O Is For Oriole–Baltimore

I had a lot of company today, some expected and some not, so I’m talked out ;-).  Some days when you read my blog and I’m long-winded it’s pretty much because I have spent the whole day or possibly two days mostly by myself.  Not the case today–so here is my offering–the brightly colored Baltimore Oriole.  I just think these are beautiful birds and didn’t want to miss an opportunity to paint one.  The Oriole we see around here is a Bullock’s Oriole but I decided to break yet another of one of my rules and go rogue–paint a bird outside of my territory.  They’re only MY rules anyway–besides, some of my friends from the East Coast may want to purchase a bird painting or two as well.

Besides painting an Oriole, I started on the painting for tomorrow–here’s a sneak peek.  I’m sure it’s obvious what it is.  If not, you’ll just have to be surprised.

My friends who were here to see my studio and have lunch with me were interested in what these pieces look like in real life.  I decided that it would be good to share with all of you.  Here is the display I created for these little 5″x7″ pieces–thank you Ikea.  It’s a great way to let them dry and also it kinda dictates what bird I will do next or what color background.  I don’t want them all to be the same.

Eventually, hopefully before Open Studio, I will have note cards made from these.  I’m trying to decide if I should sell them as individual cards or as a full alphabet.  Any input?  I won’t tell you which way I’m leaning until I get some feedback (IF I get feedback)–hypothetically, if you were buying these cards, would you rather have 2 of 4 different paintings packaged together (my choice), the option of buying them individually or packaged in an A-Z (one of each) format?  Or all of the above–All these decisions!!!