Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Atlasta Studio!!

At last the studio is up and running! ALL the glass has been moved out of the house. MOST of the copper, too! Yay!

The last two shows have been very disappointing. The organizers did well in preparation and making the artists welcome, but lacked in promotion. Thus, neither show was well attended. Sugar Creek Arts Festival in Normal, IL, is next up. It was a great show last year, so we're keeping our fingers crossed.

Our little hummers are eating us out of house & home! What voracious appetites! Remember to keep the nectar fresh and you'll have hours and hours of enjoyment.

Hummingbird fact for today: Most hummingbirds are enthusiastic and versatile predators, plucking gnats and flies out of the air, searching leaves and bark crevices for aphids and beetles, and even robbing spiders of their silk-wrapped prey.

Monday, June 6, 2011

Hummingbirds: Magic in the Air

Watch your local PBS station schedule for Hummingbirds: Magic in the Air. Or go here and purchase the DVD. This is the most amazing presentation on hummingbirds that I have seen! The cinematography is absolutely miraculous. You can see a variety of hummer species feeding, with close-up shots so stunning that you can actually see their tongues flicking in and out as they gather nectar. The narration is excellent. This will be the best hour you have ever spent watching television!

We spent the weekend baking in Columbia at Art in the Park. Well, baking is probably not the right term since the humidity was as high as the temperature! It was more like a very uncomfortable sauna. But once again the Columbia community came out in droves to support the arts and artists. Kudos to Diana Moxon, the Board of the Columbia Art League, the generous sponsors, and to the league of unwavering volunteers. They all work together to make this one of the best shows in the Midwest.

We're off to Olathe this coming weekend for our only show in Kansas this year. We can only hope that the weather will cooperate.

We are still awaiting the completion of the studio. The guys are working on the inside now, so hopefully it won't be too much longer!

Hummingbird fact for today: When the early Spanish explorers first encountered hummingbirds in the New World, they called them "joyas voladoras" and the term "flying jewels" is still used today.