Professor Smudge

Today’s weird bird was inspired by an online class called, “Creating Simple Characters.” The class is taught by Nelleke Verhoeff from the Netherlands and hosted by Carla Sonheim. Nelleke is known by her illustrations, “Red Cheek Factory,” and likes to give her characters red cheeks!

One of the assignments was to create faces with expression by smudging charcoal on your paper and then erasing it with a soft, rubber eraser. These faces appeared for me, I used Pan Pastels to give my characters red cheeks:

Of course I had to try a bird!

Professor Smudge teaching Family Life Etiquette…

Happy Weird Bird Wednesday!

Cheers! 🙂

A Wild Quacker…

There is a saying, “If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck.”

Apparently, this person never heard of Weird Bird Wednesday…

This is a wild Quacker, like a wild card, uh, I mean duck!

YOU get to name it!

That is if you want to play along…

Happy Wild Duck Wednesday!  hehe

Cheers! 🙂

P.S.  No “fowl” language…haha

A Duck Eating Pasta?!

I thought you might enjoy this silly limerick today with an Italian spin:

Leda Commellini used to serve her homemade Chicken Cacciatore to her friends at her home so she wouldn’t be lonely.  Later, her Italian recipes became well-known in Spokane, Washington when a restaurant was opened called, Commellini’s.  The restaurant is closed now except for private events but you can still purchase some of Leda’s famous sauces at the local farmer’s market.

Happy Weird Bird Wednesday, Mama Mia!

Cheers!  🙂

A Lazy Afternoon

It was a lazy afternoon at the lake.  Harold was floating on an inner tube.  (You do remember Harold, don’t you?)

Harold was trying to squeeze in a few more minutes daydreaming before summer ended:

Soon school would be starting for his children and he would no longer have idle time.

It was such a relaxing day that a Lackadaisical Duck happened to paddle by:

A rare sighting to see such a slow-moving duck!  And yawning too!  (I wasn’t aware that ducks yawned…lol!)

Happy Weird Bird Wednesday!  Wishing you a lackadaisical day, friends!  🙂

P.S.  I have decided to change Weird Bird Wednesday to Whimsical Wednesday.  You may still see a weird bird or two but I wanted to have more options!  Cheers!

Roses, Rhubarb and Redheads

My husband recently bought me this beautiful bouquet of pink roses and white lilies to celebrate our 31 years of marriage.  I have such a thoughtful guy!

The colors remind me a little of the Rhubarb that is growing in leaps and bounds in our backyard:

I happen to like this sour fruit!  I like to bake it with strawberries and sugar (and a tablespoon of red hot cinnamon candy) in the oven.  I’m going to make a batch tomorrow.

I think the big, green (poisonous) leaves are really quite beautiful.

I have fond memories from my childhood where I would tear a crimson stalk from the plant, rinse it with the hose and then dip it into sugar.  It was a sweet, tart treat!  My mom often boiled it in a saucepan with a little water and a lot of sugar to make a rhubarb sauce that we would have over toast for breakfast.

I bet you are wondering about the Redhead part of my post?

Well, I painted my first duck today in watercolor:

It is called a Redhead.  The male has a bright red head, gray back, and black chest and rear end.

A handsome fellow, don’t you think?

Happy Creating!

D is for Daisy Duck!

Dazzling Daisy duck dabbles daffodils during doo-wop doozie!

Do-quack; do-quack – do!

Happy Easter to all of you!  🙂

Life is Just Ducky for Harold

Rubber Ducky you’re so fun!                                                                                         You help me float in the sun…

Sending you sunny thoughts to help you smile!

Merry Bird Soaks Her Feet with Mallard Duck

As Merry crossed the meadow, she came to a small pond where she noticed Mallard, the Sitting Duck:

“Tweet Tweet, Mallard!”  Said Merry cheerfully.

“Why it’s Merry!”  Replied Mallard with a quack, “Please come and sit with me you must be feeling tired on your long journey.”

“How kind of you, Mallard,” said Merry.  “I really could have a rest.  You see I got these new boots and they are starting to cramp my feet.”

“Here Merry,” instructed Mallard, “why don’t you soak your feet in this cool pond.  It always makes my feet feel better.”  So Merry sat down on the edge of the pond with Mallard, removed her boots and dangled her sore feet in the water.

“Well,” quacked Mallard after a few minutes, “I really must be paddling across the pond.  Twaddle Do, Merry!”

Merry’s feet were starting to feel much better so she dried them on a feather –

Put her boots back on and went on her Merry way.

(I wonder who she will meet next?  What bird would you like her to meet on her adventure?)