Wednesday, April 25, 2012

My Nibblefest Art Contest Entry: "Two Turtle Doves" (April's theme: 'Reptiles')

"Two Turtle Doves" 
(acrylic on vellum mounted permanently on a 3.5 x 8 found piece of wood)

One of my entries for this month's Nibblfest Art Contest, the theme for April being 'Reptiles' (click here for auction link).


And so, here I am, behind in my blogging once more....(!).  How does that even happen?  Well, the usual way I'm afraid --  boiling down to old-fashioned, 'Art of Patience'-style poor time management...!  You know the saying, "Money slips through her fingers".  That is definitely NOT my problem -- I can be and am very efficient with finances (hanging on for dear life when I have to, lol!).  But time?  Whole n'other story!  And so, despite the fact I know I have it in me to blog regularly (heck, I blogged Every. Single. Day! during the month of February.  Remember the '29 Faces Challenge'?), not to mention that I'd promised myself I was going to be more consistent, here is my first post for this month of April.  Oh well, better late than never, yes...?

In any case, the good news is that while I haven't been busy with blogging in April, I have been busy with art making, which is I suppose what really matters.  Several art deadlines have come and gone that I want to write about -- including this month's Nibblefest Art Contest, which began as usual last Friday, the 20th, the theme being 'Reptiles'.....

Well, as anyone familiar with my artwork and habits knows, I love myself the challenge of a good, juicy art theme, mmm-hmmm.  But 'Reptiles'.....???  I wouldn't have counted that as one of them.  In fact my heart sank a little when I first discovered Reptiles WAS the theme. I even considered for .4758 nanoseconds maybe just sitting this month out.  That's how much the theme didn't speak to me.  That is, until two ideas came to mind that I actually really loved.  A lot.  And so I probably ended up having more of a hoot working on this month's Nibblefest entries than I have for the past themes that I actually LIKED.  Ha, typical...!

The idea for the painting above popped into my head when I was ruminating upon Turtles, and racking my brain for any appealing idea.... when the phrase 'two turtle DOVES' came to me.  And so here we have my entry entitled, 'Two Turtle Doves", featuring a young girl cuddling her Turtle Dove friend.  I can well relate personally to this image myself, what with being the owner of a beloved pet bird.  He is a geriatric cockatiel and not a dove, but every bit as sweet and cuddly as this picture suggests -- in fact, he pretty much free-ranges our house and every day will find him and me in a similar pose at some point or other.  At any rate, thank goodness it is acceptable to take (reasonable) liberties with Nibblefest Art Contest theme interpretations...!

To see ALL the great, 'reptillian' Nibblefest Art Contest entries this month, check out this link.....

(My usual little blurb regarding the Nibblefest Art Contest:  Nibblefest is a fun and friendly, monthly themed art competition open to all.   It begins the 20th of each month, and is hosted via Ebay.  Bidding for entries starts at .99 cents -- fun for artists AND collectors...!  Please see the Nibblefest Facebook Fan Page for rules and more information: https://www.facebook.com/nibblefest?ref=tn_tnmn )


2 comments:

Jodi O said...

Both of your entries are great. See what can happen when you set your mind to it.
I also had a cockatiel, I love birds.

Patience said...

Thanks so much for the kind comment, Jodi! And you are so right -- I came THIS CLOSE (imagine my thumb and finger barely parted) to nearly giving up before I even got started! Silly me! In any case, I enjoy your entry too this month, Jodi -- are you thinking ahead to next month at all? Ought to be interesting -- the theme is the 4 Elements (Air, Water, Fire and Earth), and will be allowed, for one month only, to actually enter FOUR pieces instead of the usual 3. I feel like I ought to take advantage of that! 4 entries means a lot of painting though -- and to do it justice I had better get started much earlier on my entries than I usually do, lol! ;-)

Also glad to hear you are a bird lover -- and a one-time cockatiel owner no less. They really do make such good little pets! My little guy is actually sitting on my shoulder, my constant companion, as I type this tonight. Such a sweetheart! In any case, thanks again, Jodi -- please come visit again :-)