Artworks for birds & shade grown coffee

I watch birds no matter where I am. Drawing is a way I record these birds. I am an artist/printmaker. I think of feeding birds as a way of paying the birds a model fee. When I get an idea or see am image with a warbler or flycatcher, how can I pay them a model fee? I have become an advocate for bird conservation.
I call my business Artworks by Lydia. Some people might find the name odd to people if they only go on my bird tour. The bird tour component of Artworks is a part of my bird conservation effort. My goal is to connect people to the birds and where they live. Habitat is key. If folks understand the connections then they are going to care.

However, not everyone wants to go out to look at birds. I have one etching I call Crowning Point. A Great Crested Flycatcher is peeking out at the top of the magnolia tree. This a very common summer bird here but most folks do not know the bird because it lives high in the trees and fly catches. This etching gives me a chance to talk about these birds.

My art guild is Georgia Coastal Artist. We have three art shows a year. We started planning for the December show back in the summer. I volunteered to bring the coffee. I was planning the birding festival and had just talked to Bo Mann at Wake Up Coffee Company. This is a local business selling shade grown/ fair trade coffees. Perfect! I could support a local company that was promoting the same things I support. The base is broadened to people who might not know they are supporting bird conservation.

Bo was great. He brewed up some tasty Costa Rican coffee and all the recyclable fixing. Then I set it up at the A.W. Jones Heritage Center the location of our art show. There was some one at the coffee table all day talking about the coffee.

Here is fellow artist, Joyce Shelander, sitting at our coffee table.

We passed out fliers that explained the importance of shade grown/fair trade. Every little bits helps. By the way, here is some of my new artworks which I showed at December 4th art show.

November Art show at Glynn Art Associations

I belong to Georgia Coastal Artists. This is the juried art guild of the Glynn Art Association on St. Simons Island. Every November we have an art show in the Gallery on Mallery. The one requirement is that it is new art.

Lydia with the French Tool Etching Press

I walk everywhere. When I am on one of my walks I look at plants, birds, & bugs. For the last few months I have been walking past a wonderful tangle of grape vines, morning glories, and grasses. Art is a creative process for me. It means I mull and plan and study before I ever get into the studio and my amazing press.

This is what I've been doing to prepare for my new art pieces. I am a printmaker so went by this vine tangle and cut samples of the vines and grasses.

detail of monotype

In my studio I prepare a plexiglass plate by applying inks then I lay some of the vines and grasses on this surface. The 100% rag paper is soaked and ready. It is laid over this the plexiglass. Then form blankets are in place to help cushion the pressure as the plexiglass and paper are pulled under the two roller of the press. An image is created. Well that it is the start of the long process...... Anyway the time in the studio was successful. I now have two new pieces for the art show.

If you are in the area, the opening for the show is this Thursday November 6, at Glynn Art from 5 pm to 7 pm. Come by and see Garden's Bounty & Garden's Delight as well as Cardinal in Blue.

Crooked River State Park

Experience Coastal Georgia Festival at Crooked River was Saturday September 13th. My day started by setting up my booth. My next stop was the Nature Center for the Bird Walk I was leading. While waiting I did a little quiet birding with Emily the naturalist. We had a nice little flock of warblers and vireos. The highlight was a Blackburnian Warbler. I had not seen a Blackburnian Warbler here on the coast so I thoroughly enjoyed my time looking at him. He would pop in and out between leaves of the oak tree. By the time my group arrived the flock had moved on into the woods. Actually walking the path from the Nature Center to the campground to the pond and bird window area was quite birdy. There were Eastern Bluebirds, Summer Tanagers, Downy, Red-bellied and a beautiful look at a Pileated Woodpecker. When we got to the bird window there was a family there with their bird books out studying the birds at the feeders. We got back to the Nature Center in time for the next activity for the family. I went back to my booth. Crooked River State Park is located on Crooked River. The booths were set up on the bluff overlooking the river.

a view of Crooked River from my booth

Beside my art I am also the Chief Naturalist at Wild Birds Unlimited Nature Shop Jekyll Island Georgia. Gary Smith was set up next to my booth so we enjoyed talking to the festival goers. I enjoy working with the Smiths. They care about birds and helping people set up their yards for birds and nature.

At the end of the day a couple of the other artists came over to look at my art. They were very interested in my creative printmaking which I call my monotype constructions. They made my day complete by telling me that I was taking printmaking to the next level. It is always nice to hear for my work is a true blend of my art of printmaking and the birds I enjoy watching. It was a day of both.