Red Fox visit

Our blanket of white has almost completely melted.

Early Sunday morning I peeked out the window for a weather check and

something caught my attention!

Trotting through the back field~

Perhaps returning home from an overnight shift...

Mr. Red Fox

Red fox is so very beautiful and so very helpful.

He and his family will help keep a healthy, natural, balance~

Our ever-growing concern with Lyme disease often begins with

the (adorable and sweet) White-footed mouse.

Rodents have been sampling more vegetables from our garden

than we have! They're becoming a concern.

I strive to remain chemical free and organic.

Praying Mr. Fox meets a local Miss and begin a family

in our neighborhood.

A quick sketch on Sunday so that I would remember

how beautiful the morning was and our special visitor.

The sky was pale gray & light blue with a soft peach glow!

Took a few minutes this morning to add color while

waiting for a special order to completely dry...

The cookie butter needed to warm up to room temperature, too~

Hope your travels are safe and that your hearts are happy, Friends!

Wishing you a joy-filled season~

Calendar pages & watercolor palettes~

My little mushroom brush is just as important as my paint brushes!

Keeps the wool dust, lint, strings... 

All that crazy stuff fling around my studio, off my palettes.

I leave my palettes open to air dry~

It may be a few days in between painting.

If I forget to put my palette covers on (always) they get dusty.

I brush out the wells, brush off the little dishes...

I rarely wash my palette...

With a touch of water those messy puddles are perfectly usable!

Calendar time~

As I finish each month, I tack them up. It gives me a little distance

from my paintings. Sometimes they need a little more work.

Sometimes I soften an area...

The wintry months are still to be painted.

I should paint January & February mid-summer, on hot days~

When the winter cold seems like a welcome thought!

Just a few more paintings to go and

Outside My Window for 2020 will be complete.

Each year is a little bit different.

Always filled with my favorite things & feathered friends who visit!

I hope you have a wonderful weekend, Friends!

Thank you for stopping by~

Our Winnie Wren has arrived home for the season~

Perched high in the flowering crabapple tree & calling to a suitor!

Both of these Springtime blues are blooming at the same time~

Beautiful and so very similar!

Above, Brunnera

Below, Forget me not

Our sweet Winnie~

Same house every Spring through the summer months...

Keeping us in song.

  

When you see them up close you can see the subtle differences~

Brunnera, a deeper blue

Forget me not, sky blue with a kiss of sunshine yellow in the center!

Hope Spring showers are waking up your gardens, too~

Studio Wren Punch Needle

"Studio Wren" copyright 2017 Michelle L. Palmer

Our petite little friend always arrives when the forget me nots are blooming!

She will perch in the pines, dance across the fence top...

March across the window ledges!

Can you hear her sweet song?

This punch needle pattern is very painterly~

I used Instant Antique (Primitive Gatherings) to stain the background colors.

Some friends spritz their completed works to age & make them prim.

I like to spritz the floss prior to punching my designs.

Be sure to lay paper down to protect your surface from staining.

Take them out of the wrapper & spread out gently so they don't tangle.

Allow to dry completely before punching.

Hope your day is going great, Friends!

Thank you for stopping by~

Teddy and Honey Bee~

From time to time I open one of my sketchbooks that has

sat untouched for too long.

I glance through the pages and find something new~

As though it wasn't my hand, my heart, that put it there!

Other times a small design sketch will remind me of a collection 

that was manufactured into a gift program!

My most favorite pages are those with notes & drawings

tucked into corners or margins by one of our children.

Their childhood was filled with art festivals, 

Christmas open houses, art shows and sales.

There was always a sketchbook open...

Always a mound of them stacked within their reach and

they were free to look through them.

Their little masterpieces are my most treasured entries!

Hope your day is off to a great start, Sweet Friends~

Thank you for stopping by!

Wren friends~

When sweet friends come to call~

Yesterday afternoon brought a little wren to our kitchen windowsill!

He is a bit early!

I'm sure he was just passing through~

Perhaps he was taking a quick trip to check on his summer house?

Hope you're having a wonderful week, Friends~

Thanksgiving Fraktur

Wishing you a Thanksgiving filled with wonderful memories~

I first learned about Fraktur in college...

Definition of FRAKTUR

1

:  a German style of black letter

2

often not capitalized :  a Pennsylvania German document (as a birth or wedding certificate) that is written in calligraphy and illuminated with decorative motifs (as tulips, birds, and scrolls)

True Fraktur is beautiful~

My sketchbooks are filled with these little sketches.

My notebooks from college (especially the non-art classes)

have simple designs influenced by Fraktur in the borders!

Happy Thanksgiving, Sweet Friends!

Flow Blue... punch needle project!

While taking a break from studio orders I started planning...

Brainstorming...

Designing...

Sketching!

 

"Flow Blue..." will be my newest punch needle piece. 

I know it will have royal blue!

I know it will have sunshine yellow!

I really just wanted an excuse to paint in French Ultramarine,

Ultramarine Light and Ultramarine Deep!

I will share bits and pieces of "Flow Blue..." soon~

Hope your weekend is off to a wonderful start!

Winter Watercolors~

Hope your Thanksgiving Holiday has been filled

with wonderful memories~

Walnut ink and watercolor play...

In between special orders, holiday cooking and dressing the house!

Winter friends that have disappeared from our lawn for now...

We are enjoying a warm and sunny day!

Not a creature was stirring... 

Meadows filled with joyful conversations~

We woke to a blanket of wet snow Thanksgiving morning...

Every tree was dressed in white~

The gardens coated with shimmering layers!

While the pies were baking I sketched Queen Anne's Lace~

Wishing you a joy-filled week, Sweet Friends! 

Watercolor Sketchbook...

My favorite part of walking 3 miles/day...

All the treasures there are to gather!

Sometimes the 'find' is heavy & it becomes part of the workout~

(Probably not often enough!)

Some-days there isn't a find~

It's a moment in time.

We had our 1st killing frost rather late this year. 

All had plenty of time to gather & harvest, enjoy tender flowers and prepare.

Not even a slight breeze that morning.

The air was crisp and still~

A single row of petite trees, once covered with golden leaves, caught my eye.

Only a few leaves were still tacked above...

The remainder had fallen in a perfect golden circle around the base of each tree.

 This pretty find was yellow when I pressed it... a non-poisonous leaf-of-three! 

I cannot identify it yet.

(((UPDATE)))
My friend Mary Lou thought it looked like an Ash...

It is a Black Ash!
Also known as "Hoop, Swamp, Basket & Brown Ash"
Prefers cool, swampy habitats. Seldom thrives on dry ground.
Along the canal is the perfect home for her~

I wasn't sure of these leaves... nothing we have in our yard.

With a bit of research they appear to be White Mulberry leaves...

As with snowflakes~ no two are alike!

Our Maples are dropping pounds of seeds this year~

The flower beds and gardens will be stuffed with mini Maple trees in the Springtime.

Not the same size as the 'actual size' but certainly the same wing shape...

That's a match!

Beautiful rose hips are spotted along the paths~

Bright red and teasing me to gather!

I tip-toed through a poison ivy patch to gather these...

They looked so rich compared to the ones that were EASY to gather!

(Isn't that how it always is?)

I have not finished my sketch for the pretty berries...

Too busy trying to identify some new finds.

I'll find a fresh sprig and work on that after I finish up some special orders~

Mix in a little work with play...

Wait!

Mix in a little play with work! (giggle)

Hope your path is filled with wonderful treasures, Sweet Friends!