1292. The Secrets of Silence

 https://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/diane-campion/1292-the-secrets-of-silence/1194218

The Sunset Trail in Door County is one of the most peaceful places I've experienced.  I love to hear the crunch of the path's carpet and the serenade of the birds.  Occasionally, if you are lucky, you will see a beautiful deer or doe in the stillness.  In springtime, you may be lucky enough to catch the beauty of the tiny wild irises carpeting a blanket of blue.  You will come to the still water of a stream, and possibly an old cemetery if you veer off a bit.  One can best experience this while being silent.  Words are a distraction from the quiet moments in nature.

1129 Things Are Looking Up

 This is a spur of the moment painting without a lot of thought beforehand.  The tree is located in Peninsula State Park in Door County, one of my favorite places to visit and enjoy nature.  I'm happy with how the painting turned out and thought of naming it "The Height of Optimism" until I googled the phrase--- and discovered it is used cynically for one liner jokes. Nope.

https://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/diane-campion/1129-things-are-looking-up/974395

1037 Vacation Rental

 Each nest painting is a little different, and so much fun to create.  This painting was a commissioned piece.  The buyer picked a nest painting she liked and I tried to recreate it.  

1035 Double Occupancy

 

I know it must seem like nest overload, but I just had to paint this in a large format.  What do you think?

https://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/diane-campion/1035-double-occupancy/878946

1022 Twinsies, 1023 Solo Flight, 1024 Three Kids, 1025 Only Child

                                                                    1022 Twinsies

                                                                1023 Solo Flight

                                                                1024 Three Kids

                                                                            1025 Only Child

These nest paintings, and others are in preparation for Edgewood Orchard Galleries opening exhibit and sale called Taking Flight.  They are lots of fun to paint and are a perfect size at 6 x 6" x 1 1/2"d to place in a small space, a book shelf or table top, although they do have hanging wires on them.  Only 1022 is framed.

https://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/diane-campion/1022-twinsies-1023-solo-flight-1024-three-kids-1025-only-child/870188 

1017 Triplets

 I am preparing for Edgewood Orchard Galleries' show and exhibit, "Taking Flight"  this summer.  The nest paintings are a fun and relaxing activity.  

https://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/diane-campion/1017-triplets/863539

1012 Three's a Crowd

 I am preparing for the summer gallery season, and this little painting at 6" x 6" x 1.5" fits right in with the "Taking Flight" show.  Nest painting is lots of fun, and very liberating.

https://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/diane-campion/1012-threes-a-crowd/858121

852 Peek-a-boo

The owl family is moving around a little more now that Baby is somewhat comfortable with leaving "home," mostly because of parental or predator pressure.   He/she prefers to stay close to the trunk of familiar trees, and seems to be more comfortable with keeping Mom or Dad right next to her/him. Having these creatures near has been a great way to observe nature in all its glory and to encourage neighborly friendliness, and everyone seems to enjoy sharing their experiences and observations.

Thanks again to my neighbors,  Steve and Ann Gardiner, for generously sharing their photos with me, along with permission to paint from them.

I have been keeping busy experimenting with abstracts and different media.  Trust me, it is SO much more difficult than it looks.  To me, a good abstract painting is not just slapping paint on a canvas and calling it an abstract, rather, it has all the elements of a good painting,  and it has been a very slow process, but I am really enjoying it.  My #1 critic has given his approval, so I feel I am on the right track, although he doesn't quite understand why I wouldn't want to stick with "my day job."  ho hum.

"852 Peek-a-boo"
acrylic - 8x10 in

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/diane-campion/852-peek-a-boo/575561

851 Under Her Wing

Once again this year, we are fortunate enough to have a Great Horned Owl family in our neighborhood. We don't know if these are the same owls as those who graced us in two previous years but we are addicted to observing them in this fairly urban setting.

There is only one owlet this year,  hatched earlier than in previous years, we Owl Ladies speculate because of the mild winter.   As an "only child" we have observed that this owlet is larger than expected, and more "pampered."  We have watched him/her stubbornly refuse to fledge, even when tempted with a plump, tasty rabbit dinner.

Today, the owl family was driven from their pine tree by a "murder" of crows.  I'm not making that up, that's what a group of crows is called!

Thanks to my neighbor, Steve Gardiner, for the photo reference for this painting.  He has a camera that can capture the owls in all their glory and is very generous in sharing his photos with all of the Owl Addicts.

"851 Under Her Wing"
acrylic - 20x16 in

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/diane-campion/851-under-her-wing/574847

805 Inspired by Nature

As an artist, it is very worthwhile to take time off to "play" and try new things--new media, new techniques, subjects, etc.  This certainly has been a week where variety played a big part.

I  broke out the water-soluble oil paints and made a big mess.  I played around with alcohol inks and have dyed fingers I hope will come clean by the weekend.  Lastly, I hosted my Garden Club friends two days for rock painting, which was loads of fun.  I love encouraging others to discover how much fun being creative is!

The above painting was an experiment.  I photographed mushrooms in my front lawn and thought they were very interesting and pretty and, again, "had" to paint them.  A Canadian artist, Sandrine Pelissier, has been very inspiring to me to try new media and techniques.  There are so many different inks/paints/other products in this painting and while I am not sure they are all compatible, it was indeed a learning experience.

"805 Inspired by Nature"
mixed - 8x10 in

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/diane-campion/805-inspired-by-nature/486945

please see blog: dianecampion.blogspot.com

655 Public Enemy Number Two

Oh, they look so cute scurrying to and fro, don't they?  HA!  Not when they are in your kitchen!  Yep, Alvin somehow made his way into our house, and scared the living daylights out of me.  Neighbor Larry came to the rescue, but admitted he was beginning to think I was imagining things, because he didn't actually see the little guy at first, who wasn't so little, by the way.  From my vantage point of standing on the kitchen chair, I saw the chubby guy squeeze his body through the pet gate grid.  It was like a cartoon.  If only I was composed enough to take a video.  Alvin enjoyed his meal of peanut butter and Italian bread stick and was let back outside later that evening. 

"655 Public Enemy Number Two"
acrylic - 6x6 in

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/diane-campion/655-public-enemy-number-two/398063

653 Public Enemy Number One

Okay, maybe the title is just a little dramatic, but mention rabbits to my gardening friends and they turn crazed.  My bachelor's buttons and liatrus didn't have a chance and my swiss chard and marigolds are chewed to stubs. 

"653 Public Enemy Number One"
acrylic - 6x8 in
http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/diane-campion/653-public-enemy-number-one/397881

634 Two Mighty Oaks

Today was a day to experiment after completing two larger paintings.  I started out using India ink and acrylic paint, intending it to be a black/grey/white painting, but somehow it evolved into a painting with limited colors.  It felt good just to play around on this rainy day.

One of the really nice things about painting on a daily basis is the opportunity to try new techniques and subjects.  It's been a wonderful experience for me, with 634 daily paintings under my belt.

"634 Two Mighty Oaks"
mixed - 10x8 in

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/diane-campion/634-two-mighty-oaks/391344

619 Great Horned Owl Tribute

The owl family is still in the neighborhood, traveling from tree to tree.  The owls have grown quite a bit, and seem confident with their flying.  It reminds me of children once they get the rhythm of riding a two wheeler--there's no stopping them.  The crows sometimes indicate their location, but the owls seem to be fending for themselves.  It has been nearly impossible to get photos of them as they are too far away and the trees have filled in.  I still try, because I'll have a record of where and when.  Two nights ago, my neighbor and I could hear them very close to us and we were sneaking in back yards in the dark to try to figure out where.  Yes, we are owl junkies and no, we didn't get caught.

I hope you like this tribute,  done in watercolor with ink enhancement.  Mama (or Papa?) owl is sewn on to the page.  I particularly enjoyed hand lettering the words and painting them.  I am also working on a couple more pages in this style, one in particular of the willow tree.

"619 Great Horned Owl Tribute"
watercolor - 11x7.5 in

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/diane-campion/619-great-horned-owl-tribute/386584

609 Common Tern

I enjoyed incorporating calligraphy in this painting, and I think I will continue with this practice in the future for this type of painting.  I am currently taking a class where seeing the minute details of nature is key and we will be using watercolor, colored pencils and ink.  I know I will enjoy the opportunity to paint things owl and nature related.

"609 Common Tern"
watercolor - 4x12 in

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/diane-campion/609-common-tern/373980

608 Certain Teed

My neighbor came across this house sparrow nest with three little eggs in it, and called me to see it because she knows I love to paint all things bird-related.  You may wonder why the title "Certain Teed."  We are having a new roof put on our house and the sparrows included in their nest a very long piece of plastic packaging material from a Certain Teed product being used on the roof.  The roof project just started five days ago, so it didn't take long for the nest builder to forage for interesting materials.  Two scraggly feathers are also included in the nest.

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/diane-campion/608-certain-teed/373616

607 Triplets

The owls, Spring weather, and a recent visit to Joanna Poehlmann's exhibit (my second) have put me in a mood to paint with a bird theme.  I have no idea what kind of bird eggs these are despite my effort to find out, because I found the photo on a copyright free site.  I guess it can be anything you want it to be.   If you have an idea, please let me know.

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/diane-campion/607-triplets/373370

604 Great Horned Owl Primary Wing Feather

My neighbor found this feather in her yard along with the tail feathers of a wren.  The GHO male has been seen perching on this neighbor's chimney and he always seems to be facing in the direction of our house.  I saw a fluffy white cotton tail the other day in the vicinity.  hmmmm.....

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/diane-campion/604-great-horned-owl-primary-wing-feather/372570

602 Will or Cramer?

For a full 24 hours, we could not find the family of Great Horned Owls in the neighborhood, and sadly assumed they left the area, but we joyfully discovered they had moved only a block south from the willow tree.  The babies are more mobile now, but still, at least one parent is usually nearby.  They are not visible to us during the daytime, but at dusk they are busy.  Since they are now a block closer to our house, I am hoping they will get "carry out" from our yard.  I have chased squirrels and chipmunks from our bird feeders, thanks to Oliver's guard.

A giant thank you to Steve Gardiner for taking such beautiful pictures of the owls, including the reference photo for this painting,  for sharing them with friends and neighbors, and for granting permission for me to paint them. 

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/diane-campion/602-will-or-cramer/371974

593 Great Horned Owlet

I have so much on my mind today.  I painted up a storm, but this is what I am most proud of.  As mentioned before, we have a Great Horned Owl family with two babies in our neighborhood, and I can't visit them enough.  I am learning so much about these magnificent creatures and have such a respect for Mother Nature.  We live in a fairly urban area with houses very close together not far from Lake Michigan, but we have more than our share of wildlife.  On Easter Sunday, we had two giant turkeys in our front yard.  We have had coyotes visit as well as deer.  (That combination did not go well.)  Last year, we had baby racoons on our patio. But the owls....they have captured the hearts of many, including mine.  We are waiting for them to fledge, which will be a huge community event.  We are hoping they hang around the neighborhood to keep the rabbit population down. 

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/diane-campion/593-great-horned-owlet/369281