Friday, February 26, 2010

Ole dog learning new tricks

Down to the crunch with barely a day to spare. Tomorrow I must hand deliver submissions to a gallery in St Albert as the deadline is 5:00 p.m. It has been a whirlwind learning experience for me these last two days as I frustratingly spent them trying to figure out how to size images to burn to disc. Now my fingers are crossed for acceptance for a 2011 exhibition. I sure as heck hope I did it the right way. The disc is readable so I guess that counts for something. My daughter is back from Australia and I am anxious to see her. So looking forward to her arrival with her sweetie, who I promised to make ginger cookies for and my grand-puppy, who does not get cookies. We are going to have some art fun while she visits. I intend to play around with mono-printing.

I've been working on my submission for an Emmaus Art Group show coming up end of March in Calgary based on John 5, 22-24. I spent more than a month trying to wrap my head around the theme. I emailed members and was given input on what it means to them. I still floundered. Finally I decided to let the flow go and quit getting caught up in a literal translation. I decided to use photography as a collage and Gerald cut me some boards so I could build a shallow Retablos to affix the photos into. I sealed the plywood and printed off some proof images on scrap paper to see how my idea will work. I went looking for quality rag printing paper but it was too freaking expense so now have decided to see how the images will look printed on thin watercolor paper. I will post some images as I get far enough along to have something to show.
Hugs to all, one can never have enough.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Afternoon Walk Along The Ravine

Walking the ravine today brought a few sweet surprises, first of which was a beaver gnawing the ice away from its river entrance. This being the best shot I could get as for the most part the straw you see in the foreground was blocking his face. Its kinda ironic that he was frightened into the river by noisy people exclaiming how much they loved seeing beavers on the river.


So we continued on. Where we stopped so I could rest had seed scattered about so there were plenty of red breasted nuthatches and chickadees. A downey woodpecker made a momentary guest appearance while we munched our homemade ginger cookies. It was really neat watching a nuthatch check Gerald out real close. It came face to face with him two times. I thought the bird was going to land on him. Maybe he liked the look of Gerald's cookie better than the bird seeds.

On the trail back we saw a photographer across the river looking up the bank and lo and behold was a pileated woodpecker hammering away. Once again not a great shot due branches between me and her. The brilliance of her skullcap is so deliciously vivid, aren't the colors of nature grand. I have so many birds I want to paint portraits of. Bird watching has become an enjoyable addiction. 

I sure am tired now though, I never can seem to gauge what I can handle and what becomes too much. If I over-do I get wiped out,  which sadly immobilizes me for a few days of rest. But the pleasure I gain watching birds and the excitement of seeing the beaver and the pileated gives my soul such strong nourishment.

Friday, February 19, 2010

beauty in organic demise



Playing with the camera settings. Last summer I bought a Canon 50D and it has been pretty exciting as I challenge myself to learn the fundamentals. I'm not a technical person and I'm numerically illiterate in that numbers do not equate in my brain. They never have, and at this stage in life I believe they never will. So that being said I struggle with numbers representing f stop, exposure, etc. So I keep playing, keep reviewing what I have done and what the end image looks like. The one thing I have going for me is intuitive composition. So all in all I figure I don't do too bad as I have been getting some decent shots, though I persevere to do even better.

A black blanket set across a chair behind the flowers gave a plain background to shoot against. Out of about 200 shots these are the best. Flowers past their peak of perfection are far more beautiful than when in fresh full bloom.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Northern Oriole

Getting closer to completion. I have since darkened the background but don't have the light to photograph it tonight so I am posting this stage. This painting is a challenge to break routine and work on a long narrow canvas. I had purchased two canvas but did not inspect them closely. When I pulled off the plastic wrap I  found one canvas had been stretched on a chipped stretcher bar and it is sadly very noticeable, so that one needs exchanged. It also was to be a birds and blossoms painting. 

I was so excited to capture the image of the Oriole last summer while we were out looking for grouse. A few Orioles flitted about the tree tops. One was brilliant yellow. I am not sure if it was a different type from the Northern or just a variation in color. I was notable to get a good look as it was not as obliging as this fella who came nearer to check us out. The blossoms were so abundant last spring I am so glad I took the time to take a few reference shots.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Mysterious, Elusive and Silent on Wing

Finally, after two winters of searching we hit the jackpot. We have been going out for winter picnic drives every couple of weeks with high hopes of getting a clear shot of a snowy owl. 

 I had taken a few shots in auto focus and was just about to switch to manual and attempt to get closer when a farmer astride his big ole tractor drove up behind us to see what we were doing. Well of course with all that commotion going on below this beauty took to the air. I started shooting continuously but, true to the name "silent ghost of the north" this lady glided swooping to the snow laden earth and vanished instantly like a stealth bomber. So amazing to observe. There was no way the camera could distinguish between owl and overcast gray sky reflecting to the snow, in fact there was no way my eyes could either. Earlier in the day I had one other opportunity to capture the owl in flight and was then using manual focus. I could not keep her in my sights as she would glide so low she melded with the barren fields.

Snowy Owl, female. (males are almost all white)
The image is greatly cropped to give you a better viewing.

Here she lifted just enough to make out her shape against the trees as she flew away.

She perched way off across the fields. 


Raven shadow jumping. Ravens are so much fun to watch as they jump about in the snow. This one kept lifting and dropping every few feet. There were two out in the fields acting like Heckle and Jeckle.

Monday, February 8, 2010

More bird sketches

Yellow Shafted Flicker

Another little doodle. I felt like I had a nice little pencil piece going here then ruined it by adding the color. I believe I may do it over on quality paper yet stick to graphite without adding color. By using these little watercolor pencils I now have a hankering to pull out the good watercolors again but presently I have many acrylic paintings on the go. 




The peacock is an idea for a piece that has been gestating for about a year now. This color sketch has helped solidify the direction it will take. I was going to paint it in acrylic as I already bought the canvas but now looking at the design I just may decide to paint it in watercolor.