The Rebellious Rooster behaves

Finally he came together.  I knew I wanted him to be the star of this show so he is very colorful.  To me this begs to be a poultry feed sign or something like that.  Vintage looking lettering….I will give it a few days to see what strikes me. 

I did manage to get out to take those photos of the Fall foliage and more.  I sometimes forget what a lovely place I live or I should say I take it in stride instead of reveling in it. 

There are lots of little lakes and ponds, gorgeous vacation homes that are art unto themselves and landscaping to match.



This yard has about 12 gorgeous Japanese Maples, including lace leaf that drape down like a bush. All of them are drenched in Fall colors.



From flamboyant red to a bit more orange.  You can see the orange one tucked back in the center of this photo below. The line the large half circle drive of this massive stone house. 



Not far down the road I spotted this bench on a front porch of another lovely vacation home.  I nearly screeched the brakes to stop and get a shot.  I love pew benches and I am finding them around, there are much more than I thought.  It is a lovely porch to enter the house from, there is a large painting above the bench that is quite colorful, I would love a closer look one day.



As I drove (crept) slowly down this same street who do you think bounds in front of my Suburban but this guilty looking lady.  Is that my strawberry plants I see between her teeth?? 



One of the numerous lakes around, the reflection of the trees in the water was what caught my eye. 



Many of the neighborhoods take great pride in the area and try to add to it. And I think they pull it off quite well.  This is the pool house (bathroom, changing area) for this lake.



Because of harsh weather conditions throughout the school year these bus shelters are placed at many bus stops so the kids do not have to stand out in the pelting rain or snow while they wait for their bus.
Obviously this neighborhood takes great pride in making this one not only comfy but picturesque. 



I had to get close ups of this mural.  The artist did an outstanding job.







This cozy little shelter will come in handy this coming Thursday.  Cold, cold weather is heading our way and fast. Today we will enjoy low 70’s for a high with beautiful sunny skies and by Thursday it will top out in the low 40’s with snow predicted here.  Brrrr. And Friday the hi will be in the 30’s.

Good grief that is a 30+ degree drop.  Winter is here. 

I have more of my paintings to share.  I am learning a new method that is more impressionistic and I think I am finally getting it.
I worked on a couple small paintings and the rooster above most of the afternoon between cleaning the house, laundry and getting things more winter ready outside.

I have plenty on the agenda again today so I better get a move on.
   
 

Pansy Garden Therapy Sign

A beautiful new day and a new week!  Last week I did not get to that daisy painting tutorial but I am still aiming to get it done so bear with me. 

I did get a sign painted along with a custom order one. A new Garden Therapy sign

Yellow Roses and purple pansies.  I love the color combo. 



I need to get it listed on my website and I will do so but first I want to run over to a neighborhood that has a street that I swear all the homeowners tried to outdo each other in Japanese Maple plantings. 

They are a glorious red right now (or were last week, lets hope they still are) and I want to get some photos to share. If they are post worthy I will get share them tomorrow.

Now this little Mister has been giving me fits.



This surface of vintage broken boards cried out for a rooster painted on them.  But I have started and stopped several times as I can’t seem to get him right. 

So I switched over to do the hen who came out right the first time around.



You can see I reworked his eye and I seem to have made it worse but sometimes I get into a painting, hate it and continue on anyways and it turns out just fine. 

Once I get Mister Rooster the way I want him I will decide if it calls out for words to be a sign or just leave it as a painting.  Or I can offer it plain and the customer can ask for custom wording on it.  Also I will sand the edges a lot to give it a rustic frame. I think…

I am off to photograph the trees.  I do hope the light is right.

Feel free to come visit my website.

My Garden Pruners

We have had fine weather the past week.  Lovely daytime temps in the mid 60’s or so with plenty of sunshine.  My garden was still blooming here and there…I did share a bit last week. These petunias were toughing it out despite the one snow storm we had already.



Being that I was afraid the night time temps would dip down to freezing I disconnected my Scarecrows and put them away.  I did not want them to crack. They did a great job of keeping the deer away from my prized plants and flowers.



So the deer thought that removing them was an open invitation to nosh on my garden.
 
I had not seen the deer in a while so figured they had migrated down the mountain for winter.

I was wrong.

This is what is left of my lovely petunias in the top photo.  The deer so generously pruned them back for me, along with most of my plants in both front and back gardens.

Being that it is November and the season is all but over I can live with it. 



My neighbor has a large apple tree that is dropping its overripe fruit and the deer are eating them up now that they have eaten everything they possibly can here.



They blend in so well, there are five deer but you cannot see them all in the photos.
 


When they feel threatened they jaunt across the street and act nonchalant.
 


They wait for me to go back inside so they can return and continue their feast.



I watched for them today to see if I could get a good shot of the baby, he is rather cute even if he is an accomplice in the decimation of my petunias. 
 
My, how dark it seems at 5pm now with the time change.  Dark days of winter are closing in.
 
And with that cheery thought I will bid you adieu.

A Taste of Winter in Fall

The first snow has fallen on this mountain and it was not a welcome sight for myself but I know many ski and snowboard enthusiasts were thrilled.

Here is my potting bench on the back deck and my poor bamboo bending under the weight of the wet snow.

With the leaves on the trees still it was a bit much for them, there was a danger of many limbs snapping even though we really did not get more than a few inches.

A lovely dogwood next door. If you look closely you can see the snow is still falling in this shot.

My Butterfly Bush was not holding up well either. It is really about 8 feet tall, I have made sure to cut it back to a mere 12 inches or so for the winter once the snow melted.  That prevents it from breaking and normally I don’t have to do it until late November.

The morning did provide some interesting subjects to photograph. My Spring Delight Japanese Maple looked a bit sad.

Thankfully the sunshine returned and so did the mild temps returning us to normal for this time of year.  Lovely views from my windows.. the same sad dogwood in the photo above now fully recovered and continuing her Fall display.

The oaks across the street at the feet of the tall pines and firs.

More dogwoods, these do not get as much sun so they do not turn as red as the ones that do.

The sun sits lower in the sky this time of year, you can barely make it out on the horizon as it rises for a new day. 

For those of you unfamiliar with how large these pines can get, this photo below is of the base of a huge sugar pine.  That trunk is 4 feet across.  Don’t you know it is pretty scary looking when these monsters start swaying in the wind.

My Happy Chappy rose is still blooming away.  Since the majority of the plants have quit for the year this guy stands out. 

I have been painting in the studio a bit.  I will be back to share what I have been working on and finally get another Learn to Paint post up. 

Until then, stay safe!

Fun Fancy Chicken Coops and Houses

One of my favorite past blog posts was on Killer Chicken houses.
I had more fun looking at ways people made their chicken coops fanciful, decorative or just plain humorous.

That post was six months ago so I decided a second round was in order. 

This stately chicken house would fit in any smancy neighborhood back yard.

The gentleman that built this one calls it the Taj-Mahal of chicken coops or maybe more aptly named “My Mid-Life Crisis” coop. Click on the photo to go see how he built it, he has conveniently photo journaled it for us

 

This next one is a ‘chicken tractor’ you can roll to different spots of your yard.  They have named it Cluckinham Palace.  They did not chintz on materials, that is real cedar siding!




How about one that reminds me of the 7 dwarves cottage in Snow White.
 
Fancy Cottage Chicken Coop



This little cottage coop is complete with a short picket fence and hand made shutters.  

 

This sleek design has many unique and clever features I want to remember.
 


Completely artistic and check out that succulent garden on top.  chicken pen as garden art



These fabulous chicken abodes make my simple lean to type rather paltry looking.  I think I would like this one in the future or one close to it. 





Now the trick is how to turn this into that above




I used a safety rail from a bunk bed to make the trellis for the Cecile Brunner rose to climb across above the door and window. Though I love the rose climbing up I still am not pleased with the overall look of my chicken house.

This is going to take some major redoing.  Come to think of it the turret effect would not work here, the snow would build up and cause problems.  Rats.  I really liked that. I will have to keep looking and thinking.   

I am working on that post for Learning to Paint daisies.

  Promise.