Le Nichoir - Wild Bird Rehabilitation Centre

Le Nichoir Wild Bird Rehabilitation Centre was founded in 1994 as a non-profit organization and is located in Hudson, Quebec. The Centre is part of a community of North American rehabilitators, supported by the International Wildlife Rehabilitation Council (IWRC) and the National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association (NWRA).

Their mission is to conserve wild birds as part of our natural heritage. Le Nichoir provides proper care and treatment for injured, sick, or orphaned wild birds and releases them back into their natural habitat.

This coming Saturday, April 24th, Le Nichoir is hosting a "For the Birds" Benefit Dinner and Auction. This year's event will be held at the Château Vaudreuil Suites Pavillion. $75 per person (ticket includes: hors d'oeuvres, cash bar and sit down dinner)

For more information please visit their website or contact Susan at 450 458 2809.

I have donated a framed print of "Wait for Me!" to their auction event and 40 % of any sales related to Le Nichoir. You can visit their site at http://www.lenichoir.org/ .

New Art - "The Gift"

The Gift is a new piece still in progress- it is a triptych based on some photographs that an acquaintance has kindly allowed me to use. Swallows use feathers that they collect to line their nest before egg laying starts - it is still unclear why but it is assumed that it is to provide a nice soft cushion for the fragile eggs as well as acting as an insulation factor when the parents are out foraging for food.

The image shows the male "handing" off a feather to his mate that he has gathered.

New Web Section - Workshops & Materials

I'm starting a new section on my website www.stuartarnett.com which will display online tutorials, materials and techniques, and ultimately a section on future Workshops.

As the tutorial section builds, videos and cds should be available. Most of the turtorials will focus on wildlife features; eyes, fur, feathers, movement, etc and on the landscape side of things, features such as trees, rocks, snow, use of paint and loose graphite, etc.

I have used Staedtler products since as long as I can remember and because of that, they will form the base of my material section.

The ultimate goal of this section will be to start locally run Workshops of a two or three day duration with a similar focus as the tutorials, but have a very hands-on approach. Workshop groups would be kept to a maximum of 10 participants per workshop to ensure close one-on-one attention.

Possible locations for Summer 2010 Workshops are Westport at the Artemisia Gallery and in Algonquin Park. If you are interested please email me and I will update you on my Workshop developments.

Society of Canadian Artists - SCA

The deadline for our Spring Membership drive is coming up quickly - applications are due by next Friday - April 16th.

All we need is 5 of your best images and a completed application - the selection is done by 5 independant jurors. There is a $ 45.00 jurying fee and if successful this goes towards your first year annual dues. If you are a Canadian artist and interested in applying simply email me and I will forward you the application. We are Going Green this time to help save some trees so everything is done electronically.

If you miss the Spring application the next membership drive will be in the Fall and have a deadline of October 15th !

The Olympics and Spring has arrived !

The last few months have been busy - we were fortunate enough to attend the Olympics in Vancouver - an unbelievable experience!

This is one of my favourite photographs that I took while at the Opening Ceremonies just as the snowboarder "broke through" the Olympic rings.

We also spent March break in Florida where I was able to get some wildlife shots - there were some Sandhill Cranes as the side of the road that I was able to capture - fairly close up too.