I've got a new design series available at my Art of FoxVox shop! If you or someone you know is planning a wedding with a traditional Irish/Celtic, medieval, or renaissance faire theme, check out this Celtic Loving Cup design - the loving cup is an Irish tradition where husband and wife share their first drink together from the same two-handled cup. This design has a two-handled chalice decorated with knotwork, the claddagh symbol, and an infinity symbol, as well as colored gems.

You can get just the chalice, or the chalice with 'bride', 'mother of the bride' etc - everyone in your wedding party, on many styles of t-shirts, sweatshirts, and pin-back buttons. A fun way to outfit people at the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner too.

I also made matching wedding invitations and thank you notes, as well as just the cup design itself on gifts like ceramic travel mugs, SIGG water bottles, tile keepsake boxes and more.

Click here to see the entire Celtic Wedding Party selection...

Available Designs... Just Married Betrothed Bride Groom Maid of Honor Matron of Honor Best Man Groomsman Bridesmaid	Junior Bridesmaid Usher Flower Girl Ring Bearer Mother/Father of Bride Mother/Father of Groom Grandparents of Bride/Groom Aunt/Uncle of Bride/Groom More! Click to see!

Parts of the ground on the sage-covered hillside by our house are covered with dried Live Oak leaves, so when I heard the loud CRUNCH of something large walking slowly through, I grabbed my camera and tip-toed about 30 feet outside my door and there they were! Two California black-tailed deer (tail not shown)!



With the morning sun shining on them just so you can almost FEEL the velvet that's covering their antlers. You can see it in the image like a soft glow of bright light around them.

Oh, and you can click on the main photo or the one to the left here in the frame to get a framed or unframed print of this fortuitous morning sighting!

It's been an animal-ish kind of day already. On my morning walk with the dog, we saw three deer, one definitely an older buck as he good sized antlers (almost wrote 'a nice sized rack', but then I reconsidered.) Then, while I was eating breakfast, heard the chirping squirrel alarm go off outside and saw a coyote wandering around looking for his breakfast. And I was able to get a decent picture before I scared him off.



Coyotes are so rangy looking. Hard to picture this one wearing Acme rocket skates though. ;)

Well, it looks as though we'll be keeping little Eggbert the dove, but I made John agree that we'd reached our upper limit for birdom right now. And another thing - we're 80% sure that Eggbert is a SHE, so she's now Egberta. The cool thing here is that the name Egbert/Egberta is Old English for "shining sword"! So yes, it's a weird name, but with a cool meaning, so we can keep it. Also because we can't stop calling her Eggie, so I'm glad to have a good excuse to keep the name.

And here's a recentish photo of Egberta - not a full grown dove yet, but sort of the equivalent of a teenager.



Since taking this picture we've moved her to a new, larger cage with nice perches and plenty of room to stretch her wings. And speaking of stretching her wings, yesterday I was adjusting something in her cage and she flew right out the large door, around the room, and landed on the sunny windowsill! Luckily, we'd been getting her used to us handling her (or maybe she was just really shocked at her own daring!), so she stayed still while I picked her up in both hands and put her back in the cage.

I've got a newish Celtic design to share today! It looks like a stained glass window in a Medieval European church to me, and I love all the bright colors - very summery.



Click here or on any of the Stained Glass Spiral sample products below to see all the t-shirts and gift items emblazoned with this design.



This artwork, on a black background, is also available as a framed or unframed fine art print via Imagekind - the print is tweaked slightly to be brighter in the middle like the sun is shining through the center of the window. Click here to see the Celtic Stained Glass Spiral fine art print and to purchase. Thanks for looking!

Eggbert is still a bit smaller than the adult doves, but he's looking a LOT more dove-like and much less like a feathery fuzz ball. I know birds grow quickly, but to go from a small egg to this size in three weeks just amazes me. So herrrrrrre's Eggbert!

Our baby dove Eggbert is growing fast! A few days ago he was out of the nest and on the cage floor for a little while, and today he's out and about, making it a regular habit. He's also been eating a little seed on his own, although he's still getting food from the parents too.



He's started to get some serious featherage going there, even his tail is more than a stub now, although you can't see it in the photo. Go Eggbert!

Baby birds sure do grow fast! Eggbert no longer looks like a frosted mini-wheat (beige underneath, sprinkle of white on top) - now he's almost fully feathered, if lightly!



He's a little fluff butt now!

So John nicknamed the new baby dove Eggbert and now we can't call him/her anything else. *grin* Anyway, the mother dove (Freddie) got up off the baby for a few minutes yesterday, so I took the opportunity to try and grab a photo. I had to use the flash since it was early evening, and it's through the cage bars, but it came out usable anyway. I kept Freddie in the photo as a size comparison - plus, she's such a pretty white turtle dove!



I think his beak is growing faster than he is! Hard to believe that less than a week ago he was less than an inch long and living inside a shell - nature's amazing.

I was looking at the doves less than an hour ago - they were both in the nest box, but one of them had their head down. They don't usually do that, so I looked closer and WOW - there was a baby dove! Must have just hatched! Very hard to get a photo so far - this is the best one we could get right now - sorry about the blurriness, but you can see the little guy there in between the two adults:



There were two eggs, so I wonder if we'll get a second turtle doveling soon - will keep you posted! :)

I created the Celtic Dog, Celtic Cat, and Celtic Cat & Dog designs in what I'm calling 'pet-tone' colors (fur-ish tones), and I tried to capture the playful nature of dogs (check out the little tennis ball by the front feet) as well as the feigned disinterest of cats - this seemed to work just as well when they were put together in the same design as in the separate versions too. (The dog is modeled after our old Labrador Retriever, Pepper, although she was a black lab.)

As usual, just click on any of the designs to see all the t-shirts, keepsake boxes, and other neat items available for purchase at my shop. Also, if you'd like a fine art print of any of these pieces to hang on your wall, click any of the following links: Celtic Dog Prints, Celtic Dog & Cat Prints, Celtic Cat Prints. (The prints are archival quality and printed via Imagekind.)

Thanks for looking!

This first painting is mostly watercolor (just red and blue and combinations of purple) with just a bit of detail done in gel pen. I didn't start off intending that the sections look like pieces of patterned quilting-type fabric, but halfway through I realized that's where it was going. In honor of that, I called it "Wrinkles in the Fabrics of Space-Time" *grin*



And the second painting... after the detail in the first piece, although I only used two colors of paint, I wanted to do a completely monochromatic version. When it was finished, I was quite satisfied with the look, but wasn't sure what to call it. I tossed a few ideas for a title around, but John came up with "Pearl's Eye View" (from inside the oyster), which was exactly right.



Click either image for framed or unframed prints via Imagekind. And thanks for looking!

I love abstract/macro photographs like this - all texture! It's actually a closeup of the old aluminum chimney attached to our wood burning stove, with rust and mineral deposits (from evaporating water on top of the stove - you can imagine how hard the water is out here) gathering in the seam between pipe sections. I think the patterns of rust and dried minerals are just pretty, although I know not everyone shares my particular view on things like this.

Just click the image if you're interested in seeing a larger version or getting framed or unframed print. You can put it on the wall, tell people it's like an ink blot test, and ask them what they see in it!

I took this photo on a calm afternoon at Seacliff Park in Monterey Bay (Aptos), California. It is the remains of an old pier that has no top planking anymore. I love that it's just the remains of a pier, but the photo itself is more pier than not. Old, weathered wood is still full of such texture and detail!



(Click the image or click here to get a framed or unframed print.)

I happened to be outside and look up at the sky at the exact right moment to catch this heart-shaped cloud! What are the odds? I did very little photomanipulation of this image - just a little to bring out the contrast and highlight the shape, etc. The cloud itself dissipated almost immediately - I was really lucky my camera was on hand at the time!



Click on the image above to see a larger version or to order framed or unframed prints.

The heart cloud is also available on some gifty items in my shop, such as t-shirts, greeting cards (something different for valentine's day), keepsake boxes, and more:




Thanks for looking!

We're in cattle country here so we're surrounded by barbed wire fencing. Cows aren't TOO leary of it - the barbs mostly keep them from leaning on the fence itself and pushing it down. (A cow once leaned against our large wooden gate here and CRACK - there it went!)

So, I present, a macro photo of rusty barbed wire - wah-lah!



I think it's rather beautiful, in its own way.

If you happen to be in San Marcos, Texas between now and the end of February, stop into the Walkers' Gallery for their 'Celtic Spirit Worldwide' Juried Art Exhibit. Of course, the coolest part of this exhibit, for me, is that I'm in it! Well, my Celtic art is in it. ;) It's really exciting - as a self-taught artist, I've never done the exhibit/show route and this is my first one. And I'd love to be able to go there in person and see it all myself, especially with all the other Celtic art they'll have, but I won't be able to make it to Texas anytime soon - alas!

A bit about the exhibit: "Celtic Spirit Worldwide. This exhibit celebrates the timeless and ever-evolving forms of Celtic art which have woven their multiple strands through many centuries -- reflecting, absorbing, influencing, inspiring, recording and illuminating the interplay of the everyday and the spiritual. Artists are encouraged to enter work which speaks to their own personal engagement with Celtic aesthetic traditions. The exhibit and festival/reception are being sponsored by Austin's Things Celtic, the San Marcos Area Arts Council and the City of San Marcos. Juror for the exhibit is internationally recognized British author and artist, Nigel Pennick. An artists' reception and St. Bridget's Festival will be held on Saturday, January 31st, 11:00-5:00 p.m, at the Walker Gallery in San Marcos. The festival will have live entertainment, food, and of course, wonderful artwork."

I've asked the show coordinator to share a few photos of the event when she can so hopefully I'll be able to post a few after the event is over - keeping my fingers crossed!

Addendum: I was doing a bit more research on the web and found this page at the sponsor's web site (Things Celtic), and they have my 'Celtic Dragon Labyrinth' image at the bottom of the page! Yay!

I've created a new design - technically it's for Valentine's Day but since it's just hearts it can also be for anytime - a splash of pink Celtic hearts. It's rather 'girlie' and as such a bit of a departure from my usual tendencies, but I quite like it all the same - LOL.

The hearts are pink and darker pink (sort of a light magenta) and looped around in a bit of heart-shaped Celtic knotwork. Feel free to click here (or click the image) to see the t-shirts,sweatshirts, greeting cards, buttons, keepsake boxes, and all the other kinds of pink girlie Celtic stuff are available, incuding kid's and infant apparel.

Thanks for looking!