Robin Arnold Art

It's never too early to think about Christmas, especially if you carve Santas! I recently completed one with a teddy bear, one with a chickadee and lastly, a Santa carved from cottonwood bark. Santa with Chickadee  I'm big on birds and one of my favorites is the chickadee so I couldn't wait to incorporate one into a Santa carving. This Santa is carved from basswood, with acrylic paints and finished with two coats of satin varnish and one coat of wax.  https://www.etsy.com/listing/235841817/hand-carved-santa-with-staff-and?ref=shop_home_active_3 Cottonwood Bark Santa My cottonwood bark Santa is carved from a piece of bark I found lying along the shoreline of Lake Erie. To give it an extra special rustic look I left some of the bark on the carving. This carving is painted with acrylic paints and finished with two coats of satin varnish and one coat of wax.  https://www.etsy.com/listing/236475497/hand-carved-rustic-santa-robin-arnold?ref=shop_home_active_1 ...

After talking about it for the last couple of years, we finally decided to order two wood duck nest boxes. Why didn't we do it sooner? These large nest boxes are no small feat to put up for anyone at any age but for two women, aged 59 and 65, it's a monumental task!  UPS delivered two wood duck nest boxes UPS delivered the nest boxes on April 17th, and that morning we got out the post hole digger, an 8 foot 4x4 post and went to work. This one was erected on the edge of our pond.Thank goodness our property is usually a soggy mess in the spring as it made the job of digging a hole much easier. Gena and Keetie digging the hole for a nest box We put the second box up the following morning on the edge of the marsh and I've spent the last week lathering myself with arthritis cream and popping Tylenol and Aleve for sore hands, neck, back, etc. Was it worth it? Well, a certain male house sparrow is ecstatic we went to all this work just for hi...

While Gena and I were drinking our morning coffee a phoebe flew up to the window, looked in, and then perched on a feeder post. Phoebes, one of the earliest spring migrants , are in the flycatcher family. We also have Willow Flycatchers that nest on our property and I have a feeling I've been getting the similar vocalizations of these two birds mixed up. I'm now starting to wonder if phoebes have also been nesting close by. Their nests have a mud foundation and anyone who has ever visited our property knows this is the "land of mud". We also have protected spots on our barn and a couple of smaller  buildings that would be a good location for a phoebe nest. We'll be keeping on eye out for nesting phoebes and keep you updated. Eastern Phoebe I'm not only watching birds but carving them. Below is a rustic cottonwood bark Bald Eagle I just finished.  I still have to paint it but so far I'm happy with this carving. I've done a few of these in the pas...