Monday, December 30, 2019

New year, new logo!


I took this group photo of some of the birds I've made over the past year, with a few old favorites mixed in too. Just wanted to share this here full size. It will be used for my header for this blog and on Etsy. Hope you all have a wonderful New Year, 2020 is almost here and Im really excited for what this new year and decade will bring! For me there will be lots of new birds and hopefully a new house, garden, and studio to be working in, plus beginning to offer some of my full size birds as well as other works for sale in the upcoming year!

I also have a new logo which I posted on Instagram last week! Here's the post from that:

My new logo for Pond Cypress Studio. I finished designing today and have been thinking about a lot lately. I wanted it to be symbolic for me personally, but also of the areas I’ve lived, and of the artwork I create. 

What is “pond cypress”?  It’s a tree, native to Florida, whose range extends up to Virginia and west almost to Texas.  This is the area I’ve spend most of my life. It inhabits wet areas and has yarn like leaves and small round cones, which I’ve drawn in my logo with the leaf curling around the cone. They are a symbol of longevity, living up to 1000 years, and in Everglades NP there is a dwarf cypress forest. They’re an important tree for many birds, and a wide variety of other plants and animals. 

The Prairie Warbler is a cute familiar songbird which lives in the eastern United States and has a residential population in coastal Florida. It was one the first warblers I was able to find and identify when I started bird watching, which also taught me and got me interested in learning about bird subspecies. It’s the one warbler I see most often throughout the year here in South Florida. 

So thanks for reading, I just wanted to share some things about me and why I chose this new logo, and also to say thanks a lot for following me and the support!! I appreciate it!! 😊

Thursday, December 19, 2019

Northern Cardinal, Carving 127

The Northern Cardinal is one of the most famous birds here in North America, but is also a recognizable bird all over the world, used on household goods and other media, it's a common sight. Here in the US it's found in the eastern portions of the country and the south. It's a common bird in neighborhoods, and a frequent visitor to bird feeders. In Florida we have a subspecies of the Northern Cardinal, sometimes referred to as the Florida Cardinal, Cardinals cardinalis floridans . It's smaller, darker, and has other subtle size and color differences. This one I'm making is somewhat of a prototype.  I have a project to make a decoy for a researcher. It's to help coax males into the mist nest which have been reluctant and shy. We'll see how it goes! 

Northern Cardinal, Cardinals cardinalis floridanus
Finished carving on its unfinished base. It's with a poinsettia in a foo dog planter from Martha Stewart and 1800flowers.com collection from 2007. Its one of my cherished vases!

Northern Cardinal, Cardinals cardinalis floridanus
Finished carving with finished base in a forest setting, with wild 
Bostons fern's growing behind it at Frenchman's Forest Preserve 
in Palm Beach County, FL.

Northern Cardinal, Cardinals cardinalis floridanus
Finished carving among Wild Pennyroyal, Piloblephis rigida,
 it at Frenchman's Forest Preserve in Palm Beach County, FL.

As always, thanks for reading!  I should be having the other cardinal coming out soon.  
Happy Holidays!!

I’m back!

 Hello Readers,  As everyone in the world knows, the last 2 years of the pandemic has been tumultuous and really threw a wrench in everythin...