Q is for Quail - A Painting a Day

A to Z Challenge

Q was an especially hard letter for me to make a painting. But then I remembered the quail we used to have. I would look out the sliding glass door in the living room and see a mother quail leading about a dozen little spotted babies. That was when our children were small, and I could point the birds out to them. Unfortunately, it's been years since I saw our last quail. They have gone the way of the cute little rabbits that used to gobble up vegetables and flowers. That was before so many deer graced the gardens and began to eat the most treasured plants.

"Quail on the Lookout" - acrylic ©Mary Montague Sikes

I think the many cats that cross through our woods have frightened away the rabbits and the quail. The cats just sit and look at the deer, and the deer don't seem to mind.

Today's painting, "Quail on the Lookout", is 8" x 8" acrylic on stretched canvas.

Thank you, folks, who are visiting from A to Z Challenge, and thanks, friends, who are following the progress of my painting trip through the alphabet.

F is for Fish -- A Painting A Day

A to Z Blog Challenge

Today marks the end of the first week of the A to Z Blog Challenge. Thanks to all the organizers
and hosts. They are: founder Arlee Bird at Tossing It Out, Damyanti Biswas at Amlokiblogs, Alex J. Cavanaugh, Tina Downey at Life is Good, DL Hammons at Cruising Altitude 2.0, Jeremy Hawkins at Retro-Zombie, Shannon Lawrence at The Warrior Muse, Matthew MacNish at The QQQE, Konstanz Silverbow at No Thought 2 Small, Stephen Tremp at Breakthrough Blogs, Livia Peterson at Leave it to Livia, L. Diane Wolfe at Spunk on a Stick, and Nicole at The Madlab Post.

For today, my painting is of fish I saw and photographed at the Butterfly Conservatory in Key West, Florida. Although I think fish are especially beautiful when painted with watercolors, I used acrylic paints on canvas for this creation. This is a gallery wrap style canvas that does not require framing. It's my smallest yet--10" x 8".

"Key West Fish" - acrylic painting ©Mary Montague Sikes

A Tribute to Casey Cat - A Painting a Day

A to Z Challenge

"In the Box" - acrylic painting ©Mary Montague Sikes

 

 

    

This is the third day of the A to Z Blog Challenge and my personal "A Painting a Day Challenge". My painting today is in tribute to Casey Cat, our daughter Amy's special kitty for almost 20 years. Casey crossed over the Rainbow Bridge in February. My painting cannot possibly do justice to this beautiful feline, so it is not of her but for her.

This is a 20" x 20" acrylic painting on stretched canvas. I probably will not do another canvas painting this large for the challenge because larger paintings take more time. This is nearly four times the size of the Bunny and Gator paintings which were each 11" x 14". I'll probably do some paintings soon using pastels on paper.

Thank all of you who are visiting my blog. I appreciate the founders of the Blog Challenge and am enjoying the opportunity to participate.

--Mary Montague Sikes

Happy New Year

This year my Christmas card has become my New Year's card. That's because I didn't get my painting for the card finished in time to send out for Christmas. I love angels, and every year, I try to create a new angel painting for my card. This year's painting is acrylic and mixed media on a 36 x 24-inch canvas.

Wishing all my friends a Happy New Year!

Monti
Mary Montague Sikes