Serendipity

I purchased this print years before I ever saw the neighbors horses much less started caring for them.  Gracie  (who wasn't even born yet) looks like the white one and Brownie has a blaze on her forehead and looks just like the brown horse. Isn't the world strange and fascinating?  Have things like this happened to you?  

Face The Wind

Seasons of change

Nature waits

The animals face the wind

Donna B. Shaw


The genesis of this painting was the approach of winter and the hardships that come with it.  Then, I wrote the haiku and it morphed into the future animals face, with human over-population, the loss of habitat and environment, extinctions, critical mass, etc., etc.

Actius Luna

This is a gouache of a Luna moth I did some time ago. I painted it from an actual deceased moth I found outside.  What is really interesting is that when we built our house 29 years ago, we cleared out a thicket wreathed in oak trees.  That summer, and every year since then, in the side yard,  Luna moths return to the same exact place, fat white bodies full of eggs.  How in the world these future offspring/eggs know where to return each summer is simply unimaginable to me.

Cipher This!

As is often the case, I have to figure how to do things myself.  Frustrating, yes.  Knitting, painting, sculpting, sewing, carving, writing, cooking/baking...I would much rather have someone show me how.  It would save much trial and error, research, etc. I want to make my own cipher to use on my prints/artworks.  After several hours of attempting the smallest of workings and carvings, I had to drive to the city/crafts store yet again, for more supplies and another third attempt. I am the poster child for learning from mistakes.  I know I'll finally get one, but this journey is not more fun than the destination.

THINGS THAT GO BOOMP IN THE NIGHT

This Cecropia Moth (Hyalophora Cecropia) fluttered down to my farm in May. A giant silk moth, it is the largest moth in North America. She has a full 6 inch wingspan and is a beauty. Or, was. They have no mouth parts and can not eat: they are here for only 7 - 10 days; their raison d'etre is to mate and lay eggs before they go where moths go to die (it is in my drawer in this instance, that is, post mortem). The offspring, huge green caterpillars, spend all their time eating, I suspect, on hickory leaves, before spinning a cocoon then waiting out the winter to repeat the life cycle.

This is a close up of Cecropia. The males have larger antennae and the females, larger bodies. I painted her in gouache and am going to sell prints in my etsy shop. This life sized print is the first in a series of flora and fauna paintings I will be doing - and of course insects too. It measures 9 x 12 and is printed on ivory colored card stock paper. The print will be signed and numbered and sell for $18.00. PS ~ as an aside, may I comment that this print looks so much better than I have been able to photograph. I have tried every setting on my camera and not been able to get a decent reproduction of this print. Does anyone have suggestions? I have a Nikon Coolpix S630.