Posts tagged birds
Tip Thyme Tuesday

Take Time For You!

It’s hard to believe it has been a few weeks. Helping others, catching up from being gone, memorial service, visiting family members, etc. and processing losses and blessings differently. Time flies by faster than you hope. These things have propelled me to desire taking an outing for some reflection. Finding a cabin somewhere and taking long walks in the woods seems most appealing to me right now. No traffic, no media-quiet. Thoughts of seeing the wildlife and listening to the birds fluttering and singing in the trees, and hearing the babbling brook soothes my thoughts. However, during the week coming, the closest I can come to this allurement is making stops here and there taking in small scenes I find during my walks or travels. Either way it is important time I need. Take time for yourself! Small moments or a few days are important for scheduling into your weekly and monthly plans. Be deliberate or it will not happen the way you need it to take care of yourself. Take thyme for taking care of you. It’s important. You’re important. Never forget.

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Sketchbook Color

Sketchbook Time with Birds!

My commitment to explore birds in color this week is taking flight! The birds are much faster than I am. As soon as I think I have something…boom, they are off to their next tree, or branch, or sip of nectar. The great thing about it though is that it forces me to watch for color, shape, size, and behaviors. It is so fun to find and identify each bird, is it not? My sketchbook may not capture everything that I saw, but it is a moment in exploration that I will recall every time I see that page again. I will also know that particular bird better next time we encounter one another. Sketching and painting plein aire isn’t just about learning, it is an expression of the joy and hope in exploring. A page, a treasure, a moment of Wonder. Take thyme to create your Wonder-ful moments.

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May Migration

Birds! They are everywhere! Hurray!

Spring Migration has been underway for the birds for weeks. However, after a bit of warmer weather and a smidge of rain (and I mean a smidge, as we are having a very dry spring) the birds are expressing their joy with abundant song and showing their colors nearly everywhere I turn. I want to spend this week starting some color showing of my own by painting birds I see in this week’s exploration. What will I find? Where do they live? What are their favorite foods? What other fun things in life do these birds remind me of and why?

Join me in taking time for your own exploration. What will you find? What treasures will you take time to enjoy this week? They are all around us, we just have to take the moments to look, appreciate them, and share their beauty. Explore, beautiful surprises await us!

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Enjoying the Beautiful

Taking Time to Take in Beauty is Important.

Often in hast to accomplish one item we will miss something just as beautiful, or even more extraordinary. We have that one task we wanted to tackle when we started out on our trip and don’t really want to be interrupted. This is how the week started, but a whole string of different treasures took the priority. And it was well worth the trade.

I was prepared for sketching and painting with my sketchbook and paints in hand. There were numerous times this week I set out to fill play with spring color. And yet, the pages still are empty; they are still calling out for color and line. Why do they wait? Because when out exploring there was such spring beauty budding forth, blooming and singing I found myself clicking my camera here, and then there. Chimpmunks, playing squirrel families, Baltimore Orioles, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, Black and White Warblers are to name a few. Amazing beauties that I just had to try to capture with my camera. It’s another moment that comes and goes in a flash. It’s beautiful and it was the quickest way to keep that moment fresh. It was being willing to do something different to take advantage of the beautiful moments when they were available. The time may not come again. It’s being flexible. It’s being in the moment. The sketchbook will wait a couple more days, but it too will have the beautiful that it’s pages deserve along with extra lingering moments to make them precious too. Be flexible. Have fun. Create moments of joy, today.

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