Friday, September 25, 2009

Exhibition Opening at The Kings University College

Tomorrow is the big day, my opening at The Kings University College in Edmonton. I am looking so forward to the event. All are welcome. There will be lots of wonderful art to view, mine of course and Daniel's as well as former students and currently enrolled students work. It will be a wonderful day, come out to visit, meet new people, chat about art and have fun. If you can't make it to the opening from 3 till 5 p.m. then please do stop by the University and view the art another day, it will be hung until mid November for the publics viewing pleasure and is open from 8a.m till 10 p.m daily. Smile, we still have nice weather.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Camping adventures to art show adventures.

Invite to my exhibition which is presently at The Kings University College in Edmonton.
This is the canyon walk by Canyon Campground in Peter Lougheed Park. It was a great campsite. I love being in the mountains. I miss them already. This little bird is a Dipper, first time I was able to get such close shots. Fun little bird to watch as they wade into the stream dipping their heads into the rushing water to catch a meal. They even dive into and swim in the deeper pools. My bird book says they walk under water, an amazing feat for a rotund little bird that looks like it should just bob-an-float. The day before we watched a Dipper fishing in a fast moving stream waterfall, amazing bird. The stream the dipper was working.Beautiful flowers clinging to the cliff-side. I loved how the water shines as it trickles down the rock face. Nature is amazing.Smile and have a great day.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Morning Dew and Cat-birds

The sun had come out and dried up the nights dew that had laid heavy upon the ground, yet the delicate feather lying on the shore had captured and held droplets of moisture under it.
This pretty little gray bird is a cat-bird. We heard a meowing sound and this is the character who was making the cat-calls. The people running Payne Lake campsite thought there was a stray cataround and had been looking for it, that is until I informed them that they were being deceived by a bird.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Life and death in the fast lane.

Double headed flower with two bees head to head, I thought this was an interesting shot.
I love bunch-berries that have a nice rosy glow to them, they were in abundant bloom in the mountains.

Young hawk on hay bales and one of the parents on fence post. It's been wonderful and at times sad to watch family groups of hawks on our travels. They tend to have very strong social bonds. There were two parent birds and two young at this location. One parent had blood on its feet so likely recently had a meal of gopher or maybe rabbit.
Past the reservoir towards Pincer Creek we spotted two hawks sitting on the highway. They did not lift off as we neared so due the unusual behavior I though one was injured and the other was keeping close by. I asked Gerald to stop the car. When I opened the car door one took flight and as I walked towards the other it also took flight when I was about ten feet away. Confused I told Gerald I guess I was wrong. So Gerald took a stroll down the road and found that a young hawk had been killed and was just off the road in long grass. So I was right about the strange behavior, the parents were in grief and were staying by their young. Sad that their grief also put them in jeopardy of getting hit by a vehicle.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Mountain flowers and a fawn that went to town.

Wild roses, the plants in the mountains were about 6 inches tall yet had the most beautiful blossoms on them. I was surprised at how many flowers were blooming in the mountains when we went.
I have not a clue what this flower is but I love the feathery look. This fawn was with three others wandering around Waterton town-tourist-trap, we only stopped to photograph the fawn then went to check out Cameron Lake as I had no interest in touring the town. we walked along the lake which is where I photographed the spider web. As for the yellow flowers with the round reddish middle I cannot remember where I captured them, but it may have been by the red-rock canyon area.
I was happy to get the sunlight streaming through the shade of the trees to light up this beautiful web that glistened so. The reflected colors are tantalizing. I was thinking that spiders make wonderful natural mandalas. Camrose Art Center is having a show of Mandalas next week, maybe I should send Jane this photo to hang, it would be an interesting take on the theme. and speaking of shows My exhibition is now hung at The Kings University College in Edmonton, the opening is on sat the 26 of Sept. I will post more about it this upcoming week.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Osprey nest

Waterton park, I loved the way the lake mirrored the mountain top. This was an evening shot.

Here are the osprey we saw on our way to and at the Waterton Reservoir. This one was on a platform at the damn flexing its wings, I believe it is a young one as it feathers were mottled black an white.

It surprised me to see an osprey perched in the plains, though I do realize that the birds will fly about 15 miles to water from their nesting site. This adult stayed near the nesting platform but when we stopped the vehicle but its mate flew off towards Payne Lake to the south. There may have been a young in the nest though we did not see one. I have noticed on previous siting of osprey that the young will duck down into the nest making them un-noticeable from the ground if the parents start to call out. This spot was on a secondary highway south of the reservoir.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

flickers and canyons

Such a nice pose. Throughout our travels we came across many flicker families. They show wonderful flashes of bright yellow or reddish under-wings as they fly. Near Drumheller I photographed a yellow-shafted flicker and this fella who is a red-shafted flicker was flying with the family pack in Taber enjoying the cottonwoods by the river. The male red-shafted sports a red mustache while the yellow-shafted sports a black one. This was how the egg broke into the pan. To me it looks like a heart, although my daughter says it looks like a bum, all a matter of perspective I guess. MMM homemade hash-browns in the open mountain air, nothing tastes better.
Mountain in Waterton Parks. I like the composition. We only camped one night in the park as you pay a fee per person to enter the park then you pay the camping fee on top. Personally the girl at the main gate was a "nasty prejudicial type" so her reception into the park did nothing to encourage us to want to stay there. Thank goodness the fella at the campground was a joyful friendly sort otherwise we may not have even stayed the night. The following night we drove back to Mountainview to camp at Payne Lake, there the campground personnel were wonderful. The following day we set off north towards the Waterton reservoir and were gifted with two separate osprey platforms with osprey. You will have to check back to see photos of the osprey as they will be posted another day.
Red Rock Canyon in Waterton Park, the rock looks quite colorful where wet, kinda wished for a bit of a rain sprinkle to set off the colors. The following photo is a close up of the rock color when wet. An artists palette of color. Camping sure gives me a lot of inspiration, everything is so much more colorful when one cooks and eats outdoors. I am sure glad my legs held out to do some gentle walking on the river-side trails. I sure wish I had the strength in my knees to hike up and down hill, but alas, my knees just are not strong enough to hold.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Alberta Deer set up shady mens club

Old memories of a not so distant past lie abandoned throughout the plains.
Here are a few interesting shot taken on our camping trip. We stopped to photograph an old timber barn and received a pleasant surprise. Out of the barn came this small 3 point buck who quickly bolted around the corner. Inside the barn we noticed a large 3 point buck and a large 4 point buck. Of course in my excitement I forgot I had the camera on manual and started shooting without making the necessary adjustments, at least I got a few images that show the one large buck still inside. And luck would have it the smaller buck came back around the corner to take a second look at the heat crazed photographer before ambling off with a young doe who had been resting nearby in the shade of a small shed.
A young osprey on nest near the Waterton reservoir.
Small black bear that crossed the road in front of the van, I had the telephoto lens on so captured a good portrait. Gerald got a good full figure shot of the bear from his window as it ventured toward us. It looks bigger in my photo than it was, in fact he was quite a small bear, maybe a yearling?
A portrait of a church, from a church. Dorthy Alberta. This little community near Drumheller is renovating the churches, I only went in the one as the other was too musty smelling and gave me the creeps. There was also an old log cabin with an outhouse out back. I asked Gerald if he checked it out to see if it was in working order but he said "no" that he only photographed it from outside (the big chicken, lol).

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

camping round Alberta.

I said I would post some more camping round Alberta shots, so here are a few more from the Drumheller area, enjoy!It always amazes me how little soil is needed to grow flowers in Creations garden.

Sunset over the old train tressel.

Setting sun smiling on the tourist hoodoos. I am glad we went in the evening as by 10am the next morning the place was swarming with people.

Flicker in cottonwood tree at the Kokepelli campsite, they don't allow any music or singing in the campsite other than what the birds bring. I must admit it was real nice to hear birdsong in the morning and the evening. This by far was the cleanest well kept campsite of the whole trip.

This crazy creature was hot-footing it across the sandstone cliffs, boy could it move.

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Drumheller

I have not blogged recently as I have been off on another road-trip gathering reference material for future pantings, boy oh boy am I going to be busy this winter. Camped at Drumheller, Mountainview, Waterton, Okatoks, Kananaskis and Gull Lake. So to start off I am posting some photos from the Drumheller area, stay tuned as I will post a few more each day.The tourist Hoodoos at sunset.

Hoodoos along the 11 Bridges road, Wayne

Rock color at the suspension Bridge.

Doves, they were plentiful in the Drumheller area.

This antelope was grazing at the side of the road north of Drumheller.