover and the other granddaughter is into cheerleading for one of the high schools in Plano.  She is excited about getting into cheerleading.  She likes it a lot and was always a social person. 

Some of my paintings I really get so inspired and can’t wait to get them started and enjoy going through the process of completing them.

·        Guardian Angel – (December)  oil medium on canvas 14x11

These are my two latest paintings since my last newsletter. 

December 13, 2008 – Christmas Brunch at church

We had ham, baked French toast, fruit salad, two rice casseroles, muffins, chocolate mousse, cake, coffee, iced tea and hot tea.

It was a blessing to see God at work in women’s lives with the program that was provided with the brunch.

December 21, 2008 – Christmas Program at church

They had their Christmas program on Sunday December 21, and was repeated on Christmas Eve, December 24^th by internet web cast. 

The name of the program was “Song through the Ages”.  It was very uplift and anointed.

I bought my granddaughter oil paints and brushes to try and get her encouraged to do some oil painting.  I have showed her and now she just needs to practice using oil after she draws her subjects.  She has taken drawing classes in Plano for several years.  My other granddaughter I gave a scrape book for Christmas so she can add her friends photos to it and also since she is a cheerleader in Plano.