 Hello Everyone! I'd like to take a moment and wish everyone who celebrates it a very Happy Independence Day; whether you're in Canada or the USA I hope you have a fantastic time and be safe. With Independence Day also comes fireworks and while a lot of people find them a very enjoyable part of the festivities, our furry & feathered friends don't think so. In fact, each year there are a tremendous amount of pets lost during the Independence holiday because of the loud noise and lights that the fireworks produce; they scare our companion animals and if they're not inside the home they may just run away which can lead to them being hurt or worse so during the week of Independence Day please please keep your pets indoors; whether they are normally outdoors or not, you don't want to risk losing your loved one when it's so simple to keep them safe. And for humans, please don't mix alcohol and fireworks. It's dangerous enough to get drunk but if you're drunk and playing with fireworks you could end up with one hell of an emergency room visit. Let's make sure everyone gets to enjoy the holiday safely:) The last couple of months have really taken a toll on many states across America. This has been one incredibly destructive spring throughout the south as well as several central plain states. Between destructive tornadoes & massive flooding, many thousands of people have had their lives changed forever & I just wanted to take a moment and wish each and everyone of them the very best during this incredibly hard time. I've been through one flood in my life and I won't lie, I don't want to go through another and as for tornadoes; let's just say I've not been in one and I want that record to remain in tact for the remainder of my life so I can only imagine what all of those people are going through that have to rebuild their lives as well as all of the animals effected by these disasters as well. In fact, one of my clients, Tuscaloosa Metro Animal Shelter in Tuscaloosa, Alabama narrowly escaped major damage during the tornado that came through the last week of April but they do have over 400 animals in their care that they've been taking care of since this disaster unfolded. Thank goodness, slowly they're getting things back in order as they were without power and phone for quite some time after the disaster so we're very grateful they're doing better but they can still use volunteers and donations. You can get more information about this at this website and I know they'll be very happy with whatever you can do. This edition of Birdman's Designs Newsletter features wonderful BRAND NEW MERCHANDISE. I'll also be unveiling my first BRAND NEW wolf painting in over 3 years! The stylish framed tiles as well as beautiful keepsake boxes I've added in my Cafe Press store will make a marvelous gift for any occasion & there are many to choose from, including crows, Celtic knots, wolves & more to choose from; they're perfect to hang on the wall and the keepsake boxes are a great way to store your precious momentos and jewelry in style! I'm also very happy to let you know that I have even MORE drink ware items now available in my Cafe Press store including thermoses, food thermoses & more as well as several beautiful BRAND NEW children clothing items that include long sleeve infant suits, long sleeve kids shirts & beautiful infant blankets that you have to choose from so you can keep your little bundle of joy all snug and comfy in style! This past month I was busy placing some of my most popular designs on wonderful new pajamas that I have available in my Cafe Press store! Yes, now you can purchase comfortable and stylish pj's for men, women & children that you're going to love wearing to bed and I'm going to show a few of those throughout this newsletter so stay tuned! For my regular newsletter readers you'll recall that I was involved in an online art contest that I had all of you vote for last month. Well I'd like to say that all of your voting paid off because I was announced as one of the two winners of this art exhibition and thanks to all of your votes my work will not only be featured in the gallery book but also on the cover of their gallery book! You will be going wild for all the BRAND NEW MERCHANDISE I've added to my stores covering crows, penguins, eagles,several fantastic NEW Egyptian designs, a cool new football (soccer) gear as well as an inspiring Celtic quote design and so much more that you'll have to see throughout this newsletter. You are perhaps already starting with the back-to-school shopping for your family & when you shop at any of my three online stores you're sure to find what you're looking for to have your kids looking great & still have money left in your wallet or purse! Even though the weather's been way above normal the last few weeks, summer is now officially here in the northern half of the world & winter's officially taken off in the southern half; the time is NOW to get a great new wardrobe for yourself and your family; when you shop at any of my three online stores-Cafe Press Store, Birdman's World, and my Zazzle Store, you'll find terrific shirts in both long & short sleeve, including organic cotton, colored organic cotton, hoodies, colored hoodies & much much more that is sure to have your entire family looking great without breaking the bank! Visit my online galleries and purchase my beautiful art that will make a wonderful gift for birthdays, anniversaries or any occasion because each painting has been created with love & passion! In fact, I still have several paintings available that I showed in my art show so you should check out my art show video and you're more than welcome to contact me when you wish to purchase any of the paintings featured in my show; I'll get back to you as soon as I can to answer any questions you might have. When you shop at any of my wonderful stores or when you order art from me personally you don't have to drive all over town and even out of town to do your shopping; this saves you money on gas for your car as well as precious time you could be spending doing something else- such as spending time with your family, watching a favorite movie or whatever it is you want to do! Your orders are secure & your satisfaction is always guaranteed! Have you ever thought to yourself, "Yea those designs look great on the pc monitor but I bet they're not as good in real life." If this sort of thought has crossed your mind now I have a way for you to put your mind at ease because I've created a special page called "Samples" filled with BRAND NEW merchandise images where you can view pictures of merchandise I myself have ordered and you will be able to see that they look even better in real life! Be sure to check out the samples page to see several NEW pictures of items from my shops. Visit my gallery website that sells my prints in much larger sizes than I’ve been able to sell them at before. Not only can you get my paintings in larger sizes and even canvas size, you will also be able to order them framed!! This past month I added a couple of NEW PAINTINGS for you to choose from and they make fantastic gifts for the college student who's moving into their first apartment and the smaller sizes would look wonderful in their dorm rooms! If you have someone that is hard to shop for a beautiful tiger painting, Egyptian or any of my other paintings would make a wonderful gift that they can enjoy all year round! I had ordered all of my paintings to be framed & matted from this very gallery shop for my art show and trust me when I tell you, they do a magnificent job; the paintings come ready to hang when you get them framed and you can get any frame to match your decor and the prices are absolutely fantastic! Don't forget that Father's Day is just around the corner and a beautiful original painting from me would make an excellent gift for your parents. Be sure to get a copy of my first published book please read further. Kennedy Publishing has added it to their online store and you now can get your own copy of this exciting first in my art career! Just go here and scroll down the page til you see my book entitled "The Wild & the Magical-Fantasy and Wildlife Art" by Mike Sexton. This book will make a wonderful present for anyone who loves & enjoys art! Birdman's Designs is all about accessibility & to make myself even more accessible to my fans I've created a twitter page as well as a facebook page & now a BRAND NEW FAN PAGE(by joining my fan page you are also able to see special sales that are ONLY AVAILABLE TO FAN PAGE FOLLOWERS!) if you'd like to follow me you're more than welcome to do so at either or both sites. I always love to interact with my fans and these are 3 great ways to do so! By following me on face book, twitter on and on my fan page you're also sure to see all the great deals and sales that are going on! Speaking of accessibility; I've also decided to open a wordpress account where I've got my articles posted for you to enjoy and share and you can also comment on them there as well so when you go and read them and you want to leave me a message, be sure to place a comment and I'll be more than happy to read them and respond if any questions are asked or anything of that nature. You'll find my wordpress pages here! This month I'm featuring a poem- by a very talented young lady who happens to be my niece, Brittany Wright. |
This past month I was playing around with some new techniques and was just giving different things a try and by doing so I created my BRAND NEW lion design that will be a huge hit whether you're a big cat lover or a tribal tattoo art lover! This lion head is created from blue flames shaped and formed to create a regal lion's head complete with the magnificent mane you're used to seeing on a male lion. "Blue Flames Lion" is an appropriate name for this awesome ALL new design and it's featured on a tremendous variety of t-shirts,organic cotton shirts, organic cotton long sleeve shirts, infant blankets, pajamas, hoodies & more that'll help you look terrific as well as wonderful drink ware such as stylish coffee mugs, thermoses, caps & mouse pads that make a fantastic gift for the big cat and lion lover on your gift list as well as everyone in your family! It's never too early to start on those back-to-school clothes so be sure to pick up this fantastic Flaming Lion for your children!
I know that people have mixed feelings about cougars in this country. Some realize that they're an integral part of our wildlife and ecosystem and others view them as a menace but trust me, humans pose a far greater threat to cougars than they do to us and this is why I wanted to revisit one of my first cougar designs! Show your support for these beautiful animals with this stylish design available on a vast array of wonderful t-shirts, organic cotton shirts, hoodies, mouse pads, drink ware & so much more!
As I promised you, I'm about to unveil my FIRST EVER CHEETAH painting! Next to tigers, cheetahs have always been my favorite big cat and believe me, it's not easy to use the word "favorite" because I love them all. Rather ironic that a guy with a nickname of "Birdman" would love big cats so much but that is the truth lol. Cheetahs are suffering a horrible situation in their native Africa; thanks to expanded farming and loss of habitat cheetahs are starting to feel the bottleneck effect when it comes to their reproduction and as such they're becoming quite rare. Hope isn't lost though if we can find a solution that will satisfy the needs of the farmers & livestock owners with the needs of these beautiful animals they could still have a bright future. I wanted to grab a hold of a bit of this positive thinking when I began this painting of a mother cheetah with one of her beautiful and fluffy little cubs. Cheetah cubs have always been a big favorite of mine due to their absolutely unique look; what other big cat has babies that are this fluffy? It was a challenge to paint the cub because I've not painted a mammal this fluffy before but as always, I love a challenge and this was definitely an interesting experience. I had a lot of fun figuring out different brush techniques to give the fluffy appearance to the cub's fur and as you'll see, this beautiful little guy is safe between his mom's front paws in a lush green African savanna setting. Perhaps she's taking a breather before she goes on the hunt for their dinner; perhaps she just finished eating and is just relaxing a bit with her cub; I'll leave the possibilities up to you. This beautiful painting I gave the ironic title of "Life Moves Too Fast" since cheetahs are the fastest land mammal today and this cheetah mom has taken a bit of time to let life move just a little slower. "Life Moves Too Fast" is available in my online gallery for you to own and enjoy for years to come or to give as a wonderful gift for any occasion at all!
It has been a very satisfying month in Birdman's Designs; I was fortunate and had my muse give me several BRAND NEW ideas for Egyptian designs that are just perfect for those of you starting your back-to-school shopping or just want something cool that deals with ancient Egypt!
The first BRAND NEW design features the Ankh, which for those of you who follow my newsletter regularly will recall was the original cross long before the Christians began using one in their religion. Ankh means "Life" and you always found it in the hands of the gods/goddess of Egypt as well as being held by pharaohs in many statues, hieroglyphics & paintings and my NEWEST creation shows how life is constantly reborn. I call this "Ankh New Breed" because as you'll see, this boldly colored and styled ankh in bright oranges and deep reds is peeling its older layer off and showing off a vibrant new layer underneath! Ankh New Breed is available on a variety of t-shirts,organic cotton shirts, organic cotton long sleeve shirts, infant blankets, pajamas, hoodies & more that'll help you look terrific as well as wonderful drink ware such as stylish coffee mugs, thermoses, caps & mouse pads that make a fantastic gift for the Egyptian lover on your gift list as well as everyone in your family!
My next BRAND NEW design features something I haven't tackled much and that is the Sphinx. I know many of you are familiar with the Sphinx which is a huge carved monument of a lion's body & a pharaoh's head but did you know they also created Sphinx statues with the head of a ram? These often were lined up on the path towards ancient temples & even one of the pyramids. The Sphinx is a national symbol of Egypt and has been since it's creation. To note the importance of this monument one only has to look at the Dream Stele which Pharaoh Thutmose IV had created. According to his account while the young prince was out on a hunting trip, he stopped to rest under the head of the Sphinx, which was buried up to the neck in sand. He soon fell asleep and had a dream in which the Sphinx told him that if he cleared away the sand and restored it he would become the next Pharaoh. After completing the restoration of the Sphinx, he placed a carved stone tablet, now known as the Dream Stele, between the two paws of the Sphinx.The restoration of the Sphinx and the text of the Dream Stele would then be a piece of propaganda on Thutmose's part, meant to bestow legitimacy upon his unexpected kingship because Thutmose was not the original heir to the thrown. Later on when the Greeks started to fool with Egypt's mythology they created the Riddle of the Sphinx which The sphinx, in Greek tradition, has the haunches of a lion, the wings of a great bird, and the face and breast of a woman. She is mythicised as treacherous and merciless. Those who cannot answer her riddle suffer a fate typical in such mythological stories, as they are gobbled up whole and eaten by this ravenous monster. So to honor both versions of this mythological animal, I've decided to incorporate features from the Greek & Egyptian mythologies so that you can give the aura of mystique to the world!
Last but certainly NOT least I've come up with a great new Anubis design that will be a hit with anyone who loves ancient Egypt or just loves having the last word. The god Anubis is one of Egypt's most well known and also a very important deity and can be traced back over 4500 years ago. With the body of a man and the head of a jackal and usually all in black skin or fur Anubis not only helped to guide the dead through the underworld but also was an important god in the mummification process as well as being one of the deities present when the person's heart was being weighed against the Ma'at feather to see if they'd reach the afterlife or have their heart devoured which would be the equivalent of the Christian version of going to hell. Since Anubis was there when the final judgment was being passed I figured it was very appropriate to design "Anubis Judgment"! Anubis Judgment features the god Anubis crouched down between two golden cartouches enscribed with beautiful hieroglyphs and the words "My Judgment Lasts an Eternity"! I think you'll agree, you don't have to be an Egyptian lover to get this terrific design; you can also get it if you're the type or know someone who is who has to have the last word on everything or just because you think it's cool! Anubis Judgment is available in a myriad of wonderful shirt styles, colors including terrific colored organic cotton shirts, hoodies, long sleeve and more as well as fantastic gifts such as a stylish mouse pad, a cool pillow, a wonderful cap and more!
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