The Artwork of Brian Kliewer

Several birds were at the feeder this morning, mostly Nuthatches and Chickadees.  I took this photo of a Goldfinch a while back.  I'm still not getting the variety I would like, but this beats the Red Squirrel...

Guilty!

I watched this little guy try to figure it out for a few weeks, never seeing him on it.  Then one morning I saw this.  But he hasn't been around for quite a while now...not that I can tell, anyway. 

Eventually, if I can get enough good reference material, I might do some small bird paintings....or small paintings of small birds.

Squirrels are notoriously crafty when it comes to bird feeders.  This feeder has a cable that's covered with a rubber coating.  A couple of times, I saw this guy gnawing at it just above the roof.  I couldn't figure out why he'd be so interested in wearing it down, and then one morning I looked out and saw the roof had been lifted up off of the feeder itself. The clip just above the feeder grasps into that rubber coating, holding the roof in place.  Could it be that the squirrel knew this and that's why he gnawed away at it?  That clever or not, it happened.  I've since had to keep a close eye on that clip, making sure it stays fastened down.   

The squirrel might even show up in a painting at some point.   I hold no grudges.  :) 

A Thick-Billed Murre?

I did some birdwatching today, trying to gather some reference material for an upcoming show.  The show title is Fowl Play - homage to our feathered friends and will be held at Mars Hall Gallery in June.  I expect to have a few things in it.

This guy appears to be a Thick-Billed Murre.  The photos aren't really that good as it was out of range of my camera.  But according to my Peterson Field Guide, I'd have to say that's what it is. I also thought it might be a Loon,  but that white line on the bill makes me think otherwise.  However, sitting so low in the water does tend to say "loon" to me as well.  So I don't know. It was just too far out to get any real good photos.

I noticed it was different from all the other birds I was seeing and so I wanted to try to get a picture if I could.  It was quite a distance from shore.  All I could really see from my location was a different looking "dot" out on the water. Not a bad job considering it was beyond my camera's optical zoom capabilities and I had to resort to digital zoom.  I hate doing that and try to avoid it as much as possible.

Even among birds there's always a "ham."   On the way to the beach, I took a few shots of these characters.  Is it just me or does that pigeon in the upper left appear to be saying, "Don't look now but that guy behind you is taking pictures of us!"  And he seems to have a listening ear.

Little Red Squirrel, I See You...

Photo © Brian Kliewer

The red squirrel was back today.  Actually both it and a gray squirrel were out back this morning.  I still haven't seen either actually getting to my bird feeder, though.  And with the slow decline in my supply of seeds very few birds are getting to it, at all.  But I think I know what that is all about...

I recently read an article that said many sparrows and finches are ground feeders, or prefer to be near to the ground when they eat.  My feeder is actually hanging off our back deck, which is on the second floor.  A few chickadees show up but not much else.  So now I'm thinking I might have to find another place for it...

So here I am looking for all this activity out on my back porch saying "come and get it!"  All the while the birds are, in effect, 'looking up' at me and telling me..."But it's too high!"  And I'm looking down at them and yelling.... "Well, you've got wings... FLY!!"

If nothing else...I'm thinking I might at least get some small studies done of this little guy.   This is frustrating because we had a feeder at another house and the activity was crazy!  We got all kinds of birds there.  But it was located in an evergreen shrub and hanging about five feet or so off the ground.  I could do that here, but I wouldn't have any great views to work with.  Feeling kinda bummed out on this one.

Schoodic Point - One of My Favorite Places, Downeast

"Gulls at Schoodic Point" 24" x 30" oil on canvas © 2011 Brian Kliewer

The composition in this painting is quite different from what you see in a lot of my paintings.  The gulls were more or less in the positions  you see them in here...with minor changes.  I really wanted to show the depth of the scene.  But without a horizon line, that's not easily done.  A couple of pairs of the gulls overlap, which helps.  But mostly they exist alone.  This is why I introduced the couple in the upper left.  Yes, they were there but I hadn't decided for certain I wanted people in this painting until I had it well laid out. 

The painting isn't about "people" so I had to watch how I handled things.  It really is about the gulls.  But the couple balanced out the dark blue tide pools in the lower part of the painting, and helped balance the composition as well.  I wanted something there that wouldn't "compete" with the birds.  I think I got it.

As you can see by the picture below, I "warmed" things up quite a bit in my painting.

I took this picture  several years ago.  Gulls are really quite interesting. Bold and cautious and not unwilling to land on your head!  Yes, this one did land on this woman's head.  The photo isn't retouched.   But gulls will be bold like this if they think food is nearby.   I remember one showing up at a picnic.  It swooped in and grabbed a hotdog right off the picnic table.  Then a couple of minutes later, it came back and stole a hamburger patty!   Plenty of people around.  It didn't matter;  it wasn't "phased" at all.

Schoodic Point is a lovely place on the  coast of Maine.  It's one of my favorite spots, "Downeast." Another location right nearby is Grindstone Neck.  Check both out if you get a chance.

When I was younger, I took up birdwatching as a hobby.  I bought Roger Tory Peterson's "Field Guide To The Birds," a spotting scope, binoculars,  and even a fishing vest so that I could carry my gear around.  We had a bird feeder in the tree in the front yard and had plenty of visitors.  I remember seeing a Dicksissel after one particularly fierce storm.  This was a stray from the midwest, only rarely seen around here.  And I remember one time seeing a Bluejay sit perfectly still for an entire half hour....completely motionless.  Then I saw the reason...

A hawk had discovered our "small bird sanctuary" and decided to have a meal.  I never got a good look at it to determine what kind of hawk it was but it caught one of our English Sparrows (no great loss among "birders") and made a quick lunch of it.  After it was finished and flew off, I went outside and found some feathers, the feet and what was left of the bird's skull.

Anyway, this year I decided that I wanted to get back to my hobby and possibly do some small paintings of the birds that come to my new feeder.  So I set it up out back... but this has been one quiet winter!  All I've seen after nearly a month are a few Chickadees, a Red Squirrel and the neighbor's cat.  

I placed the feeder in what I would call a "good" spot.  It's only about 10 feet away from a nearby Maple Tree and hovers about 3 feet above some evergreen shrubs.  Quick and easy "cover" if the birds do decide to show up.

Other than the Chickadees, there have been no birds to speak of in the trees here.  It would upset me more if they were here and just not visiting my feeder but they aren't.  This "open winter" seems to be the culprit.  There's been very little snow so far.  My biggest concern when I bought the feeder was my neighbor's cat.  But just like the birds, he hasn't been around much either.  The squirrel is new to the feeder and I've only seen him once or twice.   If he's reaching it, there are no signs of it other than his sitting atop the post.  My supply of black oil sunflower seeds doesn't seem to be diminsihing at all.