....the new baby fawn we have whose mother has decided our backyard is a safe haven to camp in while her baby learns the ropes! They arrived together about two weeks ago and I've had the absolute joy of watching this little fawn learn to gallop, and jump and progress to the point where this morning, he was running around in big circles, exactly like a dog will do. From the back trees you see here all of the way up to our deck and back again. He ran for a bit and then did a series of those popping straight up in the air jumps and then back to the galloping over and over again. I counted eight rotations. I've watched as the doe is beginning to refuse to nurse him all of the time and guess that she is beginning to wean him. If you look closely in the mid ground of the photos, we have apple trees and so there is a plentiful supply of organic food for this youngster to gobble up. In a few weeks, as the apples begin to mature on the branch, the deer normally start standing on their hind legs to pluck the lower hanging apples from the branches. It's always quite surprising how agile they are on their two hind legs.
I've also come to believe that it may be the abundant supply of apples along with the number of protective areas in the trees (we have 35 mature blue spruce trees) that the deer decide to settle in to the yard. There is lots of shade and also protection from the wind that Lethbridge is famous for.
For the last couple of evenings they have slept underneath a group of spruce trees and from a window on the second floor I saw that they were still sleeping when I woke up this morning.
I am blessed to have a yard that is in the middle of the city but is also large ( just over an acre in size) and because it backs onto the coulees, and isn't fenced, we enjoy these frequent visits.
The only tiny disadvantage is that deer love to eat my flowers and vegetables and so I've had to compromise and not build any flower gardens in the yard. I keep most of my flowers on the deck or in pots in the front yard next to the house and even so, if they are hungry enough, I have caught them on the back deck with mouthfuls of petunias and tomatoes and even had them peering in the front window. The second disadvantage is that my dog hears them when they arrive to bed down in the evening after dark and is always quite unsettled and focused on wanting to chase them away, so I have to accompany her outside and keep her from chasing them away. It's a worry as she's had a few very close calls with the larger 4-5 prong bucks who could kick her the moon (she's 5 pounds) easily.
Click on the photographs to enlarge them!
And, I must apologize for my inconsistency in missing posting my freebies over the past several weeks.
Below is an image I recently extracted from its background - one of my favorite artists - Bouguereau.
I can relate to this quote as follows:
"Each day I go to my studio full of joy; in the evening when obliged to stop because of darkness I can scarcely wait for the morning to come...My work is not only a pleasure, it has become a necessity. No matter how many other things I have in my life, if I cannot give myself to my dear painting I am miserable."
- William Bouguereau
extracted image from a William Bougeureau painting - JPG at 300 dpi 5.84 x 10.41 inches
If you would like to take a look at more of his masterpeices click
here and if you would like to play with the image above, double click it to enlarge it and then right click and SAVE AS.
Here is the painting in its original form -
I have begun to work with this image to create a digital composition, but just started on it last night - here's the beginning.....
*** a rough start only*****
Image Credits for above work in progress -
Background, Sheep, Racoon - VOID, STARK and ARTDOLLIES - by Holliewood Studios at DeviantScrap.com
Books - Nicole Perry
Raccoon - ARTFAERIES - Holliewood Studios
I've decided I enjoy blogging about the process of creating some of the digital work. Although, I am far from being able to describe all of the thoughts that enter and exit my head, I am offering something that I would appreciate seeing from others. Hint, hint.
Have a great weekend and if you do decide to work with this image, I'd love to see what you create.
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