Nala
Out of a BLM holding pen.
Well loved.
Well trained and given a chance.
Lucky wild horse not free
but
at least safe.

If you like the animals of the Considering Animal website and would like to get your own Farm (or Fur) Family portrait painted, please contact me .
There are two sizes offered - 2' x 3’  and 3' x 5'. Up to 6 animals without an extra charge. Please email good front-on photos of all animals you wish to have painted. The more photos you send of each animal the better I can render them. Do not expect realistic representation...that's not the kind of art I do. As I like to say, “It's not high art, it's just my art.” Tell me something about the character of each of the animals you want me to paint. This will help me get a sense of them and help me represent them in the painting.
The special thing about a Farm Family portrait is all your favorite animals don't have to have been alive at the same time for me to put them in a painting together. Imagine all your well loved fur family members together in the same painting!
Prices are $450 for 2'X3' and $600 for a 3'X5'. Additional animals are $30 each
All paintings done on high quality stretched linen canvas. 
Shipping and packing is not included in the price and will be extra.
I can't get too many done by Christmas so contact me soon if it's a Christmas gift your thinking of.

Growing up in Vermont we had three Scottish blackface sheep. I remember them entertaining us  with their shows. They could make the whole family burst into laughter with their antics. Our dinning room faced out into their pasture. In the evening while we were all eating diner together, they would come around in front of the windows and start playing and jumping around, butting each other and bouncing down the hill in front of the windows. They looked like mogul skiers as they bounced down the long hill on stiff legs, zigzagging this way and that as they went. It was ridiculous and so entertaining.They also used to do high jumps one after another off the cellar bulkhead, like they were taking turns trying to out do the others' jumps. The Blackface Bunch is a fond family memory.

Greetings. The art show we had in my barn on July 23rd was a big success. Twenty eight of my paintings sold and we made over $1500 dollars for BLM mustangs. Here are a few of the paintings that sold. Thanks to everyone that came out. For a few more pictures of the paintings that are off to new homes and to read about the future for Monday's Beast click here.

The Monday's Beast blog has been going for over a year now with a new post and painting every Monday. While Monday's Beast will continue, I will no longer post every Monday. I will continue to paint animals so please keep checking in to the website.

Please send me an email or fill out the contact form for time and place.

Non-human family members bring many of us comfort and pleasure. I have wonderful memories of taking care of my Blue Sky farm family.

Each animal had its own distinct personality. Maggie, the black and white pony, nickering with anticipation and pleasure for her breakfast as I turned the handle each morning to enter the barn. Woody, the red mule, softly nibbling my back with his lips paying me back for his grooming. Red, the Dutch Belt ox, staring at me in disbelief that I would not be offering him the finer horse hay instead of the coarse, less sweet cattle hay. Sox, Red's pair, big, lumbering and always seemingly so content with everything in his life. Laney, the English Shepherd, finding purpose in keeping watch over the barn as I did my morning chores. Snookie, the collie mutt pup, trying to be good but always finding a little fun puppy mischief to get up to.
Taking care of my farm family, seeing them well groomed, well loved and well cared for, grazing and soaking in the morning sun on a cold fall Blue Sky morning is one of the happiest memories of my life. Cheers to the memory of my Blue Sky farm family who brought me so much joy and to other farm families that I know are doing the same thing. Living with animals can bring such peace.

Happy Summer to all. The Bestiaryist is on a summer break and in the mood to clear out some inventory. So, we are about to have a big cheap animal art sale. The money will go to help BLM Mustangs. Keep a watch for the time and place of the sale. We will post it here and on our Considering Animals Facebook page. It is likely to be in July 2017 so keep watch. If you want an email to let you know when it will be please send me one.

Sunday, June 4th 2017
Have just returned home to Essex from a long trip. There is a killdeer nesting in the stones on my patio. Because I have a good pair of brand new binoculars, when she is off the nest, I can see that she has four eggs. I try not to disturb her too much. She gets up and moves off when I come out on to the porch, then she sneaks and creeps back in quick little steps interrupted by suspicious halts and backwards jerks of her head. Snookie my dog wants to sit on the porch. I let him because this is his home and he's always been allowed to sit there. The bird will have to habituate to us if this is going to work out for everyone.

Monday, June 5th 2017
Mrs. Killdeer has grown more used to the presence of Snookie and me. She sometimes doesn't even move off the nest when we come out on the porch. Mr. Killdeer who takes over every now and then for his mate is still pretty worried about us. No chicks yet. I have to yell at Snookie once who has been lured by Mr. Killdeer’s broken wing act. He seems to understand and now only watches both birds. He seems to find it interesting to just sit and watch them from the porch. The weather is cold and rainy. Poor mother-bird-to-be just sits, completely exposed, getting hammered by the large rain drops. It rains all through the night and the temperature is only in the 40s. How can the eggs possibly still be viable?


Tuesday, June 6th 2017
Now we are in the start of a heat wave. It's in the 90s by day’s end. The birds are taking turns on the nest of hot stones. The eggs must be cooked. I can't even walk on the stones with out feeling them burning my feet. How do the birds tolerate sitting on the hot stones in the full on sun? Mom's beak is wide open like she is gasping for air and her wings are spread out away from her body. I feel for her. I'd be questioning if having the chicks is worth it. I see Dad flying in. Mom starts screaming for him. Before he even lands at the nest, she takes off towards the river. I can imagine her diving, in her body making a sizzling noise as the water cools the heat of her smoking body. Wow, just in time with the relief. Still no chicks.

Wednesday, June 7th 2017
Hot all night. Still hot as I wake up. I check the nest first thing through the binoculars. I see I have stumbled in to a lucky moment. I see something moving around the edges of Mom's plumage as she lays on the nest. I can now see a wet-from-the-egg baby chick. Mom's body is popping up and down like something moving around under a blanket. When she finally stands up I see three chicks. As soon as she stands up I see the chicks rise on wobbling legs and take off at a run in three different directions. They are so large, I feel like I must have missed a few days of maturing. Coming out of the tiny eggs I saw, I am thinking what fine contortionists they've been. They must have each been so carefully folded to fit in their eggs.
Dad is there too. He's flown in to help with this impossible moment. I’m watching through my binoculars. Instantly, Mom and Dad are running around on the ground. One chick vanishes, never to return. The remaining two are watched carefully. Sometimes each is watched by one parent as they don't stay together. They seem to have no instinct for staying together and little instinct in listening to their parents’ calls. As I watch they seem deaf and more uninterested in their parents than exploring the world outside of their egg. Good luck with those kids!

To my surprise at sundown the two chicks are back under their mother on the nest. “Goodnight Chicklets. Welcome to your first long day in a new world as birds outside the egg. Good luck too!”

Thursday, June 8th 2017
Chicks made it through their first night. But it wasn't easy. When I took Snookie out to pee, Dad bird was luring a fox away from the nest. The fox was following the Dad bird. I saw it immediately, threw Snookie back into the house and did my bit to scare the fox off. I thought it might be back in the night. They are not my chicks or responsibility, yet I can't help caring or falling in love. The chicks are so sweet and such enthusiastic explorers of their new world. If I prayed, I'd pray for them. Wish to hell they'd have a good chance of making it.

Friday, June 9th 2017
Chicks made it through another night. I heard the alarm calls of the parents all night long so was amazed and relieved to find both chicks off exploring the driveway in the morning. One parent always does their best to stay nearby the chicks, not easy when the chicks make no effort to stay by each other or their parents.
One parent has been missing all morning. Now I've found it. I think it's Mom. She's back on the nest. I had forgotten about egg number four. Didn't even think they might still be intending on trying to hatch it. I figured it a “dud”. No, they are definitely busy with it. Now one parent either has baby sitting duty or egg duty. Sometimes the chicks go back to the nest for a cuddle and rest with Mom or Dad.

It's a hot afternoon. Dad is back on the nest. I am watching through the binoculars. Dad's hot. He looks sick of being on the nest. I see him pick the egg up and give it a thump. He looks to me like he is trying to break it. Mom is busy with the chicks trying to watch them on the drive. The crows have been hanging around. I try to scare them away and intimidate them by watching them through my binoculars. The crows don't like it when I point my binoculars at them and fly off temporarily. I think they know about the babies and that they will be back.

Mid afternoon, the last chick has come into the world. Off he goes. By late afternoon he is gone for good. I have no idea what happened to him. If I had to guess, I'd say the crows.

I look in the old nest. Nothing is there, not even one piece of egg shell. Nothing distinguishes it from the ground around it. I have read that birds in general sometimes clean away all the egg shells from their nests. I guess killdeer do this. A piece of shell is found on the lawn quite far from the nest site. I wonder if it was stuck on a chick butt, blown by the wind or carried there by someone.

I am watching in the evening just before dark. I see Mom on the lawn. I see a chick run up to her. He touches her beak and then snuggles forward into her feathers. She lifts her left wing a little and he tucks in. His tail feathers sticking out a little. Then the other chick comes running up. He touches his mother's beak and tries to move forward into her feathers but his sibling is already there. So he shifts over a bit and finds his slot under his Mom's right wing. They are in there under their mother's wings, like two cars parked in a double garage. What would happen if the other two had made it? Mom only has two wings. Where would everybody sleep? I guess if they'd been lucky Dad would have provided the other two-bay garage. She settles down on top of them. I whisper, “Sleep well, everybody.”

Sunday, June 18th 2017
The two chicks are still alive, growing fast and exploring more and more. They are 11 days old now. I watch as they conquer new territory every day. It's taking them farther and farther from the house and nest site each day. They are down eating on the Marsh today. They have been there all morning. I notice that the sounds of killdeer are already starting to fade from my sphere. “Good luck Chicklets.”

Lost Lucky by Nora, age 8

I picked Lucky because he survived 10 days below zero degrees. He also survived half-buried in snow, so that makes him a tough puppy!

Lucky by Naiomi, age 7

Lucky was half buried in snow, below zero. A worker found him and his arm was broken. He put a bubble cast on the puppy's arm. I like how the worker saved Lucky. He was lucky to be saved by someone!

Beautiful Brown Dog by Ellie, age 6

In a barn there was a special pig born. She was a runt, but one day the owner let the pink pig to be taken care of by a mother dachshund dog. The mother dog's name was Tink. She let Pink into the cage. Tink had her own puppies, but now that Pink came, she had one more. Tink made him feel right at home. All the puppies and the pink piglet were the same size. Pink was like a pink pup!

The Bob and the Fawn by Michael, age 8

One California fire...the forest was filled with wobbly-legged newborns. The fire was starting. The rescue team found a fawn. They brought him back to a wildlife center. They had to put the fawn with a bobcat kitten. They were both weak. As soon as the fawn got in, the bobcat kitten rushed over and sat down next to the fawn and went to sleep. They had to release them both back to the wild when they recovered, but neither would ever forget that moment.

Fabulous Friends by Annie, age 8

A dog named Alexa is a best friend with a cheetah. And they are always together. It is amazing that two different species can be friends.

Lucky's Broken Paw by Aliyana, age 8

A cute puppy named Lucky, scared and stranded, lasted 10 days outside in 10 degrees below zero. He was half buried in snow when a worker found him covered in cold, freezing snow. He brought the dog to the vet and then adopted him. I like the dog because he's cute and looks like a really good animal to take care. I can't believe how he lasted 10 days below zero. He was such a brave dog and he was only a puppy!

Koko with a Kitten by Paxton, age 6

Koko, a gorilla, had a friend that could fit in her hand - it was a kitten! At first, Koko had lots of kittens to choose from. She picked the smallest one, a kitten with no tail, to be her friend. She cuddled with it and stayed with it all the time.

The Galapagos Tortoise Strikes Back by Parker, age 8

250,000 Galapagos tortoises once roamed the archipelago of islands - the Galapagos. In 1967 there were 3000 left. Lonesome George died in 2012. They tried to find a mate for him, but could not. But explorers have found about 100 Galapagos tortoises at the Wolf Volcano with similar DNA, so they may be able to bring two species, lost in time, back.

Lost Lucky by Sarah, age 8

Lucky the lost dog survived 10 days below zero. I liked him because it was pretty cool to see that Lucky survived that many days below zero!

Friends by Imogen, age 7

I did this painting of a cheetah and dog because it is a sign of friendship. Cheetahs have face stripes like black tears to help them catch stuff while facing the sun. That’s like when football players put black under their eyes to help with the sun’s glare.