The Tui and the Kowhai

I've been trying for days to get a really excellent photo of one of the tui that have been in the kowhai trees outside my bedroom - even to having the tripod set up so I could quietly sneak in and take a photo. Unfortunately I haven't been able to get a clear one that shows off all the colours of their feathers (greens, blues, teals, browns and black).
Here is the best photo I have:

He is just a little bigger than a blackbird and they fly in a swooping motion. One day I'll figure out how I can add their beautiful song as well.
And a gorgeous close-up of the kowhai flowers that tui love to feed from:

Sunday Snapshots

Spring is here - so I've got some springy photos for you to enjoy.

Cherry blossoms

Kowhai and lady-bug

Some of the lambs

Tom's nose

Tom is our dorper X hogget ram - just love how black his nose is!

Eighth Set of Pieces for Exhibition

We have a small grove of kowhai trees just out from our bedroom. They are close to coming into flower, then we will have tuis drinking of the nectar. I have done a set of kowhai which covers the 3 cycles.

First the leaf. When you look at the macro shot of a leaf there is a myriad of veins. I have used the flour resist fabric from an earlier post, then painted the leaves on and stitched each leaf fairly heavily.

Next is the flower. I have used actual leaves and then collaged the fabric of the flower. This technique used here is encaustic - encased in beeswax. I 'painted' melted beeswax over the leaves and fabric, then used a warm iron and baking paper to ease out the lumps of wax.
It smells beautiful!

Lastly are the seed pods. These droop for quite a few months and the seeds are like small yellow peas. I have used actual pods here but firstly they were encased in Mod Podge which makes them more flexible. They are then stitched on and I have made seeds from embroidered French knots.






Final view:

I think this might be my favourite set.

Close-ups for Line and Texture

Today I had a wee play with the camera using the macro button. Here's some cool shots of the kowhai seeds. I'd love to make a quilt that shows the kowhai tree in it's various growth states - especially with a 3-D effect somehow.
The seed casings are really quite rough and woody now. I'll probably save some and try growing the seeds - some more trees for us and some for gifts.This photo is a bit more artistic though -Then I took a couple of real close-ups of Ginger - she is my Hereford Cross cow. Love the photo of the top-knot and then there is her neck.

Tuis in the Kowhai Trees

Yesterday I managed to get up reasonably close to a tui in the kowhai trees. You will see that the bird is upside down to get the nectar from the flowers - the beak is slightly hooked and longer than a blackbird's, to get right into the flowers. Later there were more visitors, so I'm hoping that there is a nest fairly close-by.
The tui is a fully protected bird in New Zealand, it has a tuft of white feathers at the throat and a beautiful resonant song with croaks and gurgles.

I Love the Native New Zealand Kowhai

We have a small grove of kowhai trees which we planted about 5 years ago. They are exposed to the westerly wind and one of them had stunted growth because it was nibbled by the hares. They are taller than me now and this year they will all be in flower. The kowhai tree has fern-like leaves and beautiful drooping yellow flowers. Spring is on it's way and there are lots of tiny buds!!