Mermaid & Barn Swallows

I continue here not to share my art but rather the reasons I love living where I do. They all give me such joy-the birds, critters, my own crew of rescues and of course my deepest love, the girls Cherokee and Lena. I have to admit they do all keep me away from my easel more then I care to admit. But we only live this life we were given once and I dont want to miss a thing my wee corner of the earth has blessed me with....I do still get to my paints for short bursts every day, well, almost everyday. Along with the Gypsy commish, I have also been working on an 8x10 Mermaid(my first with a Merman!) painting depicting a ballet amongst the ruins of Atlantis...this is a progress of where it is at...hope you can see where it is going...:)

Well as promised yesturday, I just snapped some pictures of our Barn Swallows. They have definetely set up residence in the barn and let us again shut them in last night. One has taken to sitting in the nest, while the other perches himself on the pile of boards we have located on a shelf above the main door. Im calling that one a 'him' but it could be the other way around..not sure with this bird who actually is the guardian of the nest. Just being stereotypical in my thinking I guess...lol Think I will go do a bit of research on these extremely handsome bird..:) The first image of the nest, her tail is slightly visible on the left front corner. As I was taking pics, she turned around and this time her tail was visible in the front right..:) He was out flying around for a while and returned..