Looking for Potential

I've been fond of this: last spring my neighbor, Bernie, put up a nest box (he got the plans from a magazine) for the local wood ducks [Aix sponsa.] I took this picture two days later. At the far left, you can see the couple who are staking their claim by standing on the box. The female made several forays inside to check on suitability.
On the branch at right, waiting for possible developments, are two more pair. This was 75 percent of the local ducks. And 100 percent of the nest boxes I knew about. We left the house by The Little Union Canal before we could see any nesting or hatching activity. But somethings must have gone all right, because this winter, when we came back, we have 10 pair of wood ducks, instead of four. Good things can still happen in America!

The furnace got restored to health today! It took the heating guy more than two hours to install the new "board" and now we have HEAT. I think the dachshunds are already missing the heated lap throw.

This was day two of the 15-day art challenge. I tried something a little more complex, and I actually like a trial sketch of something else better, What I have found in two days only is that there are plenty of ideas, and they spring forth as soon as one picks up the brush. I have an improvised "studio"on the dining room table, but, for possible greater productivity, I should set up a better place to paint. I am not very messy, though, so it is OK.

Memory Thread: The first time I took part in a local museum's Monotype Marathon (Artists spent all day making spontaneous prints in various local print studios, and one print from each artist was chosen to be auctioned off to raise funds for the Museum of Contemporary Art in San Jose.) I worked in a studio with a vibrant, noisy woman in paint-spattered clothing who actually threw paint. She took great pride in being messy, and kept promoting it as part of her persona. There was as much paint as cloth visible on her jeans. Other artists shielded their prints and blank paper as well as they could, but some things were ruined. I don't remember if anyone did anything, but the climate was quite unhappy. Are you a messy artist or a neat one? Be sure to leave room for art, or some sort of "making" jewelry, embroidery, beading, quilting or knitting in 2014.

Have a blessed 2014!