A Snow Bunting and a Squirrel Problem

Here is the painting I have been working on the past few days. I think it's finished now. This sweet bird visited our backyard a few years ago. I didn't even know what kind of bird it was at the time. It looked to me like a cross between a large sparrow and a bunny. So fluffy! I looked it up and found that it was a snow bunting. I'm glad it stayed long enough for me to take a few photos of him.

I did a previous painting of him but I like this one much more. I hope to have prints and cards available with this image in my shop in the next week or so.

I love birds and have always fed them in our backyard. Having a garden that welcomes wildlife is important to me. I also wanted Emma and Chloé to learn about nature through our garden. From when they were toddlers, I kept bird, caterpillar and butterfly guides near our back door so we could identify our garden visitors. Among the birds that have visited our yard are sparrows (many, many sparrows), chickadees, cardinals, blue jays, juncos, robins, swallows, mourning doves, cedar waxwings, hummingbirds, house finches, goldfinches and woodpeckers. We've had rare visits by a kingfisher, a hawk and a ruffed grouse. Plus the sweet snow bunting.

We have been in our current house for over 16 years. It was a new neighbourhood when we moved in so there were very few trees initially, which also meant that there weren't any squirrels. But there are now! The trees have matured. Now my bird seed isn't just attracting my feathered friends, it is attracting squirrels as well...which would be fine except for Meeko. Meeko is calm and accepting when birds are at our feeders. But squirrels? Oh my. He gets riled up, wants to chase them and he barks...a lot. I try to keep him quiet for the sake of our neighbours and our own sanity but it's hard to do. Last week, Chloé was studying for exams and Meeko was barking incessantly at the squirrels. She suggested that maybe I need to stop feeding the birds or to find another place for the feeder that is not visible from the house. That is such a hard thought for me although she may be right. I'm trying to think of alternate solutions. I thought of placing food on the ground somewhere to divert the squirrels' attention. I've even thought of placing paper at Meeko's eye level on the back door so he can't see them from inside. If you have a brilliant idea, let me know!

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On another topic, I have a few of my prints on sale currently! You can have a look at them here. I've been working on my shop a lot these past few weeks. I now have my art organized by category and theme. I hope it makes browsing more efficient and interesting. 

My Art at the 2015 Canadian Screen Awards!

In January, I was very excited to be contacted and asked to provide some of my art cards to the presenters at the Canadian Screen Awards taking place in Toronto on March 1st.

This prestigious awards ceremony which honours excellence in Canadian film, television and digital media will be hosted by actress and comedian Andrea Martin. Confirmed presenters include Kiefer Sutherland, Julianne Moore, Kim Cattrall, Megan Follows, Tatiana Maslany and Eugene Levy, along with many others. My cards will be going into gift bags along with lots of other wonderful products.

Above is the collection of note cards that I assembled--five cards featuring some of my favourite watercolour paintings. I think these images provide a good sense of me as a Canadian artist. The paintings I chose were inspired by my garden, forested areas in our region and a beach visited on a vacation. I chose my popular 'Maple Leaves' image as the centre of my collection, since the maple leaf is an iconic symbol of Canada.

I considered including my 'Winter Forest' painting but then thought 'No...we've all had enough winter at this point!'. Instead I included two of my spring garden images.

Because I print my cards in my studio, feed them into my printer one by one and finish them by hand, it took me about four days to print, trim, score and package everything. These cards were produced with love and care!

What an amazing thrill to share my watercolour art with such a talented group of people! I really hope that they enjoy my artwork.

For those of you in Canada, the Canadian Screen Awards will air on Sunday March 1st at 8:00 p.m. on CBC (8:30 in NT).

This special note card collection is now available for purchase in my art shop: http://www.trowelandpaintbrush.com/product/nature-collection-set-of-watercolour-cards.

I am constantly adding new work to my art shop and will continue to add things in upcoming weeks. I hope you'll take a peek every now and then.

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Exciting News! My Own Shop!

I have wanted to have my own website for so long!  A couple of weeks ago, I bought my own domain name (trowelandpaintbrush) and began setting up my own shop.

I customized a design that is offered on the Big Cartel site. I am so proud of myself as two weeks ago, I barely knew a thing about HTML. By googling when I got stuck, I was able to learn enough to tweak the format to something that reflects me and suits my paintings.

I love how it looks and hope you do too. It's pretty and filled with light.

www.trowelandpaintbrush.com

This is where I will now sell my original watercolour paintings. There are a still a few originals in my Etsy shop for now but any new paintings will be listed on my new website. I also plan to list some of my cards and prints.

While I have thought of having my own shop for a couple of years, changes in the past year on Etsy made me feel even more motivated to be in a place where I have more control over my work. This is especially important to me when it comes to my original watercolours.  If you know me, you will understand how much thought was put into this. I consider things carefully and think about each and every detail of what I do.

I am hoping that my followers here on my blog, on Instagram and Facebook, will enjoy seeing my work in this new setting. I'm not abandoning my Etsy shop but feel better having my own site where I can showcase my work in a clean and uncluttered environment where I have full control both as an artist and a businessperson.

I hope that you will visit my new site and have a look around. I've added some background information on me. Maybe you'll find something out that you didn't know! If you have any feedback, I would love to hear it.

I wish I could pass around a plate of cookies and some tea, or maybe a platter of cheese and some wine.  I feel like celebrating with you all!

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Holiday Sale!

This is just a sampling of what is available in my Etsy shop at the moment. I am offering 20% off everything (paintings, prints, holiday cards, tags and note cards) today and tomorrow. I don't hold sales very often and this will be my final one of 2014 so don't miss out! Use the coupon code THANKYOU2014 at checkout (November 28th and 29th, 2014. Coupon expires at midnight EST).

I also have a small selection of items on sale today on the Tributary Goods site. There you can use the coupon BLACKFRIDAY14.

Thank you for your ongoing support of my art. It is so appreciated!

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