Monday 21 May 2012

A Snake, a Frog and Man-Flu




Another rather too busy week, trying to make up for lost time, but at least I finished the Chinese Year of the Snake cards.

The snake did look good against a pitch black background but red seems to be the traditional colour for Chinese Greeting Cards and this really dark red shows up his bright colours almost as well.



I’m amazed at how much general knowledge I’ve picked up since I’ve been designing greeting cards! I had never even thought about the Chinese Zodiac previously, in spite of having a Chinese Malaysian son-in-law. I find it difficult to find, or even design birthday cards for someone of his age and gender so I think that, from now on, some variation on his Chinese Zodiac sign will make that easier!



I still have a huge backlog of floral card designs to upload so this weekend I decided to forego my Saturday painting time to help with the catch-up.

This little poorly frog that I painted a while ago isn’t suitable for as many different cards as the floral ones so I’m hoping that getting those uploaded will give me time to upload at least some of the December Birthday Poinsettia cards as well.




                  A case of Man-Flu, do you think?


BLACKBIRD UPDATE

My resident blackbird parents are doing an excellent job of protecting their second brood of the season from the crows that gather on my chimney pots. This week, it seemed that whenever I heard a lot of commotion and looked out, I saw a crow in retreat! At times it was like watching old footage of war-time fighter plane dogfights, with both parents taking part and the crow invariably coming off worst!

It’s amazing how closely the pattern of events followed the first time around, with a lot of twittering coming from the nest for a couple of days, then two ‘chubbies’ huddling together on the side of the nest, followed by a day of Father Blackbird broadcasting warnings all day, from the time I opened my curtains in the morning to his solitary watch from his sentry post up high on my garage roof as the sun went down.

I haven’t seen the young ones out on my lawn yet, but I’m sure they’re down in the bushes, judging by the way the parents are keeping an eye out for them and heading off any likely danger.

It’s wonderful to have such a drama unfolding before my eyes!

2 comments:

jeanlivingsimple said...

I like the Year of the Snake image. The red is perfect. The sick frog with possible "man-flu" is cute.:)

Birds are very interesting to watch. They face so many dangers and yet never give up. I'm glad your Blackbirds are thriving!

Judy Adamson said...

Hi Jean - thank you for your comments :)

There was a neighbour's cat in my garden this morning but I don't think any harm was done - I hope not, anyway!