Brian’s Bees

Is there anything more special than friends who share a passionate interest? George’s friend Brian is a twofer – they first met and bonded over their common love of orchids, spiced with a shared cynical smart sense of humor. More lately, Brian discovered that he wanted to keep bees. He had a beautiful hive all ready and waiting for some honeybees to move in, so when George and our friend Alan rescued a swarm, there was no question that they were meant to be Brian’s bees. The swarm settled on a tree limb just above a garden shed.

George and Alan clambered onto the shed. I held the ladder and worried that they’d fall through the roof (they didn’t). When bees are swarming they’re very calm, so George easily brushed most of them into a box. The critical thing is to try to get the queen. If you do, the rest will follow her, because their main imperative is to protect her.

As you’d expect from an orchid and nature lover, Brian has an amazing garden. Here’s George delivering the bees to their new home.

The bees quickly realized they had arrived at nectar heaven. The workers happily began to forage, build comb and make honey, and the queen zealously performed her queenly duties and began laying brood. We went back to do a hive inspection, and this is what we found:

That’s her majesty, surrounded and protected by workers. She’s much larger than the other bees, and is a gorgeous deep golden color. Here’s more of a closeup photograph.

Much of the white you can see filling the comb is larvae or brood. As George finished the inspection, I walked around the garden to see what the workers were up to. They favored a magnificent Spanish Lavender plant.

The intoxicatingly fragrant orange tree was another favorite.

We even got a bit of honey from some extra comb the bees had built on the lid of the hive, so Brian could taste his bees’ honey. Your own bees’ honey is always the sweetest. And here’s to honey and friendship, ever sweetly intertwined.

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New book: Sell Your Artwork & Crafts Online

One New Year’s resolution down! Actually, it was a resolution I made New Year 2011, but who’s counting? I finally finished the book that I’ve been working on for, oh well – way too long. Enough buildup, here it is …

I was teaching a workshop to help artists and crafters figure out how to sell their work online. When I decided to expand the written materials into a book, I had no idea that the 6-page handout would grow to 72 pages, with 28 photographs and screen shots to show readers what their options are and how to decide what venues are best for their work, like this shot of the front page of my Etsy shop: Or this illustration about how to resize the images you post online so they’re not as easy to steal: I also included profiles of six of my favorite artists: a photographer, painter, mixed media collage artist, printmaker, natural perfumer, and writer — who are all at very different places on the continuum of using the internet to sell and market their arts and crafts. I’ll be posting some of the profiles here, so you can meet them and draw inspiration from their art and the work they’re putting into showing and selling it online.

In conjunction with the book, I started a Facebook group where artists can network and support one another in selling their work online. You’re welcome to join it, whether you buy the book or not.

And now for the tip of the day, which isn’t in the book (already working on the second edition!) Yes, you may sell the same items in your Etsy and Artfire shops. If it’s a one-of-a-kind piece it can be nerve-wracking to list in both, because if it sells from one store you need to immediately remove it from the other. But I list my ebooks in both shops. If you have duplicates of anything that you make, it’s good to get the exposure in both venues.

And a related tip: don’t use the same description in both listings. From my research, people advise that you change at least 30% of the language, because Google’s search results ranking, released in February 2011 (called Panda) penalizes duplicate postings.

I listed the ebook on my website, Artfire, Etsy in kindle format through Amazon, and in print format through Lulu. If you’re curious, you can check out how I changed the descriptions in the Etsy and Artfire listings. I’ll check my Google Analytics to see whether I’ve been Panda slapped — that’s what they call it when your traffic goes way down because the Google algorithm is displeased with some aspect of your website. Click here to go to my blog

Hummingbirds in the trees

Growing up back east I don’t recall ever seeing a hummingbird. I’m amazed that to see these flying treasures now, all I have to do is go out to our garden or up on our deck. This female Anna’s hummingbird was perched on a tree in our yard.

As part of making our garden into a wildlife habitat through the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), we provide food, water and cover for local and migrating animals. George’s garden includes many flowers for nectar, and he is always replenishing the sugar-water feeders for the hummingbirds.  He also avoids using pesticides, because that could harm or kill the birds.  Here’s an article by NWF about feeding hummingbirds.  The sugar-water is a supplement to their diet of insects and nectar.  This article goes into more detail, and has good advice about the important issue of keeping your feeders clean.

This is a male Anna’s – the brilliant color of his head and neck shines with iridescence when it catches the light.

This is another male Anna’s.  You see how different the color of his feathers appears, this hummer shines with a more magenta hue.

Hummingbirds are among the limited species of birds that can hover.

When awake, they are almost constantly in motion. I had to quickly shoot the photos of them perching on the tree, because they don’t land for long. Here’s a shot of two of them, one about to land on a branch, and another zooming by above.

I caught a shot of this young hummer with his beak open.

Do you know what kinds of hummingbirds visit or live in your area? I’m lucky to have George, who has studied this extensively, to tell me who’s who.  He said that at this time of year we’re getting only the Anna’s hummingbirds, and that they stay with us year-round.  Does your garden have nectar flowers or other plants to attract and feed hummingbirds?  Do you have hummingbird feeders to supplement their diet?

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First monarch caterpillar emerges

I keep telling you about the size of the eggs, so here’s a photo I took of an egg alongside a normal-sized straight pin:

We decided to raise them inside, because it greatly increases their survival rate. We found 13 eggs, and carefully brought them inside on Thursday. By Saturday some of the eggs had lost their yellowish color, now appearing grayish-white with darker shading inside (the caterpillar’s skin has formed and is showing through the egg, which is actually translucent).

It’s headed back to eat more of the eggshell.

And finally, another photo with a pin for scale, showing the size of the newly emerged caterpillar:

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Monarch eggs in the garden!

Monarch in the garden

A good day — a monarch butterfly is flitting around our garden! Here she is perched on the leaves of the peach tree.

It has been a couple of years since George watched a monarch lay eggs on the milkweed in our backyard. We brought some of the eggs inside to raise in safety.  Click here to see the photos I took of the whole process, from the tiny eggs, to the caterpillars, to the chrysalises, and finally to the butterflies which emerged (and which we released.)

She spent quite a bit of time on the milkweed, and I’m hoping she left some eggs.

I love this milkweed, it’s Asclepias physocarpa. Bees like it too – can you see the honeybee a bit to the left of the butterfly? Physocarpa is also known as “Family Jewels” because the seed pods look like … well, here’s a photo I took yesterday of one of the dried seed pods, see for yourself.

If you want to find more information about Physocarpa milkweed, check out this link to Annie’s Annuals & Perennials.

Here’s a closeup of the butterfly on the milkweed, you can see her poor tattered wing.

Did you know that one of the monarch butterfly’s protective characteristics is to poison its predators? In the larval stage it eats milkweed leaves to incorporate the milkweed toxins into its body. Perhaps a bird realized after getting a bite that it didn’t want to keep eating. Click here to go to my blog 

Photo of the week 10/23/11

This week’s photograph of the week is another blended collage.

Every year I create a couple of holiday cards from my photos that George and I send to friends and family. I used to print my own cards, but for the last couple of years I’ve had zazzle print them.  I like the quality, and the price is reasonable.  Zazzle was having a half-off sale on cards, so I stayed up late the other night getting this year’s card finished.

I started with a photo I took of our holiday bubble lights in candelabras. George found these – they’re really fun because the liquid inside the glass bubbles up as it is heated by the light bulb. We even use one as a night light!

I blended it with a photo I took of our lit Hanukah menorah candles. This reflects our blended family, since we celebrate both Christmas and Hanukah.

I thought that the blending tool I chose brought out some interesting colors and patterns.  Here’s a closeup of one of the variations I made, this one is more abstract:

Do you design and make your own holiday cards? I’ve noticed that each year fewer people are sending cards, is it the expense or just the ease of email?  Are you going to say “Happy Holidays” on your facebook page, by email, or by card?

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Betty-cat 10/21/11

We recently had to say goodbye to our wonderful Betty.  Betty was a sweet shy black cat, with the softest furry cheeks.

She spent a lot of time in her “cat room”, which is a large closet at the top floor of our house where she would run whenever she heard anyone in the house other than George or me.  For this reason many of our friends doubted that we actually had a third cat. She dearly loved her brother Dorian, and he frequently washed her face.

She didn’t always get along as well with her pesky little brother, Lars, but once in awhile they shared a cuddle.

A few months ago, our lovely Bee was diagnosed with intestinal lymphoma.  Dr. Benjamin Otten, of allCreatures Veterinary Clinic , referred us to veterinary oncologist Dr. Sabhlok at PETS Referral Center.  Dr. Sabhlok treated Bee with chemotherapy for several months. She rallied for about a month or so, but the lymphoma caught up with her.

In our sadness we were moved and comforted by the outpouring of sympathy from our veterinarians. We got several cards from Dr. Otten and the people who work at allCreatures, from Dr. Sabhlok and the people who work at PETS, and from VCA Albany, where we had also taken Betty.

We wanted to express our appreciation for their kind gestures, and especially for their care and treatment of our precious Bee.  I decided to make mini-quilts for them, and printed my favorite photos of Betty onto fabric. Here are the two that I’ve finished so far:

Bye Sweet Bee, we miss you… Click here to go to my blog 

Photo of the week 10/16/11

Has it really been a week since I posted my first Photo of the Week? Yikes, well okay then, here’s the second – my favorite photo(s) from this week, with some background …

Okay, obviously not a straight photo. It’s a collage from three photos I took this week. I started with my photo of a red admiral butterfly (Vanessa atalanta):

George and I trekked up Albany Hill to check on the monarch butterflies – starting around this time of the year they overwinter in the eucalyptus trees there. Last year we only saw a few, so this year we were very encouraged to see far more. Hopefully they’ll keep coming.  I didn’t get any photos of the monarchs because they were fluttering around high up in the sky, but there were a lot of red admiral butterflies flitting lower down and then landing to sun their wings on the duff. This one let me creep close enough to get a shot.

I blended that photo with a closeup I shot of a small bouquet in a vase on my windowsill. It’s a black and white striped hen’s feather next to a dried stalk of some soft pouffy grass.

I was struck by the conjunction of the lines and disparity of the textures and tones.

The third photo in the collage is another closeup of part of the same bouquet.

It’s the remains of a seed pod of a money plant (Lunaria Annua), also known as silver dollar plant. The plant has been slowly eroding, and I liked the juxtaposition of the frame of the disk with the empty spaces and few remaining tattered pieces.

I used the layer blending tool in Photoshop Elements to blend the photos. I liked a few of the different settings to blend the first two, but finally settled on the ‘overlay’ setting.  I then added the money plant and blended them all into the final collage.  When I make my blended abstract collages I usually take photos from different years – it was fun to use three that I shot on the same day.  Here are some of my other blended collages.  You can see that butterflies appear in many of them. What are your favorite subjects in your art or photos?

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I design my high fashion custom-made 100% pure silk scarfs from my original nature photographs. This is my “Peacock Feather Sheen” design.  I followed a peacock around a local farm, taking numerous photographs. I used one of my favorite photos of the peacock’s tail feathers for this design – I isolated and combined selected portions of the image and then kaleidoscoped it into the final design. The gold portions between the blue, turquoise and green of the peacock feathers have a glow that led me to name this design “Peacock Feather Sheen”.

The scarf is large, 14 x 72 inches (35.5 cm x 182.88 cm), but it is feather light, so it folds without bulk — tie it around your neck, drape it around your shoulders, or wear it in so many other ways. It the perfect complement for any outfit, and is ideal for any occasion from casual to elegant. This scarf is pure chiffon silk. Chiffon silk is an elegant, sheer fabric with a soft, beautiful drape and crepe-like texture. The pattern on the back of the scarf is nearly as vivid as the front.

Although designed as wearable art, you can also hang it to adorn your walls or to flutter in the breeze in front of your windows. The scarf has a machine rolled baby hem. Washing instructions: The printer recommends dry cleaning to maintain the color, but you can also hand wash it with gentle soap in cold water. Iron your scarf on the silk heat setting with no steam. I will ship it with a sheet of parchment paper – place the paper on top of the scarf while you’re ironing, to protect the fabric from any dirt on your iron.  I have my scarves printed by a local San Francisco company using the latest technology. They attest that their fabric printers are “green” and do not use any chemicals.