Birthday party for a one year old.

One of our great grandsons had his first birthday party on Saturday. He's such a good little guy, and he's full of action, so it was a fun time watching him open presents and eat cake. My dad is 94 and he was there also, he's holding the baby in this photo. My daughter is in the red shirt, a friend in the green.

Robert with our granddaughter Hannah.

The birthday had a cow theme, Holy Cow you're One! So the cake was a Scottish Highlander cow, very cute.

Kids having fun making bubbles.

Here's that first bite of birthday cake!

The day after the birthday party, we went to the Bison Range to watch the bison.  They weren't very lively, about the most action we saw was this bull taking a dust bath. Always fun to watch them, even if they just roam around eating.

We'll be setting up at an outdoor art show on Sept 10.  It will be at the Paris Gibson Museum in Great Falls, Mt.  We dug out our upright supports today so we could begin to get ready.  It takes a lot more preparation for an outdoor show simply because of wind and weather.  We're trying to figure out the best ways to tie the supports to heavy sand bags or cinder blocks. The tenth will be a busy day!

 

Over 3000 artist reference photos on our Patreon site.

 We started a Patreon site for artists.  We have over 3000 photos uploaded to our site, most of them are Montana wildlife, some are scenery and other things.  Some dog portraits, some interesting things but mostly wildlife.

If you are looking for photos, there are so many there, that are like having exclusive photos without having to purchase an exclusive license.  The photos are exclusively for artists to use as reference and that is what the license there states.

We are not finished uploading photos, I've only gone through a couple of years worth of photos. I haven't begun on our older hard drives yet.

So if you are looking for reference photos for your art, come join our Patreon site. You'll hardly ever run out of something to paint.

Artist reference photos for you to use.

And if you like to paint elk, there are hundreds of elk photos there.  Elk, deer, mountain sheep, bears, and more!

Montana Outdoors Photo Issue

 

This photo of a porcupine's quills was published in the Montana Outdoors photo issue this year. I was following the porcupine below, begging him as I went along to turn his little face toward me for just a second.  He finally did do that, but not before I gave up and told him if he wouldn't turn around, I'd just take a photo of his rear end.  In the end, pun there, I sent the quills in to be juried as I liked the patterns they made as the porky raised them. He sure was a cute little guy. And I was glad he gave me the photo that made it into the issue.

This burrowing owl was also published in a Montana Outdoors Photo Issue.  The photo issue comes out each year in December and there are 10,000 images vying for publication so I am always honored when one of my images is chosen.  Subscribe to Montana Outdoors and you will see that issue when it comes out each year.  It's only something like $12 a year and it's a great magazine.