Birds. Goats and Bears

Sheet metal birds in branches.

Black Capped Chickadee.

Black Bear goes for a walk. Last June the Northern Illinois area had a very rare visitor. A black bear was spotted in several counties sleeping in trees, munching on tender spring plants and ambling across fields for much of the month of June. A few people were frightened but most were delighted to have a rather large teddy bear in their backyard. After a while the bear disappeared and was the topic of discussion in chat rooms, bus rides and probably every diner in Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin. Painted sheet metal bear shows the route he traveled on the reverse side.

The Space between Summer and Autumn

The small space between the last days of summer and Autumn have 

inspired me to linger longer when I'm outside doing chores.

Feeling the last warm days and smelling the dry leafy air as I hang laundry

on the clothesline, I can hear crickets in the grass and a Bluejay call overhead.

Late summer and Monarch Butterflies

"The butterfly and I had lit upon,

Nevertheless, a message from the dawn",

Robert Frost

From the egg laid on the leaf of a milk weed, to a tiny larvae, to an adult caterpillar. The exciting stages of a Monarch butterfly.

The Monarch butterfly used to be abundant but now their numbers are declining.

This summer I learned how to help increase their chances of survival by hand raising.

Because the small egg is vulnerable at this stage it is easy to help 

ensure survival by bringing the plant with the egg into a protected area and raise the small larvae to a full grown caterpillar.  When the caterpillar reaches maturity it forms a perfect jade green capsule..a chrysalis....a perfect container for the miracle that happens next.

Now the chrysalis is formed and begins to transform the body of the

 caterpillar to a butterfly.

Here she is, an exquisite female. 

Butterfly letting go.

A drawing in honor of these beautiful silent creatures.

Late July

Blackberry lilies with Misha painting in background.

 When the bloom has faded, it coils up like a spring, later, the plant
produces it's seeds which resemble blackberries.

summertime images.

I'm spending more time in the garden now, for
the wheel is turning and I can already feel the cooler times ahead.

Borage, Pansies and Bumblebees are part of the rhythm of the day.

The light is changing and colors are softer.

"this is the garden:colours come and go,

frail azures fluttering from night's outer wing

strong silent greens silently lingering,

absolute lights like baths of golden snow.

This is the garden:pursed lips do blow

upon cool flutes within wide glooms,and sing

(of harps celestial to the quivering string)

invisible faces hauntingly and slow."

                                                 e.e. cummings This Is The Garden

Painting on Tin

Small painting on tin, completed today.

That moment when the creature is still and lets you behold her beauty.

July

Pastel cat on brown paper

The Encounter

pencil drawing-Ramona Felse

Pencil drawing shows a woman and a fawn together on top of a hill.

Spring happenings

It's hard to believe this same spot was frozen and covered in snow just a short time ago.

                                  Lovely spring blooms. 

.

A hen painted on tin.

Sheet metal hen with butterfly

The similarities of artists Marc Chagall and Dori Stuffer

I have often thought of Chagall while viewing  German Artist, Dori Stuffer's paintings.

The incredible color, the dreamlike quality,

 the visions that tell a story.

(Could this be Dori's Bavarian Forest the angel flies above that Marc Chagall has painted?)