Please enjoy this wintry scene along the sunny Big Sur coast. California Condors can be found along uninhabited parts of the shoreline and the Ventana Wilderness nearby. You can experience a plein air paint out from the comfort of your own studio, without the freezing cold wind! Stay safe and warm this holiday season.
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Hi friends! Please join us for a paint-along on the lovely California coast. This video was shot at Monastery Beach, one of our favorite places. This beach has a steep gradient and very large sand grains, so it always has interesting wave patterns and clear water. If you enjoy this please subscribe to our YouTube channel for more paint-alongs (coming soon!) and tutorial videos. We wish you a lovely holiday season and a creative New Year!
If you look closely in this video at the end screen you can see Linda’s watercolors, made using our pigments and stored in our palette boxes and watercolor pans. We also have a selection of brushes and other supplies you need to make your own paints with almost any media.
“Look! Otters!”
One of our artists lives by the Los Angeles River. This week some wildlife (unrestrained by quarantine travel restrictions) came to visit. Here is her account of the Cooper’s Hawk (Accipiter cooperii) that lives on her street.
A few weeks ago I was FaceTiming with friends while walking to the mailbox, when something big and silent flew right over my head. My jaw dropped. It had a long narrow tail like a falcon– I knew it wasn’t a Red Tailed Hawk. I decided to do some Birding from Home and see if I could catch sight of this elusive newcomer again.
In the morning, I sat on the porch with my coffee and kept a keen eye out. I noticed a huge crowd of little birds. Aside from a noisy pair of mockingbirds, there are Cedar Waxwings, mourning doves, fighty little hummingbirds, bright yellow Western Tanagers, phoebes, sparrows, and even blackbirds. I kept coming back at 7:45, but no hawk.
One morning, I slept in a little bit, and came outside to an eerily quiet street. Aside from the constantly noisy mockingbirds, the other little birds were being veryyyyy quiet. Interesting. Someone must be hunting… I took a seat and waited.
..and finally spotted a Cooper’s Hawk!
Over the next few weeks I kept coming out to check on my new neighbor, but she was too good at social distancing!
Finally I got my chance.
I couldn’t believe she was perched so close by.
Then I tried to get closer by taking pictures *through* the binoculars, with interesting results!
Looks like I shot it with a Holga!
Here you can see how the head shape is so different from a Buteo (Red tails and Red-shouldered). Tiny little beak! Long, narrow tail. Amazing flat top hair style!
These pictures don’t do justice to her deep amber eyes, which have a fierce red gleam in the sunlight.
Accipiters are known for their agile hunting style. Unlike Red Tails who drop down suddenly on their prey from above, Accipiters often hunt in wooded areas, turning tightly around trees to pursue small birds.
My neighbor was perched with one foot lifted, looking around and listening carefully. Suddenly she launched herself from the branch and wheeled around to silently dispatch some unlucky squawking thing in the next tree over, which sadly I couldn’t see!
Stay tuned for updates on this fascinating neighbor. And remember–be like the Cooper’s Hawk and practice social distancing!
Ogres are fairy tale creatures, meant to scare the listener or reader with their fearsome looks or behavior. A charming exception to this image are the movie characters, Shrek and Fiona.
To a rose lover and history buff an OGR is an Old Garden Rose! Generally, these are roses that were known to cultivation prior to 1867, at which point the first Hybrid Tea rose, “La France” was introduced. This was the beginning of modern Hybrid Teas, Floribundas, Grandifloras, Miniatures and Shrub roses.
Old roses existed in Europe long before but were generally once-blooming per year. These include the Alba, Centifolia, Damask, Gallica and Moss roses. The famous “Apothecary’s Rose” or “Red Rose of Lancaster” is a Gallica.
In the late 1700’s there was fierce competition by explorers, collectors and botanists (plant scientists) to bring back the newest and rarest of botanical “finds” from their distant travels. In the mid 1790’s several China roses made it to Europe causing a sensation with their ability to be ever-blooming. One of the botanists active during 1843- 1861 was named Robert Fortune. He worked in China, Japan and Taiwan collecting some 250 plant species.
Once China Roses (and “Tea-scented China Roses”) were introduced, their ability to bloom multiple times per year brought them into breeding programs resulting in the Bourbon, Hybrid Perpetual, Noisette and Hybrid Tea roses.
Lovers of OGR’s and Antique Roses know that rare or varieties thought to be extinct can be found in surprising places like old homesteads, very old church grounds, towns and countries with a long, sea-faring history such as Bermuda. Bermuda Mystery Roses include candidates for “Hume’s Blush”, locally known as “Spice”, “Slater’s Crimson China”, locally known as “Belfield” and five others.
Older roses have a soft charm to them, are scented, and are remarkably care-free; requiring little pruning, are hardy and remarkably disease-resistant. Organic rose gardening is a balancing act, allowing beneficial insects, using compost tea, mulching with compost, amending the soil to feed the plants and the beneficial soil microbes.
My thanks to Antique Rose Emporium, helpmefind.com (rose search), Dave’s Garden, Wikipedia, Monticello.org, Smithsonian.org and the Bermuda Rose Society for their websites and published works. Any omissions or mistakes are my own.
Thank you for joining us as we do Pandemic Projects, meant to keep you energized, curious and learning!
