"You say goodbye and I say hello!"

My house sparrow Birdette is conflicted. He does not want the year to end, but he's excited for the year to come! This year was full of craziness, good and not so good. But we thoroughly enjoyed the good and survived the bad only to learn and grow from the experiences.

I love the new year, so much promise and hope! Who knows what this year will bring, I am giddy with anticipation:)

Goodbye, Old Year 2013!

Hello, New Year 2014!

This concept with the adorably plump Birdette perched on a hibiscus has become an unwitting series for me. It's simple. It's fun. And it's Hawaii:)
I chose the 'Anianiau for Hawaiian Holiday because he is an almost all yellow bird with a slightly green undertone. The yellow hibiscus is our state flower and naturally I had to go hot pink for the background to spice things up.
I always feel blessed when a bird flies up, settles on a beautiful flower and visits me for a fleeting moment. It brightens my day. So this little guy is my blessing to you. He just came by really quick to say hello and wish us well. Every day should start like this!

I had to keep this painting out of sight until Christmas for Steve and Kathleen. Steve stealthily commissioned a painting with red birds and sunflowers, so we ended up with 'Apapane and North Shore sunflowers. I had a lot of fun building up the sunflowers and giving the birds "dopey face" as Steve calls it. They look so happy up on their sunflower perch. A very cute couple, just like Steve and Kathleen:)

I know this title doesn't seem very creative, but I love the Beatles song of this title and I just didn't want to embellish it.

My little blackbird is a Common Blackbird. They are found all over Europe and Asia, some made it to Australia and New Zealand, and an escapee or two made their way to North America. In the US, we have blackbirds but they are called New World Blackbirds and consist of all different looking birds. Some have yellow heads, other have red patches on their wings. I kept it simple with my mellow all black blackbird. He's just enjoying the breeze on his yellow flower branch. It looks like a crisp, clear winter morning, a little chilly, so it's a good thing he's nice and plump!

"The lovers, the dreamers and me!"

My twin brother's song is this one, "The Rainbow Connection". Sung by Kermit the Frog on a happy log at home:) My twin bro is the sweet one, the mama's boy who loves to snuggle and loves to love. He always takes his time but he finds what's best for him. In the end, my brother always finds his rainbow connection.

When I was a wee baby, my mom and dad gave all of us children our own special songs. My mom would play my song and I'd know it was mine and that it made her think of me. My older brother Mike's song is this one, "You And Me Against The World". It's a pretty amazing song to have as your song, if you listen to the lyrics. Basically it says no matter what is going on, no matter if we are not together, we will always have each other and nothing can break that bond. Powerful stuff! Mike is the first-born, and has always done things his way, so this song suits his strength of character.

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope everyone has a great day with all the family and friends with good food, hearty beverages and gifts galore... But most importantly, enjoy time with loved ones!

I used this title before on a different painting, but I decided that painting didn't work for me, so I painted over the canvas. "You Are My Sunshine" is a special song for me. It is the song that my mom would sing to me at bedtime and I would beg for her to sing it more than once. She only sang the first verse, not the verse about leaving, etc. So any painting that holds the title of this song has to live up to my childhood memory, some big shoes to fill. Chickadees are one of my and my mom's most favorite birds and the California Poppy always reminds me of home with both my parents. We had wild poppies in our backyard. Naturally putting them together makes sense although most chickadees are too heavy to properly perch on a delicate poppy. Thats the perks of being an artist, I can do what I like;)

Love you Mom and Dad! Wish we could all be together today, but at least we have crazy technology like FaceTime so we can see each other and all talk at the same time and interrupt each other... I love the holidays!

Stop it! He is too cute!

This is my friend, the male Northern Cardinal. He drops by my house every day to say hello, usually with his lady following close behind. I hear the cardinal pairs calling back and forth on my morning walks. The male sitting on a fence post will call out, "tooweep, toooweep!" And then, from a tree or two away, the female calls back or flies down to meet him. They are just amazing birds and bring a smile to my face every time I see that flash of red.

My friend here kinda reminds me of Santa's little helper... Merry Christmas!!

The 'Apapane is my go-to bird for bright red color. They are native Hawaiian birds with bright red plumage and a touch of white on the underparts with black wings. Pink and blue is the hot color combination for today and I love how the two colors go together. Of course I had to use REO Speedwagon's "Keep On Loving You" for this painting, my birds look like they have no intent of leaving each other's side.

One of my youngest collectors, Makenzie, is back in town and inspired me to paint some blue/pink combos for her room... So here's my first attempt! This is a Mountain Bluebird with Hawaiian plumeria. We actually don't have bluebirds in Hawaii, but different types exist all over the mainland. It's been so cold lately, maybe this little bluebird decided to take a long vacation and made the trek to Hawaii. Can't say I blame him!