Orchids and Birds

 Orange Orchid

6x8"

oil

"Come over and paint my orchid," my friend said, so I spent the morning surrounded by parrots and other birds.  Tonio, the canary, was the star singer.  Harley, the African gray parrot, pleaded for a cracker, Lyric, the cockatoo, just said, "Hi, Lyric," over and over.  The lovebird and parrotlets chattered, while outside the mockingbirds and cardinals sang.  Not a bad way to spend a morning.

Yesterday, I actually gave up and wiped a painting off!  My husband had handed me an onion and said, "Here, paint this."  I had just been inspired by reading a book about impressionistic palette knife painting, so I experimented with a new technique.  Rats.  It didn't work out as easily as the art book proclaimed.  So I gave the onion back for my husband to cook.  Every failure is just practice for future work.  I'm not ready to give up my brushes, but will experiment with the darn palette knife later.