Be Strong | White Squirrel Photo

In addition to painting, I also spend quite a bit of time on my photography. This morning I've been waiting to hear back from a client who commissioned a painting of Archie the Japanese Chin, and in the meantime, I decided to finally create a design with my photo of our neighborhood white squirrel. It's amazing what inspiration can come from these wild creatures. Immediately when I saw the photo of this albino squirrel with his front paws in the position they are, I thought of "Be Strong". Above is one of the products available in my Zazzle shop. To see all the products with this little fella, visit his very own section in my gallery.

Thanks so much for stopping in to view my work and for sharing my website with fellow animal lovers! Comments are always welcome.

InJoy,
♥ Jai
http://www.jaiart.com
Enjoy my mini art gallery on the front page, and shop for limited edition prints, cards, and gifts with your favorite paintings. Be sure to read the news page for upcoming series, events, contests, and more exciting things!

Acrobatic Squirrel

So we put this bird feeder/bath combo in middle of the front yard...thinking the squirrels wouldn't be able to climb up the skinny pole. Lo and behold, it took a week and this fella figured it out:

He spotted the seeds on the ground, and quickly figured out where they came from. And up he goes...

He balances on top....

Then figures out the path to the feeder side...

Aha...there it is!

Maybe if I shake it, more will fall out.

Hey, this is kind of fun!

Time for a little swingin'.

Boy, this is a long stretch for a little squirrel like me!

SUCCESS!

Time to get back down.

Weeeeeeee............

The moral of the story? Never give up! Keep trying...keep climbing...keep stretching...keep shaking and pushing your way to your dreams. You'll get there!

See a short video of this squirrel here. :)

Perfect Pose (Squirrel)

We spilled some birdseed in the grass right by the front sidewalk, and this little guy came up close to get some of it. Allyson captured this adorable photo! I've title the photo "Perfect Pose" and added him to my website in my wildlife section that I'm slowly getting done. :)

It's so hot in Tennessee

It's so hot here in Tennessee, all I can do is just flatten myself on a branch & wait for a breeze to come through.

Backyard Friends

The last several days, I've spent quite a bit of time out in the yard thanks to our falling tree. I've captured some photos of our little backyard friends and thought I'd share them:

This is a baby King Snake. One of the cats had him cornered and my neighbor put him in the tree so I could get photos of him. He posed quite nicely in this one!

After watching Mr. King Snake disappear up into the branches of the pine tree, I looked around for more cool things to take photos of, and I stumbled on this little toad. He didn't especially want his photo made, but I talked him into it. :)

I spent some time stalking the birds. This required sitting in a chair, with the camera turned on, and sitting absolutely still for a very long time. Captured this little Cardinal. He actually posed on that branch for quite a while, but he kept turning around. I finally got a photo of his cute little face.

I had quite a time getting the Blue Jay's to pose. None of them wanted a photo made and they'd fly away so quickly. But one brave soul finally got on the ground right in front of me and did a few little dance moves.

And last but not least, we have Mr. Squirrel. (Or maybe it was a missus...I'm not sure.) He played hide-n-seek around the tree trunk with me for quite a while.

Now you can see why it's never boring at my house. Between the dogs, the cats, the birds, the squirrels, the reptiles, and occasionally a groundhog, there's plenty to entertain us. In fact, I'd rather sit outside and watch them play over watching TV any day! :)

HEART THUMP Original Squirrel Painting - Complete!

Isn't this little fella just adorable? :) He's sitting on his branch, looking lovingly down, and holding his paw to his chest as if to say "Being around you just makes my heart go thumpity-thump!"

Heart Thump, oil pastel on board, size 8x10" $150

Squirrel Painting in Progress #3

Still working on Mr. Squirrel - though I pretty much have HIM done, and it's time to do the branch and the background. I have fussed so much with this little guy...I hope I'll get him done sometime soon! I usually don't take this long with a small painting, but for some reason, I am dragging along with it. My goal was to get him finished today...I don't know if it's going to happen, but I'm sure trying hard!

Squirrel Painting in Progress #2

Here's another in progress photo of Mr. Squirrel. He's coming along very well! Below is a close up photo. I think this is all I'm going to get done today on his...my eyes are very tired.

Squirrel Painting in Progress

Mr. Squirrel is in progress! I always start with the eyes and face - if that area doesn't look right, the whole painting won't work. Here I've laid down the base colors of his face. Then I've decided it's time for some contrast, so I add tiny dots of black oil pastel. I love black...it really helps to set off certain areas. I don't need much though, as one little dot will go a long, long way.

In the above photo, I've blended my little black dots using a tortillion. His face looks smoother and more formed now, thanks to the contrast of the black in the right areas. But I still have some work to do. I need to lighten things up a bit. At this point, I'd normally let the painting sit for a while which gives the oil pastels time to cool down and firm up. It's hard to lay lighter oil pastel atop of darker colors when they're hot. Instead of layering, they tend to just smoosh (is that a word?) together if they're too warm. So it had to cool. Today, I didn't want to wait, so I popped Mr. Squirrel into the freezer for about 3-5 minutes. It quickly cooled him down enough where I could continue.

Here I've lightened things up more and used some white color pencil to give some tiny fur lines on this forehead, to show the variety of colors there. I still need to work on his nostrils, mouth and the top of his left ear a bit more, but overall, I'm quite pleased with how he's coming along...which means this painting is off to a good start!

Today I'm Painting a Squirrel!

Allyson captured this ADORABLE picture of this squirrel yesterday. I think it's so CUTE the way he's holding his paw at his chest. I don't like the branch in front of him, so I'm going to do a painting featuring him today --> without the branch in front of him! Think I will call it "Heart Thump", as it looks like he's saying "I love you so much, you just make my heart thump with joy!" :)

A few afternoon visitors

Allyson spent the afternoon trying to capture our elusive groundhog on camera. While she was waiting, she had a few other visitors.

You lookin' for me?

Look, I can do a little dance for ya!

How's this pose?

Hey, don't forget about me up here!

Did you say groundhog? Where...where?!

And the fella finally came out from under the building. Here he's shown sniffing the side of the storage shed.

And here he is, venturing out a bit more.

Because the groundhog was photographed with our zoom lens - which is not the greatest - his photos aren't as good as the others. But the way Allyson is, she'll have the guy eating out of her hand soon!

P.S. Any idea what groundhogs like to eat?

Ms. Squirrel...having dinner

Allyson gets a feature here tonight with this magnificent shot she got of one of Bill's squirrels nextdoor. Definitely a momma squirrel, and it looks like she's got a few babes out there somewhere!

InJoy,
Jai