The older Great Blue Heron, the Mayor of the marsh, is always hatching plans to tighten the community connections at the salt marsh. Permanent marsh residents will need to manage the soon upcoming bi-annual migration conference as a team. Without a hitch. He’s expecting big crowds, like last year.
So he’ll be throwing a Labor Day party at the town hall, with a special exhibition in the tree gallery. Under the theme “Connected”, he wants to show portraits of all those residents who’ll be sharing the salt marsh smorgasbord with migrating visitors, and others just stopping by for a snack. I volunteered to help. And to ensure timely delivery, persuaded this older gentleman to accept digital paintings.
Here my friends, you’ll get a sneak peek of these portraits before we’ll hang them up later today.
I’m hoping it’ll be a nice exhibition. And I’m planning to join the party despite allergies that have hit me this weekend. Let’s stay connected, and thanks for visiting 🙂
You can find other replies to this challenge here.
TINY LESSONS BLOG 
Gorgeous, colourful photos of beautiful birds. If I had to choose a favourite it would be Lily, the little blue heron.
Thank you Isabella. The Little Blue Heron is such a gracious bird. True nature-made beauty for us to enjoy.
I like these digital paintings!
It was fun to make them when I couldn’t get out the house yesterday 🙂
That Heron is spectacular. Amazing shot Helen.
Nature is just waiting for us to see the beauty it keeps creating on a daily basis. Thank you David.
Tiny…these are STUNNING!!! If I were a painter…I would beg permission to use these to paint!! Who knows…maybe one day!! 🙂 Blessings ♡♡
Thank you Lorrie! I hope that one day you’ll paint…any or all of these 🙂 That would be a great honor. Blessings to you too ❤
Thank you my friend!! ♡♡
Thank you…Thank you…Thank you!!!! 😉 ♡♡
Tiny!! WOW!!! What a fantastic job you did to portray the incredible LIFE found in the salt marsh. May you have much FUN at this gallery!!! I SO enjoyed your post today!!! Love, Amy ❤
Thank you Amy! Happy you enjoyed the post. I’ve been thinking to document the residents for a long time, and this challenge just clicked in 😀 Of course there are others, like the many visitors, and all the smaller birds who don’t necessarily hang around the salt marsh for a long time. Much love ❤
Much Love to you, Tiny!!! Hope your day is a good one!! ❤
Looks like you had fun.
Enjoy the gallery opening. Don’t S~N~E~E~Z~E too loud or you’ll scare the birds away.
I know, but thanks for the reminder, Nancy. Yesterday would have been impossible to go near any birds. Today little less frequent sneezing and the sand has dropped off my eyes so I can see much better 🙂
It looks like it will be a grand party, Tiny, with a great turnout. Your vivid photos are fun, and the captures are spectacular.
Happy you enjoyed the sneak peek, Jet 🙂 It was fun to work with these.
You’ve outdone yourself with these photos Tiny. Stunning.
Glad you enjoyed the “exhibition”, Nancy! I hope you’re having a relaxing weekend.
Sorry about the allergies, hope they are easing. Fantastic photographs, you are so clever and artistic as well as being such a nature lover.
Thank you Susan. Happy you enjoyed the portraits. I’m much better today, feel almost back to normal as the allergy medicine is finally kicking in 🙂
Love the photo paintings! Beautiful! Sorry about the allergies, but boy, do I understand. It’s that time of year. Achooo! ❤
Glad you liked my artistic endeavor, Jackie. It was so much fun to work on these as yesterday I felt like I had a flu, and couldn’t do much else. That was ACHOOO all day. Today the medicine is finally kicking in and I feel much better. Hugs ❤
Glad you are feeling better tiny. The allergies this year seem worse than usual, or I’m more wimpy than usual. 😉
Even Bumble’s vet advised me to buy the allergy medicine now for Bumble who can get breathing problems with allergies. She said it’s very bad this year. So far Bumble is doing much better than me 🙂
You’re a very artistic lady Tiny! Excellent work! 🙂
Thanks H.J.! Happy you enjoyed the gallery walk 🙂
Oh very cool way to showcase the residents this time!
Thanks! I thought I’d be good to present them all at the same time, just in case the salt marsh saga will continue with some twists and turns this fall 😉
These are phenomenal, Tiny! WOW, your talent and eye for the shot shine through magnificently. Thanks for sharing!!!
Thank you for your kind words, LL. Happy you came to visit. I hope you are enjoying this long weekend and have some time off. Much love ❤
These truly are stunning. Nice job, 🙂
Thank you kindly, Kathy 🙂
These are amazing, tiny! What a spectacular twist on your photographic captures.
Thanks Kat! I’ve been learning some more about post processing, and thought our feathered friends would be great guinea pigs 🙂
An excellent use of time hanging heavy on the hand.
Thank you! As I couldn’t go out to see the birds, I thought I’d work on them instead.
Wow! Love the contrast and color Tiny.
I bet the gang would also agree. I’m pretty sure they look younger, brighter and bursting with life. At their best 🙂
Mother nature enhanced creates great art!!
xo
Oh they do look younger, and clearly more vibrant than what they see every morning in the mirror 😀 Thanks Val!
A wonderfully colorful “take” on your local Saltmarsh residents! 🙂
Thanks Carolyn. It was fun to be the painter, and have the freedom to add some vibrancy 🙂
Gorgeous!!
Thanks Kathy. I enjoyed playing the painter.
Beautiful birds nd lovely names :). Apart from the macaws, I can’t remember seeing such bright colors on birds!
Thanks! These birds have beautiful colors, but I added some vibrancy in the “painting” process 🙂
Oh how exciting! Each image is a masterpiece, Tiny..and you and your bird friends definitely deserve to be celebrated! Enjoy!
Thanks Susan! It was fun to work on these portraits and practice my post processing skills.
Beautiful colors Helen! I love them all. It must be great to share these special parts of nature with everyone. I hope your allergies improve. 🙂
Thanks Karen! Happy you enjoyed the bright colors. My allergies are much better today, and it’s raining so the pollen will be much less 🙂
Lovely photos! Great exhibition. I don’t have the patience for photographing birds – but it is probably because I don’t have patience in general – something I need to work on. Thank you for the reminder. Have a wonderful week.
Thank you for your kind comment and your visit! I just like to follow these guys…and get some exercise when I look for them. A wonderful week to you too.
So beautiful and wonderful photos
Thank you Zigma
These are great. Love the vibrant colors.
Happy you liked them!
Gorgeous exhibition — many thanks for the invite, it was great fun taking a virtual stroll through the salt marsh gallery! 🙂
Happy you came to the exhibition, Meg. The birds too like their portraits 🙂
Absolutely exquisite, Tiny! I love the work you do. This is such a lovely way to teach about the incredible variety of beautiful birds that make the salt marsh home. It could be a powerful tool to educate the public and legislators about necessary protections, and an excellent resource for schools… just a couple ideas – I’m sure you can think of many more 🙂
Thank you Carol. Even locally the salt marsh is a “well kept secret” as we say, although it is part of the Florida Birding Trail. People simply don’t know there are so many birds to enjoy. I’m thinking of a book, maybe…and hoping I’ll get the time to work on it 🙂
This is such an important idea, Tiny. I hope you find time ❤
Should be an excellent exhibit, beautifully done.
Thank you Maverick.
Wow! Beyond that I can’t say much…other than these are sensational.
Thank you kindly. Nature’s beauty is inspiring.
Great treatment of some great pics!
Thanks Frank! It was fun to work on these.
What a terrific, colorful portrait gallery! I can’t get over how many different kinds of herons there are. How thoughtful of the Mayor to let visiting birds and humans alike know who’s who in the salt marsh, and how kind of you to help him out. Hope your allergies are kept manageable with the medication – the ragweed up here gets me every time I walk out the door.
Thank you Barbara – happy you enjoyed the portraits! My allergies are due to ragweed too, but luckily I feel much better now as the medicine has kicked in. I’ve been out twice this week and survived 🙂
Great post again Tiny, love the vivid colour of your birds, what a wonderful community you have there in the salt marsh, and they share a wonderful caretaker in you:-)
Happy you liked the vividly colored birds. These are the birds that I most often see, but of course there are others visiting from time to time, and lots of small song birds as well. If not a “caretaker” they certainly have a friend 🙂
Holy Moses….the talent here is unbelievable!!! Allergies…..sigh.
Thank you Laurie. I didn’t dare to go out much last weekend, so I decided to see what I could do with some creativity. It was fun…and allergies are now under control, more or less.
Wow Tiny!! You’ve been busy!! I love these and so very excited for your exhibition!! Please keep us posted on that and photos please! So very proud of you!!! Love from Helsinki. Sharon xx
Thank you Sharon! Happy you liked my digital paintings of the salt marsh residents. I’m hoping to get a project that would bring me to Helsinki a few times this fall/winter/spring. If that materializes I hope we can have kahvi ja pulla one day 🙂 Much love & hugs!
Wow that’s awesome!!! Tervetuloa Helsinkiin Tiny! Kahvi ja pulla for sure! 😀 Hugs xx
I just hope it’ll come through! XX
Wow!! Beautiful work, Tiny! Thank you so much for sharing. 🙂
Love your new theme for the blog. Don’t know why my reader did not pick up your recent posts… 😕
Thank you, Amy! The reader drops (unfollows) people altogether and, if you’re not continuously there reading throughout the day, it can have gaps of many hours of posts when you try to check older posts. It’s happened to me so many times that I don’t use it very much. I’ve bookmarked the blogs I really want to check on (incl. yours) so I can read when I have the time 🙂
But, I have not missed your post until you last week’s post. Also, whenever they upgrade their reader format, a bunch disappear from my reader…
Wonderful digital artistry! Now if we could only transform allergies into something more pleasant. 😉 Glad the meds have kicked in. It’s almost time for me to start taking Claratyne again. 😦 Wattle, pine and all sorts are beginning to fill the spring skies.
Thank you Gallivanta. I’m taking my Claritin (may be the same med as yours?) every day and feel mostly fine. Now I’m out as much as the time permits.
Yes, I think that would be the same medicine. It’s the best I have ever had for allergy season. Some days it’s not 100% effective and I end up wearing a dust mask, and staying indoors as well, 😦 but most days it works a treat.
That’s exactly my experience too. I hope your weekend has been going well.
So far, so good. 🙂
These are awesome Tiny. Is this the first collection with Topaz Impressions?
Thank you, Emily. Yes it is. And I was not good at all in using the sliders. Had to correct some things in Photoshop afterwards.
Wow! portraits are spectacular. 🙂