I am not sure how it is that I have not managed a blog post in almost a week. I am not entirely sure what I did during that time - though I did work on a few watercolors and a cat commission and some other projects. And I read and listened to some books. And worked on some jig saw puzzles, which work well to get my frantic little brain to slow down a bit.
This is a Hawaiian honeycreeper -- the bird, that is. I did not actually see any of these while I was in Hawaii, but may have heard some -- because I am almost positive I saw some of the flowers they like to sip nectar from -- ʻōhiʻa lehua (Metrosideros polymorpha). I wanted to paint one because they are so pretty. The birds we saw the most were Mynas and Red-crested Cardinal. We also saw a Pacific Golden Plover, and a Hawaiian Hawk. There were some shore birds too, though I did not manage to identify them -- some sort of sandpipers included.
And there were chickens and roosters all over. At first I thought everyone must raise free-range chickens, but then I read that they are feral. It's probably a great place to live for a feral chicken, so I guess that explains why there were so many of them just wandering about. I must admit they were more attractive than the Rhode Island Reds that we had on the farm I grew up on --- testament to the bounty
of the islands, I think.
Oh, and the plants seen in this painting include orchids, red ginger, pineapple, and some things from my imagination.
I hope to get some more painting done this weekend, though I am a bit under the weather, which I have been really for 2 months.
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