Picnic in the Pines

Picnic_in_the_Pines400Acrylic painting of a chipmunk nibbling

Limited Edition: 450

How does one go about adopting a chipmunk?

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Who doesn’t enjoy their cheek-filling antics, tail-held-high scampers, and bright-eyed visits?

This  painting and the above lines were penned before we bought our present home on the edge of a large forest!

The appetite of the chipmunk has dictated many changes in our garden…resulting in giving away the raspberry canes, a black currant bush…and concord grape vine. Guess who had snitched all the fruit??

The chipmunk in the painting is a very industrious creature. It makes an extensive burrow system more than 3.5 metres long. Some tunnels contain about seven litres worth of its winter food supply. (It’s not surprising that the meaning of their latin name tamias means steward.) The chipmunk may live in the same burrow for many seasons. Their lifespan varies from three to seven years.

Enemies of the chipmunk are weasels, foxes, hawks, and domestic cats.

Wouldn’t you like to see them in their underground homes?

Sleeping quarters are kept scrupulously clean. Shells, husks and feces are stuffed in refuse tunnels.

My husband always wondered how this endearing specimen of wildlife got the dirt out of the tunnels it dug. One day he saw her at work…pushing the dirt ahead of her with her nose!

The chipmunk, like the one in the painting above, has entertained us during many a supper in the garden.

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Original Painting (framed) 14×9

$2400


Canvas Print (unframed) 14×9

$150


Paper Print (unframed) 14×9

$150

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