I’ve just added a new photograph to my gallery. It is, as you may have already guessed, a Hummingbird. You can view her portrait here!

I’ve also submitted her portrait to BetterPhoto for their monthly contest, you can have a look at her larger portrait here!

Lowland Gorilla aka “Charlie”
36×36 (3 ft. square. Huge!)
Oil Pastel Painting on board
©2003 Leanne Wildermuth, All Rights Reserved

We love Charlie here at my house, we’ve loved him since he was born in our Dining room in 2003. He looks soft and very touchable, but also kinda powerful. He’s been guarding our house for a while but frankly, we’re out of wall space for our dear friend Charlie. Do you have a spare wall that could use a mighty Lowland Gorilla?

He’s got a couple of dings on the face of the painting that are not noticable, and I’ll seal the painting again before he ships out. He’d look wonderful in a big bamboo frame over a fireplace or something wouldn’t he?

If you love Charlie too, make me an offer I can’t refuse. You can e-mail me or leave a comment. :)

Butterfly Wing : Pop Style
24×36 (2ft x 3ft)
Oil Pastel Painting on board
©2003 Leanne Wildermuth, All Rights Reserved

I’ve hung onto this wing for a couple of years now, it’s time to let it go. It’s a pretty substantial painting and has great contrast between the green eyes and purple, as well as the brighter purples and black. Overall it’s an eye-popping interesting piece. It’s got a small chip on the outside edge of the painting that would be concealed in a frame.

If you want to purchase this painting, please e-mail me or leave a comment here. I’ll accept offers and sell to the one who wants it the most, ’cause that’s the kind of folks I want buying my paintings!

It’s official, I’m going to have to seek therapy this winter when my hummingbirds leave. I moved the feeder right up next to our front window, cleaned the window reeeealy good, and voila. They’re still here. And they hover right in front of the window, right in my face, and I know they’re saying something, what are they saying remains to be determined. You tell me!

Updated I just have to add more pics!

I didn’t cry. Honestly. I did NOT. CRY. Nut-uh. No, I didn’t. I swear I didn’t. ::sniffle:: THAT was not crying. I just, I think I’m coming down with a cold or something, that’s all. Truly.

(waaaahhhhh! Everybody LEFT me! WAAAAAAAAHHHHH!)

Not crying. Still not crying. Wanna. But not gonna. Phew. Okay. Deep breath. Ooh, I know! I can go shopping now! That will make me feel MUCH better!

Holy Cannoli. I never thought I’d be taking photographs of hummingbirds. These are incredible creatures!!! There are several visiting today, as well as a huge colony of ants. LOL This guy is very obviously a Ruby Throated Hummingbird. I love him and want to catch him and pet him and snuggle him close and call him George.

I’ve been taking pics of our hummingbirds all morning. Unfortunately, I can’t figure out what settings will give me a great still of their wings in motion. Fortunately, I have “movie mode”, so now you can see what I see out my front window!

This is a large QuickTime movie, it will take some time to load. Can’t change the format folks, sorry about that! Click the pic to watch the movie.

Today, I’ll be playing the role of Michele.

I get to recommend a new site for Michele’s blogroll, so I picked someone special.

Inquiring minds also would like some input on NASA, cause their last launch and landing had me nervous.

I’m (as Michele) also curious to know who is to thank for your Awesomeness, so you can answer that question here.

Last but not least, What’s your talent?

Now I’ve done all of this wearing my prettiest shoes, in compliance with the terms of the program. Now I must take my shoes off (nice legs, Michele, I wish I could have borrowed those too. Next time? Okay. Thanks!), and share an illustration that I doodled the other day.

This doodle is for a friend of mine who is going to be famous, I tell you. She writes. And she writes well, and her name is Mir.

You should really go read her blog if you don’t already. She’s already on my blogroll, already on Michele’s, so she has all necessary approvals, I think?

Tell her I said hi, and that her kids are cute!

:wink:

I’ll be doodling again today, and (crossing my fingers) uploading a couple of others into my Graphic Illustration gallery that you haven’t seen before.

This is for Taba, and whoever else might find this remotely interesting. Seriously, I don’t care for/am not seeking pity or “omg that looks awful”, I am captivated by the human body. How much I’ve managed to screw mine up is really beside the point for the purpose of this discussion.

For reference, let’s start with the good discs! Those can be found within the yellow circle, or L1-L4. See how the discs look like little hamburgers between the vertebrae? That’s almost normal. They are degenerating, but so far they’re not as ugly as the rest of my spine. There’s a good point of reference for you then. Those within the yellow circle are decent, not bulging, not causing any interruption. Good boys. Sit. Stay.

Alrightie then, that about covers the good stuff. That seems to be a trend this week anyway, so may as well end the week the way it started, right? Right. Moving on.

See that green line on the left, the nice curvy one? Well that, my friends, is the curve of a normal spine in this area. See the actual image? The curve is going bye-bye. Slowly but surely, the curvature in the lumbar region is diminishing, causing even more stress to the sqwished up mess going on there.

Let’s move on now to the red circles. Wee!

Between the Sacrum (S1) and L5, we’ve got one giant ugly mess. What’s happening here is that the vertebrae are squishing the hamburger, and the ketchup is dripping down the leg of the table. You catch my drift? This disc also has what’s been described as a “teenie tiny herniation”. Me? Any herniation is a bad herniation, but I’m not a doctor now am I? No. There is a defined interruption between the drippy ketchup and the nerve bundle, and that’d probably be why sometimes I drag my left leg behind me like Egor. But I digress.

The upstairs neighbor to L5 is getting pretty ticked off about all the screaming from its downstairs neighbor, and boy he’s about ready to go down there and join the fight. He’s really annoying my right leg in the process, so if he’d just put some earplugs in or something and ignore all the screaming downstairs? I’d be most grateful. Translated, L4 is also bulging, pinching nerves, and almost acting like L5.

Well then we have some peace and quiet in the yellow region. Ahh. Enjoy the silence.

From L1 up, through all the T’s we have minor bulging, which since my boob job uh… breast reduction er… reduction mammoplasty hasn’t bothered me at all. Fortunately, removing 2 pounds from the front of me probably saved the back of me from what’s happening below the waistline. Crazy how the body works, isn’t it?

To sum it up: Hamburgers good, big black hole bad.