OFF-TOPIC: Apologize again...

... for not posting for some time but we had some emergencies with "our" poor pigeons again.
We had released Jimi after he had completely recovered from his PMV relapse and not even 24 hours later he came back, life-threateningly injured probably by another pigeon. He probably went back to his old nest somewhere and it was occupied by another pigeon. Jimi probably claimed it back and had a fight with his opponent for death or life.

His beautiful face was all bloody and his beak cracked at several places. His cere was a bloody mess - thank heaven his eyes were not injured. Now he is recovering but still needs intensive care...

read the Pigeon Tales

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OFF-TOPIC: Sick Pigeons again...

I am way behind posting again but I have 3 sick pigeons again who require a lot of extra care. But I love these birds so much - therefore everything else has to stay behind.

As you may remember - when you are reading the Pigeon Tales - we had several cases of PMV infections among our balcony pigeons. All of them recovered completely. But these days our beloved Pina was showing severe symptoms again such as stargazing and she refused to fly out with her mate Rudi for several weeks. She felt insecure and as she is a very clever girl she preferred to stay in the saftety of our appartment.

Then Micky started to show severe symptoms also, flying like a Kamikaze but she somehow managed to land safely every time. Curently she is often inside together with her mate Gino and I am glad about this. Because this way she can relax better and therefore stargazes less.

Finally Jimi came late in the afternoon 2 weeks ago and did not want to leave again. So I put him into one of my hospital boxes and there he is since then, sitting on the edge most of the time, protected behind a mosquito net so that neither Rudi nor Gino can molest him. I have to tube feed him 3 times a day as he refuses to eat by himself. His intestines are affected by the virus therefore his digestion is pretty poor. But baby cereal with applesauce and joghurt help. Additionally he gets some pro-biotics. Jimi is also a very clever pigeon. He came back home to his mommy when he felt bad. Isn't this sweet?

Yesterday was a good day though for everbody. They all had a bath and afterwards they relaxed on the sofa, on our bed etc....

Pina and Rudi

Micky and Gino

Jimi relaxing on his box

Jimi soaking in the bathtub

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Romantic Bedroom

After so much history it is time to return.
A bedroom is the most personal and intimate room of a house and reflects the owner's personality more than any other room. As most images we see are from rooms which are "staged" for photography it is immensely difficult to really detect a certain personality. The reason is that these rooms are part of an ensemble which is normally to be sold and therefore should not be filled with personal objects in order not to bewilder a potential buyer. The room should just reflect an idea how it could look like without making a too strong statement.

This bedroom though could need a bit more "friendliness", a bit more serenity despite the romantic touch, the ruches of the pillows and the bedding. Currently it looks a bit too gloomy for my taste. This could be achieved by the pigeon paintings I would hang on the walls. But judge for yourself. Below is the original room:

And this is the version I would tend to if it were my room:

Not much is needed in fact to brighten up a room - don't you think so too?

Here are the acrylic paintings from the pigeon series in detail:

"The Rain Dancer"
(from the Pigeons series) 
18" x 26" acrylic on cotton
©Petra Voegtle

 "Contemplation on a Feather"

(from the Pigeons series) 

18" x 26" acrylic

©Petra Voegtle

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OFF-TOPIC: What I have been doing lately again...

This has nothing to do with interior design and only very peripherally something with art (because they are my painting models) but I was a bit drowned again - too many sick pigeons to care for. But I love them dearly and cannot see them suffer if they need my help. And somehow they always find their way to our place...

This is Micky, who came to us 1rst of November last year with a bad PMV infection. She could not fly any more, not eat by herself. With her last energy reserve she managed to get to our balcony.  4 Months later she could be released after intensive care, such as hand and tube feeding, keeping her warm, doing training exercises with her when she became a bit better, etc.
During this time she has become an incredibly sweet pigeon, very affectionate and tame. I am so happy that she recovered fully and can now live the life of a pigeon again - flying free - but coming home still each day for sleeping during the night in her box, taking her meals here or just a little nap on the bookshelves:

Then we found Gino - or rather he found us - a squeaker, totally undernourished, hardly being able to fly, extremely thin but otherwise healthy with badly developed plumage - his tail feathers were nearly all broken or badly developed, no real downy feathers to keep him warm. It was a miracle that he had survived the big cold. He is with us since 4 weeks now and has developed into a very funny sweet little chap with a big big appetite. He managed to increase his body weight from 210 gr to more than 300 gr which is nearly 30 %.

He is growing new feathers like crazy, does his helicopter training in his den (within a mosquito net that I am mounting every day for his safety in my studio), has lost nearly all his bad feathers now but cannot really fly yet. He must train his flying skills first before we can release him. Oh my - what a shitty bunch of parents this poor little creature must have had whose responsibility would have been to nourish their little one and teach him everything he needs to know. But then they might have had big problems to find food for themselves not to speak of for a baby. Who knows. Now we have to do this instead and it is so much fun to watch him. He is incredibly sneeky and he makes good progress.

Now look at his nose - there were even feathers missing above his cere...

some of his bad feathers he lost in the meanwhile...

And then we had Hatty who had paralyzed legs due to a severe calcium deficiency probably after egg laying. Giving her calcium for 4 days made her able to walk again. It was a big relief. She still comes in to get her breakfast and/or lunch here.

Then we had another pigeon with a drooping wing but besides cleaning the wound she had on it several times probably from an old break I could do nothing else for her.

This is it for the moment and I hope very much that there will not be any more sick pigeons so that I have a bit more time for my regular work again...
If you want to know more about our pigeon family and see more photos please read the diary Pigeon Tales. I assure you that you will have fun!

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Simple Compositions to spark Ideas

When I present paintings I always try to show them in a context. This does not have to be a complete room but often just one piece of furniture, a vase on a table etc. is enough. This way the viewer gets a better understanding how these paintings could look like in a room. Here are only a few options....

all images ©Petra Voegtle

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OFF-TOPIC: I have to apologize again...

I am afraid I have to apologize again for not posting but the problems with our sweet pigeons do not go away. Maybe it is the crazy weather which plays tricks on humans and animals likewise but life does not always go as easy and smooth as we could wish.

We have taken responsibility to care and now we have to do what is more important: do everything that leads to a complete recovery. But I think we are well on the way. Nothing is more awarding than seeing a bird in full health again and being happy.

At the moment Micky, the young pigeon that got PMV, has got canker as well due to her low immune system. And our sweet Pina became sick also with canker but she is okay again. Her immune system is very strong so she quickly conquered the canker with some medication. Some more pigeons had to be treated - so no time for posting. But we are on the way...

Btw - would you have assumed that this is a pigeon nest? Yes - this is the nest of Lucky and Emily on our balcony with their private flower garden:

 Lucky coming home

 Emily leaving the nest

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Some more Emergencies among our Balcony Pigeons

We had a new outbreak of PMV among our balcony pigeons - so most of my time went into treating them as far as this was possible. So no time again for blogging. Only one young pigeon girl, our Micky,  had to be hospitalized because her symptoms were quite heavy: stargazing, trembling, circling and last not least she could not eat any more by herself. With her last energy she fortunately landed on our balcony so that I could take her in immediately. She soon also lost her ability to fly. So this would have been her certain death sentence if left outside.

In the meanwhile the sick ones outside are nearly recovered (with the help of carrot juice) - apparently this time thank heaven it was a weaker strain of PMV - only our Micky will need some time still to regain her abilities. Currently she still has to be handfed 3 times a day and her digestion works very well which helps a lot with her recovery. She is such a sweet and obedient patient...

I hope that this baby can fly soon again and enjoy her life as she is supposed to...

Things are on the Mend....

After our Emma was quite ill with bacterial infection, her mate Lucky became sick as well with life threatening canker (Trichomoniasis) in his trachea. But he is on the mend finally - what a relief for us all. He is such a lovely and sweet pigeon - look at him:

He is such a brave patient, taking all his medicines without grumping....

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I'll be back soon....

I apologize dear Friends but I was sick. Additionally I had some sick pigeons to care for again  - so no time for blogging. But things are getting better now...

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Sorry for not posting - but there was an Emergency...

When you think you have time again to write there is definitely something coming your way that needs your attention. This time it was a sick pigeon again (I sometimes wonder how they find me???).
I had observed her already a day before I could catch her and realized that there was something sticking to her chest or coming out of her chest and knew immediately that there was something wrong.

After I had caught her (we named her Lotti) we could do a close examination. I realized that she had a crop rupture, a hole the size of a 5 eurocent piece (2cm in diameter) in her crop and the food was coming out of it. Well - I rather spare you the details - fact is, that she healed completely in our care and was released again this morning.

Crop ruptures are nasty because when this is not treated (closed) the pigeon normally dies of infection which is a slow death. Imagine you have a hole in your stomac and your dinner is coming out of it. This time it went very well because Lotti found us on time before anything really bad could happen.

I am so happy...

and this was her play pen:

and this was finally her great day after a large breakfast (that's why her face is a bit wet):

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Another Pigeon Painting has been finished

Finally The Philosopher has been finished and I even started with the next of the pigeon series. As all the others from this series it is painted in acrylics on cotton canvas. I have made it available as Fine Art Print on heavy cotton canvas mounted on a wooden stretcher frame in 2 sizes currently in my Etsy Shop. A direct link to the art print is here.

"The Philosopher"

(from the Pigeons series)

 18" x 26" ,acrylic on cotton canvas

©Petra Voegtle

And maybe you want to know about his story:
This is a portrait of Jimi, the philosopher, a very special pigeon. He was born in 2008, a son of Pete and Emma. December 2009 he became very sick with PMV and we had to hospitalize him for several months. With his last energy he found his way home. He could not eat by himself any more, he could not fly - he was completely depressed. But Jimi recovered completely and found his old self again. From time to time he is suffering from body tumors, receives special care and treatment then but in general he is strong and a healthy pigeon.

He comes home every day to get his meals and favourite sunflower hearts which he eats from my hand only, sitting on my knee. His stance has something royal and he loves to be alone. As a youngster he was often sitting on the easel behind my chair, watching me while I was working on the computer. He always came in when it was too much chaos outside - a very special pigeon. That's why he was called "the philosopher".

Here is the story of his parents:

One day, on a sunny morning in March 2008, a pigeon appeared on the balustrade of our balcony on the higher levels of the appartment building. There was something about this pigeon that made me wonder who he was. Normally I would have chased him off - as I usually did - because of my ignorance, because I did not like them pooping everywhere, because they made so much noise  in the early morning that you could not sleep any more and overall I did not like pigeons very much... But this one - it was different.

He somehow reminded me of another pigeon who regularly visited our balcony for a few minutes. We called him Mr. Whitecap, because he was light grey, with white wing feathers and a white cap. And he had one badly crippled foot that made him limp. But nevertheless he appeared again and again for about 5 years and then disappeared. I respected and admired this bird for coping with this injury and apparently having a strong will to survive. How little did I know then...

And now this new pigeon appeared on our balcony, looking very similar to our Mr. Whitecap whom I somehow missed and I was suddenly sure that he, the new one, was an offspring of Mr. Whitecap. He did not have this white cap but he was the same light grey blue barred pigeon, his wing feathers were white and he had at least a few white spots on his head and a really beautiful face and very intense eyes. I just had this feeling...

He - the new pigeon - let me observe him while I was inside but as soon as I opened the balcony door he was gone. So he was really a shy one. I was eager to know what would happen next.To be honest - nothing really happened for a while besides that he appeared one day and then was gone again for several days.

But one day he appeared again and with him came a tiny little pigeon lady, a dark grey one, with no special markings besides a sweet face and with somehow slanted eyes which were reminiscent of Asian eyes. You realize that I  started to observe these birds closer, noticing more details about them and somehow they suddenly became more and more interesting for me. I really cannot say any more when this change of mind happened to me but there was clearly a change.

Pete, as I called him in the meanwhile, and Emma, his mate, still appeared only sporadically. Obviously they were a couple and both very shy. At the very moment I opened the balcony door they were gone. One day I observed them how they kissed each other and started the courtship mode. It was so interesting to watch this and I found it very sweet.  So touching. I knew I could not chase them away any more if this should become an option.

In the meanwhile I put my plants out on the balcony again while the weather had become warmer. Also our pigeon couple seemed to get more accustomed to our presence and did not take off immediately any more when I openend the door. But they still flew away as soon as I came nearer than about 3 meters. And then one day, when I was watering my plants, I realized that Emma had silently built a "nest" behind a large planting pot with chlorophytum, that I had placed on another very large planting pot, that was filled with earth, just beneath the long leaves that were hanging from the pot. And she had laid 2 eggs. So what to do now?

As I did not know how long she was already sitting on these eggs I decided to leave her where she was and try to do everything a bit more comfortable for her i.e. I placed some more planting pots around her in order to protect her from further disturbance and view. And I had still no idea what would come next. Oh my - if I had known before...

Things took on and then one day - on the 9th of April in 2008 - the first egg hatched and out came something tiny, with golden-yellow "hair", a big head, huge feet, some strange huge eyes which still could not see, a wonderful living creature that changed our lives completely. This was Willy, our "first born". And then, two days later, little Joey climbed out of his egg shell.

This was also the birth of my diary, the Pigeon Tales, a documentary about everything that happened from now on...

And this was also the launching day of my pigeons series of paintings...

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Fine Art Prints available in my Etsy Shop

In order to make my pigeon paintings and othere available for more people and for those who simply to not have the space for larger paintings I am in the process of offering fine art prints in my Etsy shop:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/vyalaarts. 

You will find various sizes to choose from and if you just do not find what you were looking for please send me a note. There is nearly nothing that could not be realized...

I have finally found a manufacturer in town who delivers perfect work. After a couple of bad experiences which sent me into one nightmare after another I finally found someone who really does the paintings justice that much that they really look like the original and you hardly notice that it is a print "only". These are really fine art prints, printed on 420 g/m cotton canvas with EPSON Ultra Chrome K 3 inks and coming with a vendor warranty of 70 years. I think more is probably not needed .

The most effective way to show off these small prints I find would be antique frames such as these examples. Wouldn't this be a valid reason to rummage through the antiques markets on a free day???

"The Gathering"

"Contemplation on a Feather" 

 "Contemplation on a Predator"

"The Rain Dancer" 

(all images as fine art print, 8" x 12", on cotton canvas,

other sizes available - without additional frames)

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Purple Elegance in the Bedroom should not be sinister

You know I love the colour purple and I absolutely love rooms where this colour is used in abundance. But when you decorate a room in a relatively dark colour such as this one you need something that adds an equipoise in form of something light. Bedrooms need not be sinister and dark! I really don't understand why a very dark room should help to find sleep easier than a light, friendly and serene room?

Everything in this room adds to a sinister feeling. The colours are a perfect match but everything is equally dark. So if this were my room I would lighten it up with some paintings which bring some airiness into these 4 walls such as these ones from the Pigeons series:

The paintings are painted in acrylic on cotton. The first is called Contemplation on a Feather, the second one The Rain Dancer. For both the same beautiful pigeon was the model.

 "Contemplation on a Feather"

(from the Pigeons series) 

18" x 26" acrylic

©Petra Voegtle

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"The Rain Dancer"

(from the Pigeons series) 

18" x 26" acrylic

©Petra Voegtle

If you would like to know more about this series please check this link.

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The Painting is too small...

There is not much to say about the complete room but you can get a pretty good feeling from this vignette. There is simplicity, no ornamental schnickschnack and it seems to be a room full of serenity. And no doubt this fireplace defines the atmosphere of this room.

The only "problem" I have with this vignette is that the original art piece above the mantle nearly disappears.

 (original image source: www.housebeautiful.com)

As an alternative I would hang a larger painting such as the one below. It also adds a bit more drama and effect to the room, repeating nicely the colour of the fire mantle.

The acrylic painting is called The Rain Dancer and depicts one of my favourite models, Pete, the pigeon patron from our feral pigeon family, while he takes a shower in the rain. If you look closely (click on the image to enlarge) you will see all the droplets in his plumage and the content look in his face. Pigeons love to bathe or to take a shower in the rain.

"The Rain Dancer"
(from the Pigeons series) 
18" x 26" acrylic on cotton
©Petra Voegtle

If you would like to learn more about pigeons, how intelligent and funny these birds are, simply amazing creatures - then please check out my blog/diary Pigeon Tales. I can tell you that you will not be disappointed. There are lots of funny and sweet photos, little videos and stories about their adventures.Additionally you will find a lot of interesting links about birds and pigeons especially.

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A Gathering above the Fireplace

I had this photo for quite a while in my files and never found an idea what to hang instead of that dark something above the fireplace. Although this room is much too dark for my personal taste - I love light light light - I like it somehow but not that black strange thing - a wreath? - above the fireplace. This makes the room even gloomier.

Instead I would love to hang a painting such as this one, called The Gathering, from my pigeons series. This might be a strange choice but if you look closely at the painting it adds a lot of wit and a smile will appear on your face - I am sure of this.

(original image source getdecorating.com)

The painting depicts a mother pigeon and two of her sons, Willy and Joey, all members of our balcony pigeon family and about whose adventures you could read in my diary the Pigeon Tales with many amusing and also sad stories, diligently collected and written down since several years now.

"The Gathering"
(from the Pigeons series) 

26" x 18" acrylic

©Petra Voegtle

If you would like to know more about this painting and series please check this link.

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Light Blue - the perfect Colour for a Bedroom

Maybe I am slowly boring you with these paintings - I hope that is not the case -  but I want to show you how sweet these could look in rooms with a basic light blue colour hue. Also this bedroom has been designed around the colour light blue which is a calming colour on one hand but also refreshing and clean. It reminds you of the sky, of clear calm water of a lake. It is cool but not cold and is certainly a colour that is very appropriate for a bedroom.

Lightness is also represented through the painting Contemplation on a Feather which I virtually added here above the bed. Btw - the suggestion of a canopy bed through the pelmet above on the wall is really charming and would add a nice frame to any painting you would choose to hang here. I also "mounted" the painting into a dark frame in order to match the colour of the bed.

In the original image there is nothing planned to be hung on the wall and this is a bit sad. A piece of art always adds some personality to a room.

original image source from My Home Ideas/ Southern Accents

The painting is acrylic on cotton and belongs to my pigeon series. I am also writing a documentary and diary about a feral pigeon family who lives on my balcony since nearly 3 years now. This diary contains many stories and photos about pigeons, who are extremely underestimated and misjudged. These birds are highly intelligent, make very funny companions and are absolutely amiable. If only more people would realize how special these birds are. Maybe you will change your mind too if you start reading my blog Pigeon Tales. You will learn a lot of things you probably did not know before.

"Contemplation on a Feather"
(from the Pigeons series) 

18" x 26" acrylic

©Petra Voegtle

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If you would like to know more about this series please check this link.

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