Mourning dove chicks, more Corel Painter 9.5 experiments

For the past couple of days, several mourning doves have been hanging out in our front garden. I didn't mind, as long as they left my crocuses alone (unlike certain neighbourhood demon squirrels). Then I noticed the larger mourning dove feeding the three smaller ones, and realized the latter were mourning dove chicks!

And suddenly I panicked, aware of all the cats and other creatures in the neighbourhood. Those dove chicks just seemed to be stupidly standing in the open; they might as well have had a big sign above their heads reading: FREE FOOD! My friend Tanya says they call them "lunch birds" in her area, and I can so easily see why. Happily, however, I woke up the next morning to find them gone. Jeff has helpfully pointed out that this might have meant they were all eaten, but I prefer to think that they all flew to a Mourning Dove Sanctuary & Resort where they're being pampered with lots of...well...whatever mourning doves like to eat.



I've been getting a surprising amount of positive feedback to my Little Nightmares drawings. Thanks, everyone! Also a number of requests for prints, yay!! I've set up a Little Nightmares page with thumbnails and where people can sign up for my mailing list, if they're interested in being notified when prints and new Nightmares are available. Your information will only be used for Little Nightmare mailings, which will be sent out one or two times a month at most. You can opt out whenever you'd like.

I've found a number of good printing places, but I'm still looking for a reliable service that will print AND sell prints and other merchandise for me. I'd much take a smaller cut than have to worry about the hassle of packaging, mailing, customs, etc. Suggestions welcome!

Image above and to the right: A Corel Painter 9.5 experiment with the Airbrush tool. I was trying out a technique I just learned from one of their movie tutorials, where you can use the Flat variant of the Pen tool to paint shapes on different layers, then use Preserve Transparency on layers to turn each of these shapes into masks. MUCH less hassle than using the Lasso tool to outline.

Photo below: I love tulips. These are the last remaining tulips from a bunch I bought as a treat for myself. They've opened up and will probably only last a day or two more, but I liked how they looked in the sunlight late one afternoon.

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