My FAA Tote Bags

MY MANDARIN DUCK TOTES ARE ON FAA

Someone bought one of my tote bags from FAA (Fine Art America) that feature an image of the now famous Mandarin duck swimming in The Pond located in Central Park. She got it as a gift for her son and emailed me a photo of him "carrying" it. The picture she sent me is featured atop this entry (with her permission).

Moreover, she followed up with a lovely email stating, "The pouch with your photography really is absolutely beautiful. Great quality material and photo.  They absolutely make spectacular gifts.  My son loves his and we have it hanging on our kitchen chair to see every day..."

Totes Reproduced by FAA are High Quality (Thursday's Testimony)

TOTE AVAILABLE VIA FAA

TOTE AVAILABLE VIA FAA

TOTE  AVAILABLE VIA FAA

Q: What do the boy and the young woman seen in the images atop this post have in common?

Monday's Memo: 2020's Halloween Note-cards Are Now Available

JACK-O-LANTERN BIRDWATCHING

This past Saturday here on Blogger, I published an entry re my Halloween-themed totes and discussed the fact that on 9-22-2020, re the COVID-19 pandemic (cornavirus) the CDC stated "for people who were planning to go trick-or-treating on Halloween this year: don't..."   

And I pointed out the CDC urged people to "Avoid activities that are higher risk for spread," and to "Consider fun alternatives that pose lower risk of spreading the virus that causes COVID-19." 

Within that entry I featured images of my new line of Halloween-themed totes and concluded with a promise that I would publish post on 10-5-2020 (which is today) to offer information re my selection of my 2020 Halloween cards. After all, sending cards is a perfect way to celebrate Halloween safely.

My Halloween cards are sized 5" by 7" and produced by Finr Art America (FAA). They use digital offset printers and 100 lb paper that has a UV protectant. The image is semi-gloss and the inside of the card is matte and blank so one can write a message, but if you prefer, FAA can customize any text or message that you want to include.

The card featured in the image atop this posting is from a few years ago but by popular demand it is also available this year. The ones which are directly below all have matching canvas bags/totes/pouches (that are available in three sizes which is described in the aforementioned post).

ALL HALLOWS EVE

HALLOWEEN IN THE GARDEN

EIGHT LITTLE PUMPKINS

FOUR LITTLE PUMPKINS

JACK-O-LANTERNS SUNBATHING

JACK-O-LANTERNS LAUGHING

THE PUMPKIN CHOIR

I realize Halloween is twenty-one days from now and I don't like to rush the entrance of the holiday, but due to time needed for shipping (in the event you'd like to purchase items mentioned here), I thought it best to give a heads up now.

Beautiful Alternatives to Plastic Bags

AVAILABLE ON FINE ART AMERICA

Grateful to report I've received a notification from Fine Art America (FAA) that I've sold another tote from my dragonfly image collection (which can be seen in the screenshot from FAA which is posted directly above) to someone living in NYC.

The plastic bag ban will go into affect in our city on March 1st (in 2 days) and while a number of NYC-ers are already carrying totes, they can probably use another and this one is a beauty!

Today is International Plastic Bag Free Day (Friday's Fact)

AVAILABLE VIA FAA

After my having been sheltering in place since the evening of March 21st 2020 through the morning of May 11, 2020 (at the urging of our governor and mayor as a means to remain safe during the coronavirus pandemic and also to help prevent its spread), returning to my activities before the onset of the pandemic has been a bit precarious.

However, I'm getting there; in fact, a business meeting that I had yesterday served as a reminder to point me back to where I left off re one of my projects; for it was at yesterday's appointment that the person (who is an essential worker and did not shelter in place) I was meeting with, told me she had been enjoying using a tote/pouch (seen in the picture atop this entry) that she got from my collection on Fine Art America (FAA).

Upon my seeing it, I was instantly reminded this past March pre-lockdown (which was the last time I saw my colleague), I busied myself with many endeavors, including spreading the word about the totes/pouches (one can be seen in the image atop this entry) which I designed as an alternative to single-use plastic bags that were in the process of being eliminated in many places, including NYC. 

Week-ender bags, totes and pouches (featuring my photographs) are available on Fine Art America! (Tuesday's Truths WK 225)

My Tuesday's Truth for this 225th segement is to announce that week-ender bags, totes and pouches (where each have a selection has one of my photographs printed on them) are now available via FAA (Fine Art America).

Soon it Will Be Halloween (27 Days)

In just a a little under one month's time, 2020's Halloween will be here. Last year on that holiday I was on the UES heading west when I encountered a woman wearing a panda bear mask. She can be seen in the image atop this entry.

Who could have known that less than one year's time, most every one throughout the United States and other parts of the world be (or should be) wearing face-masks to prevent the spread of a pandemic known as COVID-19 (the cornavirus).

It's May 15th! Time to honor Horton (again)!

Today is May 15th, a date that evidently has significant implications to Dr. Seuss, for he mentions it at the beginning of Horton Hears a Who (featured in the image atop this entry) The Seven Lady Godivas and in If I Ran the Zoo. 

This past March, the latter of the aforementioned books along with five others (featured in an uncredited web-image below) were pulled from any re-publication in the future, due to accusations that they contain racist's  undertones.

But getting back to the date of May 15th, acccording to multiple sources, it was also the day that Seuss was elected as editor-in-chief of the Dartmouth school newspaper, The Jack-O'-Lantern.

As for me and May 15th, I have referenced it's connection with Horton hearing a who while being in the Jungle of Nool in a number of posts within this blog.

Remembering Peggy Wood: “Progress is being made.”

Today, May the 8th, I might have been getting together with the celebrate the birthday of  my dearly departed editor, Peggy Wood, had she not passed away on the last day of December of 2014. Peggy was the editor of the very first version of Words In Our Beak Volume One, which was an iBook digital version (photo of the cover is featured in the image atop this entry). It was released after she died.

An Inspiration from The Great Pumpkin

BOOK COVER FOR GREAT PUMPKIN CAROLS

According to a FB Pagefor the Charles M. Schultz Museum, "Following the success of the 1966 TV special 'It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!,' Hallmark published a whimsical booklet of Peanuts Pumpkin Carols." (A copy of the booklet cover is seen in the image to the left, or the first picture in time-line view).

"As declared by Linus, and according to the front cover, 'Halloween is becoming a forgotten holiday. We dedicated followers of the Great Pumpkin must do something to rekindle the Halloween spirit. Let us not rest until the universe resounds with pumpkin carols.'

⁠

"🎼 The booklet includes eight pumpkin carols, set to well-known Christmas tunes, of course. Carols include: Great Pumpkin is Coming to Town, Pumpkin Wonderland, I’m Dreaming of the Great Pumpkin, Pumpkin Bells, The Twelve Days of Halloween, I Heard the Bells on Halloween, and O Pumpkin Cards." (Image and text are taken from the aforementioned FB Page for Peanuts @).

Upon my seeing a copy of the 1966 booklet, "THE PEANUTS BOOK OF PUMPKIN CAROLS," I thought of one of my 2020 Halloween-themed products titled. "The Pumpkin Choir" (totes as well as a note-card). They can be seen in the next two images to the right (respectively).

THE PUMPKIN CHOIR TOTE

THE PUMPKIN CHOIR NOTE-CARD

For your information, my photo of pumpkins caroling or ("The Pumpkin Choir") is included in volume two of my book series...

BOOK JACKET (FRONT) WIOB V2

PAGES 44 AND 45 WIOB V2

Words In Our Beak, in a section that describes how Halloween decor impacts the lives of wild birds. Information re the entire series (jackets pictured below) can be found by clicking here.

MY BOOK SERIES

I realize Halloween is twenty-one days from now and I don't like to rush the entrance of the holiday, but due to time needed for shipping (in the event you'd like to purchase items mentioned here), I thought it best to give a heads up now.

Friday's Fact: It may be too early for some boo-shit but not all....

There are six more days left in September and then Halloween will not be celebrated until the thirty-first of October… So, yes, on many levels, it’s too early for boo-shit!

BUT if you want to send cards for the occasion and/or give a gift such as a Halloween-themed tote, now might be the time to start thinking about this because while it’s too early for boo-shit, it’s not too late to order products since shipping tends to take time (unless you have Amazon prime).

I have created items (totes and greeting cards) for celebrating Halloween and they can be purchased from FAA (Fine Art America). Samples can be seen here (in the collage posted directly above). To see details my Halloween card, click here, and to see details re my Halloween tote, click here.

To see more of my Halloween selections visit me on FAA by clicking here.

Moreover, some of my Halloween-Themed products are based on images included in volume two of my book series, Words In Our Beak.

Its is available on Amazon or by giving the ISBN number 0996378537 to wherever books are sold; it makes a great gift at anytime, including Halloween!

All versions of Words In Our Beak have a goal which is to open readers to a simple understanding of the winged world and their environment. The setting for my books is my rooftop urban garden in New York City, my stories are told in the voice of Cam, a female cardinal, who visits it. Words In Our Beak is directed to children and adults who are curious about birds, and want to learn about them from a unique perspective.

Just in: My Sales Announcement from FAA (Fine Art America)

THE "WORDS IN OUR BEAK " TOTE

I just received an announcement from FAA (Fine Art America) that someone from Connecticut purchased one of my "pouches" (book bags, totes weekenders with an image of my book series Words In Our Beak) printed on them). It can be seen in the image directly above.

56 Yr Old Peanuts Strip Speaks to me Today!

CONFESSION: I'm a hunt and peck typist which slowed me down in writing my three volume book series, Words In Our Beak.  If only I'd known Snoopy could type (as evidenced by the PEANUTS comic strip which is included with this posting and was published on this day of December 2nd in 1962); I might've asked him!

Wednesday's Wisdom: "Summer-izing" Books!

Love this cartoon by Mark Parisi! And for Wednesday's Wisdom, I'd like to offer you a way to "summer-ize" (not summarize) your books, dear reader: Take them with you to the ocean to read during these hot summer days, but do so by putting them in my kaleidoscopic-themed totes that are available from Fine America (FAA).

Since, I'm on the subject of reading at the beach, please let me remind you that while both volumes of Cam's book series, Words In Our Beak ...

VOLUMES 1+2

... are great for reading there (or anywhere), part of volume two refers to Cam's (the female cardinal who narrates these stories) trip to Long Beach (on Long Island) where she and her children came upon the bird type known as American Oystercatchers.

In Remembrance of Donna De Solis

This post is in honor of what would be the seventy-fourth birthday of my dearly departed friend, Donna De Solis, who passed away on June 25th, 2015. In the picture directly above she can be seen at the bottom of image and I am standing directly behind her. It was taken in 2014 and we were on a pier at the Hudson River, celebrating my birthday. 

Little did we know it would be the last time I celebrated mine with her, for she died the following June two months before my birthday in the year 2015.

Donna was the office manager at The Church of the Blessed Sacrament (my parish).

Over the many years I knew her, I was honored and privledged to be a guest at a number of the Christmas parties she held in her home and to go with her to various events happening in NYC. 

Moreover, she came to a couple of exhibitions that featured my photography. In the next picture, Donna can be seen with a yellow sweater over her shoulders and yours truly is standing behind her. 

We are at an opening for a 2002 art exhibition that I was featured in (with two other artists who are not in this photograph) at The New York Gallery Building (on West Fifty-Seventh Street in NYC). The art piece which is behind us is one of my kaliedoscopic images titled Rocks By Strawberry Fields. 

At the time our picture was taken, my kaliedoscopic photographs could only be printed on photographic papers as wall art or rendred on to note-cards.

Howeover, over the years, with advancement in printing processes, my kaliedoscopic works (as well as all of my other photographs) can be rendered (by Fine Art America AKA FAA) in an aray of sizes on to various surfaces for wall art including, acrylic, art paper, canvas, metal, poster-paper and wood. FAA also has framed options available and they can render the images on to note-cards.

I think Donna might've found it cool that FAA can print my kaliedoscopic images (and my other ones) on to items for personal use such as totes, week-ender bags, pouches, note-books, stickers, cell-phone cases and jigsaw puzzles; as well as face-masks.

In any event, I'm certainly thinking of Donna as well as those family members who survived her including her husband Tony as well as her son, Bryan, who shortly after her death, requsted that I create a video in honor of memory, which I did and it can be viewed on Vimeo as well as You Tube.

BIG deal, but SHORT notice...

I've JUST received an email from Fine Art America reminding me that the tote bags they produce are being sold at a 25% discount!