When we were in Annecy, France, we took some photos of a beautiful large wisteria tree with white blossoms. The branches weave up around several balconies up the building. To see photos of this tree click on the post: The Charm of Wisteria.  These trees have amazing character and inspired me to do this painting in egg tempera.

'Walking Wisteria' Egg Tempera Painting 12" x 14"

This was my first attempt in egg tempera to incorporate more flow and movement into the image.  I also wanted to hint at a story behind the image.  I’m still wondering where this tree is going, and how, when it moves, it avoids being noticed!  Don’t you wonder if trees move and walk around at night when we’re not looking and freeze back into position when daylight comes?

Jazzy holding apple and posing for photo

Jasmine is an african grey parrot. She lived with us for 18 months. We met her in the pet section of a garden center, where she had been for over 6 months. My husband was looking for pots for his cacti. We ended up going to the garden center several times over a time period of about a month. While Tony was looking for pots I wandered into the pet section and saw Jazzy. Every time we went to the center I went to say hello to her and we ended up friends. She loved having her head scratched and whistled after me if I walked away from her cage. It didn’t take long before I couldn’t stop thinking about her, and of course the inevitable happened: we invited her to live with us.

She was scared of almost everything when she first came to live with us. She scratched all the time behind her neck and her feathers were very sparse in that region. She didn’t want any hand contact and absolutely didn’t want to come out of her cage. Gradually over the next weeks, by giving her loads of attention and treating her with a lot of respect, she relaxed. She turned out to be a very brave, incredibly sweet and extremely adventurous, outgoing character with tremendous intelligence.

Jasmine

Living with Jasmine was a real privilege. She taught us much more the meaning of respect and the art of communication. But most of all she showed us how to live each moment for itself, enjoying life to the full (and banana) and how to give a great deal of love. You can read about her antics and adventures in the posts shown below.

Jazzy Antics

Jazzy continued to scratch behind her neck, but she improved greatly during the first 6 months or so that she lived with us. She gained weight, her feathers turned glossy, she became well-muscled from flying around the house, the pink colors in her tummy feathers became brighter and the red in her tail became brilliant.

Jasmine Flying

We lived in an apartment and circumstances around us changed over time. Laundry detergents and fabric softeners have become increasingly perfumed, more antibacterial products are being used everywhere and in higher concentrations. Our apartment shared airflow with at least 8-15 other apartments, and these cleaning products became mixed creating even further toxic substances. Birds are much more sensitive to perfumes, cleaning agents and pollution.

Jazzy was already very compromised when we got her from the garden center, where they admitted using very strong chemicals to clean the other animal’s living quarters. She was placed close to very strong insecticides that were displayed for sale and many of the visitors to the center wear strong perfumes.

When the air quality in our apartment noticeably became worse, Jasmine started to scratch much more frequently. We bought 5 large air filters and a smaller more portable one that could be lifted off the ground. Jasmine improved dramatically when we got these.

During the summer, the problem became even worse as fumes came out of other people’s apartment windows and directly into our apartment. The shared hallway stairs were cleaned three times a week with highly concentrated perfumed antibacterial detergent; the stairwell had no proper ventilation because the windows were kept closed. We wanted to move, but were financially committed to staying where we were at the time.

Jazzy on an outing in her backpack cage

Jazzy and I spent the entire summer up in the Jura foothills. She had a backpack cage and we walked miles and miles last summer so that she would get fresh air as much as possible. As the summer progressed, Jazzy grew worse and worse with scratching, until finally she started to pull out feathers and then eventually create sores on her skin with scratching.

We did all sorts of things to try to help Jasmine. She was taking medication during the last part of summer to help with the irritation. She had a full check-up and blood work and the results showed her to be a very healthy, fit young girl. The vet was quite clear that she was allergic to perfumes and cleaning agents.

We finally managed to find a place that would provide a better environment and we moved in during the last few days of September 2008. By this time it was practically impossible to distract from her scratching and picking, and the only relief we could give her was in the shower. Her skin was raw and extremely sore. She was in a lot of pain and her misery during the last couple of days she was alive prevented her from enjoying life.

It’s a very long rehabilitation for a bird who has picked its feathers and skin to that extent. The standard practice is to give the bird medicine and put a neck collar on so that the bird can’t pick. This is like putting a human in a straight jacket. And if the skin still itches, the torment would remain, even if the bird couldn’t reach those places to scratch. This discomfort would be reasonable in order to get past the feather picking, but unless the source of the problem could also be removed the scratching and feather pulling would simply resume.

Our new residence is a huge improvement in air quality from where we were, but we still connect to other living spaces in a converted farmhouse. There is a laundry room in the basement with washing machines and a dryer. The dryer releases incredibly strong fumes of fabric softener and perfumes from the laundry detergent; unfortunately these come up through our shared vents and our front door opens into a set of outdoor stairs that lead down to the laundry room. As it turns out we couldn’t have provided Jazzy with a safe living space even here.

We considered giving her to someone else, but we don’t know anyone who doesn’t use perfumes and standard cleaning agents. We tried to arrange for her to go to the United States to a friend who we knew would take care of her, but she didn’t have the correct CITES papers, and the U.S. is not accepting birds from our area of France because of the implications of bird flu. Even if we could have arranged a room in isolation with a good environment for Jazzy with someone else – well, Jazzy was all about interaction, that was life to her. She loved people and she loved being with them. To isolate her would have been cruel.

Jazzy and Tony chatting

Enjoying life was what Jazzy was all about, and we couldn’t bear to watch her suffer. When she deteriorated so much that it was clear she was suffering more than she was enjoying, we decided to let her go free. It hurt, and still hurts, more than anything else in life has ever hurt, but now she flies free.

Jazzy

She’s still a very important part of our lives; we talk about her every day, she’s part of our banter, we’re always including snippets of things the way she said them. She still makes us laugh and smile.

I tell her story here so that those who have parrots can perhaps be more aware of possible causes if their parrot displays scratching, feather picking or even loud irritable behavior. Birds are smaller, and therefore much more sensitive than we are to these things, but we too are affected by them, and it’s worth assessing what products are routinely used in the home and the effects they may have on ourselves and those we love.

Jasmine

Jasmine would have been three years old in November. She passed away on October 3rd, 2008. Her life was packed with fun and joy, though she should have lived to be somewhere between 60 to a 100 years old.

Jazzy on top of her cage

She spread a lot of joy to those she met, and she met loads of people during her short life. I hope that her story can be told as much as possible so that it may spread more goodness in a world that really needs it.

Jasmine was, and still is, mascot to DweezelJazz Art.

To read and see loads of photos about her and her adventures, click on the links below:

1. Experimentation
2. DIY Bird
3. Jasmine Hamming Around
4. Jasmine Plays Football
5. Jasmine On Her Play Station
6. Jasmine Loves To Fly
7. Jasmine and What She Does In Her Cage Part I
8. Jasmine and What She Does In Her Cage Part II
9. Jasmine’s Silver Bowl and Other Toys
10. Jasmine Goes To The Market
11. Jasmine’s Daily Grooming
12. Jasmine Goes Backpacking
13. Jasmine Goes Out For A Drink
14. Do What You Like To Achieve Success
15. Jasmine and What’s A Cage Door For?
16. Jasmine Loves Attention
17. Jasmine’s Model Pose
18. Sugar Cube Cartoon
19. Jasmine Silliness
20. Jasmine’s Musical Chairs
21. Jasmine Goes To Market In Her Winter Travel Cage
22. Jasmine and Her Tousle With Poor Air Quality
23. Jasmine’s Fancy Footwork
24. Jasmine Sees Snow
25. Jasmine Takes A Bath
26. Sugar Cube Art
27. Rain Rain Rain and More Rain in the Pays de Gex, France
28. Jasmine Asks To Go For A Walk and To Take A Shower
29. An Evening Walk At La Col de la Faucille, Jura, France
30. Jasmine and Her Continuing Tousle With Air Quality
31. Jasmine Chomping Veggies in the Kitchen
32. Portrait of a Horse in Egg Tempera
33. Our Sweet Jasmine
34. Song For Jasmine
35. Fly Free, Jazzy!

If you prefer to see all of the above posts on the same page, click the following link. The articles appear on the page in reverse time order, as is usual for blogs:

All of Jasmine’s Adventures (ie. all of the above posts displayed on one page in reverse order)

My sister wrote me an email a couple of days ago about the digital paintings posted in Unexpected Development.  She said:  “I’m not sure I really understand how it was created, but I’ll read it properly again later.”  I didn’t explain how I painted them in that post, so I thought I’d do that here.

A very important accessory for painting on the computer is a Wacom tablet, or some device that allows you to use a pen on a pad in much the same way you would a pen on paper.  This is a photo of the Wacom Intuos 3 tablet I use.

Wacom Intuos 3 Tablet

You can see the pen in the photo; the pen tip facing up and the eraser (just like you’d expect) is at the other end.  The pen has pressure sensitivity, so that the harder you press, the thicker the pen or pencil or paint stroke is.  The sensitivity of this response can be adjusted to however you want it.  For example, if you want to have a quick flow from a thin line to a thicker one, you can set it to be real sensitive to slightly harder pressures to create that thicker line.  And you can set a maximum thickness you want it to go.  It can also be made to respond to tilting the pen as you draw, so that it responds very much like a pencil or paintbrush would when you tilt them.

If you want to draw something, you just draw with the pen on the sensitive pad in the middle of the Wacom tablet and it comes up on the computer screen.  To erase, you flip the pen around and use it just like an eraser. The pads come in a range of sizes, from 4″ x 6″ up to 12″ x 19″; the one shown above is 4″ x 6″.

The Wacom tablet works with Adobe Photoshop, Corel Painter, and many other software applications.  I’m using Adobe Photoshop.  I saved jpeg snapshots of some of the stages as I painted the Horse Chestnut, so I can use these to show a little how it was done.  I don’t have anything saved from the earlier part of creating it, but here’s the first snapshot I have.

1st Stage of the Digital Painting Of Horse Chestnut

I sketched the horse chestnut using a fine simple line that varied a little with pressure applied to the tablet.  And then I applied color with different brushes.

2nd Stage of the Digital Painting of Horse Chestnut

The choice of brushes in Photoshop is a huge topic so far as I can tell.  The essence of it is that you can choose the brush type, size, and variation of brushstroke.

There seem to be an infinite number of ways to arrange a paintbrush.  The idea is that you choose a pattern and size and when you paint with that pattern it repeats itself over and over again as you drag the brush across the page.  You can choose from a set of patterns that are delivered with Photoshop, but you can also add patterns of your own.  And these can be anything, and I mean anything, you want.

3rd Stage of the Digital Painting of the Horse Chestnut

The amazing thing is, that when you choose a pattern, let’s say of what appears to be completely random dots arranged in a swirl, and then you drag it across the page, it can create a brush stroke that is totally unexpected.  By selecting and adjusting, what is at first, a dazzling number of attributes, you can dramatically change the way a particular pattern displays itself when painted on the page.  This means that there really are no limits to what can be achieved, but it also requires lots of experimentation to become familiar to the point of making the computer brush more intuitive to use.

4th Stage of the Digital Painting of the Horse Chestnut: leaf closeup

Depending on the type of pattern and attributes you choose, the paintbrush can be made to look like airbrush, watercolor, pastel, oil, acrylic, and anything you care to invent.  Figuring out which brushes do what can be quite the inventive part.

6th Stage of the Digital Painting of the Horse Chestnut: leaf close-up

Colors and brushstrokes are added layer on layer just like with traditional painting, until eventually the final painting emerges:

Digital Painting of Horse Chestnut

I’m excited about using the computer because it allows me to experiment with different mediums, such as pastel, oil, airbrush, for example, that I could not otherwise use.  My intention is to create art using traditional artistic principles, through the medium of the computer, to produce paintings and sketches in much the same way I would if I were working directly on paper.   As I learn more I’ll share my discoveries here.  I’d love to hear any comments you have.

DweezelJazz Art Blog has made a change.  I’m very much hoping that the subscription feed will continue uninterrupted, so if you’re already subscribed it should all proceed as normal.  If for some reason you no longer continue to receive updates please come on over to DweezelJazz Art Blog to subscribe.  It would be hugely helpful if you could please let me know if you have problems with the new setup or feed.

Of course, if you’re reading this and haven’t yet subscribed, why this is a great time to do so!

I’ve switched to a different blogger software and unfortunately I wasn’t able to import the posts from the previous blogger software.  I’ve tried to make the move as seamless as possible, with access to older posts still easily available from the new arrangement.

I thought such a utilitarian post needed some bright colors to make it more exciting, so here is a smattering of my egg tempera paintings and watercolor paintings.  If you’d like to see these larger and in higher quality, click the image below.  And if you’d like to see the individual paintings in even larger format you’re welcome to pop on over to the DweezelJazz Art site gallery for a look.

A Smattering of Nat Wildish's Egg Tempera Paintings and Watercolor Paintings

A couple of evenings ago I noticed a few deer running down from the hills. This is a real event here because the deer are totally wild and wary of any human encounters – they are hunted here during the hunting season, unlike those around Shannon’s town. You can see lots about deer in Shannon’s blog “Chipper’s Alley“. I grabbed the camera and ran to the upstairs window.

Three deer crossing a field

There were three deer. Two of them were circling one another and playing in the snow, dashing here and there. The third hung back.

Two of the deer play in the snow

After jumping and generally horsing, or maybe I should say deering, around the two playful deer stopped and looked at one another. They moved closer.

Two deer together

Then, it seemed it was time to move on again, and all three made their way into the next set of trees and out of sight.

Three deer heading into the trees

Yesterday afternoon the sun came out and we went for a quick walk up the hill.

Snow in the Jura Foothills

Footprints made by critter in the Jura Snow

We saw lots of tracks, some clearly made by dogs, other that seemed to be made by deer and then this set, which we see very often. We’re guessing they’re made by a fox (we have seen a fox a few times near our place). Do you know what kind of tracks they are? I didn’t think to add something for reference of scale, but they’re a fairly small size.

We were the first ones to take the path up the hill, and it was so satisfying to trundle through pristine untrodden snow.

Jura Snow

I was wearing ski pants, leaving me at total liberty to lie down and roll in it! I always wanted to lay in a cloud… this is the next best thing. We had five inches of snow this morning and afterwards the sun came out even more gloriously than yesterday. The snow is so powdery and light that when we tried to make a snowman it wouldn’t adhere and we ended up with a very crumbly stalactite (oops, I actually mean) stalagmite.

We’re having loads of fun in the snow and the views are beautiful!

Exploration into digital painting. Here are two digital paintings by Nat Wildish: one of the sunset up at Col de la Faucille, France, and the other of a horse chestnut.

(click on the title for the full article and comments)