Since I've done so many bird paintings over the last few years I've decided to compile a bunch of them and make a 2017 calendar with them. Here I put my most popular bird painting, the chickadees and apples, on the front cover. The cover shows the date as "20XX" because it is customizable. If you already have enough calendars for 2017 come back later and customize it for 2018. Wow, I'm talking about 2018? Scary to be thinking of being just a few years away from 2020 already, isn't it!? Geez, when I was a kid even the year 2000 was eons away. The year 2020 was total sci-fi. My, how time flies! Haha!
Here are a few interior images. They have background colors that I chose to match, but you can change those if you don't happen to like the colors I picked.
You can also customize more than the date and background. There are several different calendar grid styles, and you can add or remove images and text as you please. Don't like the words "Happy Holidays" on the December page? You can change that to "Merry Christmas" or something else, or remove it entirely. Add special dates, such as your anniversary, or a child's birthday, or other events. It's all changeable. That's what I love about Zazzle, is that you, the customer, can personalize anything and everything about their products. So have fun with it and make it truly unique for yourself or as a gift!
Sep 28, 2016
Sep 27, 2016
New Christmas Birds Painting Finished!
If you've been following my posts you know I've been working on a digital painting of birds with a Christmas theme. I actually finished this painting last week and wanted to post it right away but other things got in the way. But I had a good reason. I went out of town for a few days to celebrate my dad's 90th birthday! How often do people get to see their parents live so long? I've seen so many friends lose parents, spouses, or even children way before their time that feel very fortunate my father is still with us at 90 years old!
My sister flew out to Seattle from New York. Then we drove down to Vancouver, WA where my other sister, and our father, live. We also have a cousin there. My dad loves seafood so we all took him to Joe's Crab Shack in Vancouver, WA, which has a nice view of the Columbia River from the dining area. Here's a picture of us, me on the far left, my two sisters on either side of Dad, and our cousin in the front. We're all showing off our goofy glowing party rings that Dad finds amusing.
Dad had a great time and has decided we should have a party like this every 90 days instead of every 90 years! Haha!
Ok, so that's why I didn't post my finished bird painting earlier. But I'm back now so here it is!
I designed this for use on holiday greeting cards, obviously. But it also works on other items you might like to have for some holiday decorations, like this throw pillow.
However, I know in some cases you might not want the greeting so I also made a version without the colorful "Happy Holidays" banner for use on other holiday decor where you might want something a little more natural looking. This throw blanket, for example.
I also made a version with just the cardinals that works better on smaller objects like this Christmas ornament.
I don't have these images on all the products I want to put them on yet. But feel free to browse around my Pixels page or my Zazzle store to see what's currently available. Here are the links.
Birds and Garland products on Pixels
Birds and Garland on Zazzle
Cardinals and Garland on Zazzle
I'm still adding this image to products in my Zazzle store so if you don't see what you want check back soon, or leave a comment here telling me what you want me to add next.
My sister flew out to Seattle from New York. Then we drove down to Vancouver, WA where my other sister, and our father, live. We also have a cousin there. My dad loves seafood so we all took him to Joe's Crab Shack in Vancouver, WA, which has a nice view of the Columbia River from the dining area. Here's a picture of us, me on the far left, my two sisters on either side of Dad, and our cousin in the front. We're all showing off our goofy glowing party rings that Dad finds amusing.
Dad had a great time and has decided we should have a party like this every 90 days instead of every 90 years! Haha!
Ok, so that's why I didn't post my finished bird painting earlier. But I'm back now so here it is!
I designed this for use on holiday greeting cards, obviously. But it also works on other items you might like to have for some holiday decorations, like this throw pillow.
However, I know in some cases you might not want the greeting so I also made a version without the colorful "Happy Holidays" banner for use on other holiday decor where you might want something a little more natural looking. This throw blanket, for example.
I also made a version with just the cardinals that works better on smaller objects like this Christmas ornament.
I don't have these images on all the products I want to put them on yet. But feel free to browse around my Pixels page or my Zazzle store to see what's currently available. Here are the links.
Birds and Garland products on Pixels
Birds and Garland on Zazzle
Cardinals and Garland on Zazzle
I'm still adding this image to products in my Zazzle store so if you don't see what you want check back soon, or leave a comment here telling me what you want me to add next.
Sep 14, 2016
New Christmas Birds Digital Painting - WIP4
In my previous Christmas birds post I had just finished up the 3rd bird, the black-capped chickadee. In this one I'm sharing a quick progression of the 4th and final bird on the fence, the eastern bluebird.
I'll start with the outline image I sketched for the basic size, shape, and placement of the bird.
Next here I've blocked in the bird's basic colors.
Next, I remove the outline layer and start adding the details, texture, and shading. Here you can see the texture of the feathers on the head as well as eye detail.
And here's a detail of the wing feathers defined.
And finally, the finished bluebird!
Next I'm moving on to adding more decorations to the garland on the fence. Then I'll add a little bit of background and snow to the painting and it will be done! Stay tuned.
I'll start with the outline image I sketched for the basic size, shape, and placement of the bird.
Next here I've blocked in the bird's basic colors.
Next, I remove the outline layer and start adding the details, texture, and shading. Here you can see the texture of the feathers on the head as well as eye detail.
And here's a detail of the wing feathers defined.
And finally, the finished bluebird!
Next I'm moving on to adding more decorations to the garland on the fence. Then I'll add a little bit of background and snow to the painting and it will be done! Stay tuned.
Sep 11, 2016
Zazzle Sunday Steal - Things for the Kitchen
Today's Sunday Steal includes things for your kitchen such as cutting boards, aprons, and food serving trays.
Here are a few samples from my Zazzle store. We'll start with one of the most popular subjects, horses!
It's not too soon to start thinking about Christmas.
USE CODE: ZSUNSTEAL148
Here are a few samples from my Zazzle store. We'll start with one of the most popular subjects, horses!
It's not too soon to start thinking about Christmas.
Sep 7, 2016
Adult Coloring Books About Birds
While we're waiting for the release of my 50 state birds and flowers coloring book, called Birds at Home
, I thought I'd share some other coloring books of birds to hold you over.
We'll start with a well-known coloring book artist, Valentina Harper. Her book has bird drawings full of textures and patterns to fill in.
This one has a simpler patterns to color that might be good for the younger artist.
Here's a nice one where the birds are the main image. Not a lot of background but the birds are intricately detailed with patterns to color in.
Here's another one of birds with intricate patterns to color in.
Here's one with not only pattern-filled birds but also full-page intricately detailed feathers.
For more realistic coloring, for birds without patterns, here's an Audubon birds coloring book.
Another one without patterns that is suitable for younger artists:
Here's another one. This one's nice if you want more background scenery in your bird coloring pages.
This one is sort of a combination coloring book. Some of the bird are more realistic line art, some have more pattern. It also has a variety of other elements with the birds such as flowers, butterflies, and bird nests.
This coloring book is just about birds of prey for those who love eagles, hawks, and owls.
And, finally, one of Amazon's best sellers, a coloring book just about owls. This is a cute and quirky coloring book with owls in top hats, and owls riding rocking horses, owls surrounded by flowers, or fantasy landscapes. But all these other elements give you lots of things to color besides just the birds and will keep you busy for many hours.
All these will keep you busy until my coloring book is released in October. Of course, you can also pre-order it any time so you can be one of the first to get it when it's released!
, I thought I'd share some other coloring books of birds to hold you over.We'll start with a well-known coloring book artist, Valentina Harper. Her book has bird drawings full of textures and patterns to fill in.
This one has a simpler patterns to color that might be good for the younger artist.
Here's a nice one where the birds are the main image. Not a lot of background but the birds are intricately detailed with patterns to color in.
Here's another one of birds with intricate patterns to color in.
Here's one with not only pattern-filled birds but also full-page intricately detailed feathers.
For more realistic coloring, for birds without patterns, here's an Audubon birds coloring book.
Another one without patterns that is suitable for younger artists:
Here's another one. This one's nice if you want more background scenery in your bird coloring pages.
This one is sort of a combination coloring book. Some of the bird are more realistic line art, some have more pattern. It also has a variety of other elements with the birds such as flowers, butterflies, and bird nests.
This coloring book is just about birds of prey for those who love eagles, hawks, and owls.
And, finally, one of Amazon's best sellers, a coloring book just about owls. This is a cute and quirky coloring book with owls in top hats, and owls riding rocking horses, owls surrounded by flowers, or fantasy landscapes. But all these other elements give you lots of things to color besides just the birds and will keep you busy for many hours.
All these will keep you busy until my coloring book is released in October. Of course, you can also pre-order it any time so you can be one of the first to get it when it's released!
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