Friday, April 29, 2011

Good Friends and Lovely Song

http://ChristopherNatasha.com

 Christopher, a dear friend will be singing at my opening "On Wings & a Prayer" exhibition on May 7th at The House, Calgary AB. The opening is 2-4pm.
I am so excited  and bubbling with Joy.

This morning I completed the 3x4 foot painting which I have been working on though will not be posting a photo till after the show opening.

The Night Shift; Black-crowned Night Heron
acrylic on canvas 16x24

Big Hugs to all!
Share the Love. share the Joy, share a Hug, enjoy!

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Flying Solo in Calgary

Migration Beauty

 Okay I admit mourning cloaks do not migrate, they overwinter in a cosy spot and sleep the winter away and come warm days they emerge from deep sleep and flutter about looking for love.
Frogs were migrating across the paths at Beaverhills heading for Lister Lake. It has warmed up enough that they are now digging out of hibernation. By late afternoon the lakeside chorus was full croak. At first we thought it was a flock of raucous birds they were so loud.
 Frosty the snow frog, not very good camouflage here where Icy snow lingers on parts of the terrain.
 We had to be careful where we stepped as they blend right in with the old dry grasses.

All the following photos are greatly cropped to show you the birds better. We keep distance so as not to unjustly distub them
Beautiful sky-lit Poppa Blue Bird.
A dusky brown Momma Blue Bird with a slight wash of blue on her side below her wing and sky blue uppertail coverts.
I'm glad we walked the mile or so to view these two beauties as I want to do another bluebird painting and  previously not captured quality shots of a female.

If I had my 50D I would have a clearer capture but for now this will have to suffice. Oh, yes on such a lovely day I so cursed the camera store manager each time that my antique rebel could not capture shots that his ears may be ringing into next week. Its the second year in a row the 50D is in for repairs during spring migration, grr, when the problem should have been dealt with previous when I took it in.
 I do actually have a wonderful tired smile on, sparkly eyes and rosy cheeks as a day like today is a joy to cherish. Being out experiencing natures throes of passion, the warm smiley sun and my sweet Gerald holding my arm enabling me to continue the mile hike even though my knee painfully shifted apart twice. He says "lean on me" and wonderfully I can.

Having left the lake we leisurely drove through Toefield with the warm washing thought the open windows when I heard a familiar sound so we stopped to investigate.
 At the edge of a busy intersection amidst the trashy lifestyle of Albertans was a killdeer ruffling, looking for love in the wrong place as Killdeer # 2 did not seem to show interest and casually wandered off.
I don't know if they play hard to get as part of the ritual, or whether she was thinking "no way buddy this place is a dump".
 In Alberta when snow recedes, trash of all sorts sprouts with renewed vigor giving tattered color to the landscape. I cropped most of the garbage out of the images. It is really appalling here in spring as the city and countryside looks like a major landfill site. I question Why must it be so. I would think that anyone who witnesses spring thaw here would think twice before tossing garbage and that garbage transporters would make sure loads are securely tarped and tied down.  Okay back to natural color splash in spring, birding!
This was amazing to watch as the killdeer (whom I am assuming is the male, re research of rituals on the Cornell birdsite) would toss rocks aside drop his breast into the shallow pit and upend kicking with his feet and vibrate chittering. He kept doing this then when the female came close as in the upper shot he stood flaring tailfeathers out in a beautiful display. Killdeer #2 wandered off unimpressed with the nesting site choice, I don't blame her.
Killdeer are one bird that does well due its ability to put up with us and nest in yards, gravel roadsides, near water or not, basically wherever they so choose.
 Mr and Mrs Mallard, they are a classy pair now are they not.
I love the glossy sheen that vibrates from green to purple depending how the males head deflects the light, or does it absorb light? More research needed to answer that one.
Madame and Monsieur Goldeneye found an ice free spot on a prairie pothole pond. Most ponds are still slusshy ice-covered though some are breaking up; come next week they should all be open.
Share the Joy, share hugs, big hugs to all!

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Hoppy Easter

What color did you say those jellybeans were?

Monday, April 18, 2011

Rebel Birds

In all reality the birds are not really the rebels, I am shooting with my old standby 6pix the original Canon Rebel that has to have been the best camera Canon made, being the first camera out in the Rebel line this one has been steadfast and true. It does need a cleaning as dust spots are showing in the images, but I am not going to test fate and the dust spots can stay for now for who knows how long it would be in-shop-for. Maybe I should go get a blower and attempt the cleaning myself.

Gerald took grumpy woman to the feeders in Hawrelec park on Sunday and patiently froze while crazy grumpy one got her bird photo pleasure and donned a beautiful, though slightly frozen smile. As you see the gulls are back and blend beautifully with the snow.
 The geese are asserting their dominance, either that or they are just complaining about the cold, ice an snow.
 Two other photographers were at the feeders and said I had just missed American tree sparrows, so we hung around and they did come back as this handsome bird shows.
 Chickadees are hard to photograph right now as they are busy playing chickadee dee tag.
 Male Downy woodpecker was coming in for suet as was the female below. A Hairy was present though I did not capture his portrait.

 Redpoles, male above and female below. Nice to get them so close up.
Big smiles and warm hugs to all, spread warmth and joy through out the day.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Slacking Not, Camera issue reruns!

Busy as a bee. My front room is looking like a gallery storehouse as the work piles up in preparation for my two upcoming Solo shows. I have not posted the latest paintings as my magnificent camera is back in the shop.

Renegade camera has been gone for four weeks and I've only this week received word that extended warranty okayed the job and granted Canon approval to now start repairs. There is a catch to it all, for if said camera requires more work than initially estimated then the frigging process of getting an okay to work on it starts all over again. If I knew when I bought my camera that the insurance company Vistek deals with was so slow I would have bought elsewhere. I will buy elsewhere for major camera essentials from now on as this is the third time I have taken the camera in; the second time the manager arrogantly suggested the problem was me and not the camera and he didn't send it in, he gave it to all the employee's to try out instead, is this proper protocol? Hence as it worked fine for them they concluded me as the fault, not withstanding that I had said it was an intermittent problem, that when it worked it was great, but not reliable as its tendency to jam and record, nothing, or a black screen. Then I would have to turn camera off and on or pop battery out and then back in and try again, meanwhile the bird I was photographing has now flown the vicinity, grrr!

I searched on-line to see if others had this same problem of the 50D jamming in use and found recorded issues of problems I stated. One person bless them stated to take down and record the error number that comes up when the camera faults. Now why did I have to search online for this information, why did not the people at Vistek tell me to record the error number? So back camera went to Vistek with the error code noted. I saved for a year to buy what I expected to be a good camera and expect it to work and if there are problems because I paid extra for warranty coverage I expect faults to be remedied in due time, not months later. This has become a major aggravation I would rather not have. Of course my daughter says "should have stayed with Nikon" and hastily adds I am not getting my old Nikon back that I gave her. Smart woman!

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Successful Opening

Here is my textile piece that is now being shown at Alberta Craft council in Edmonton Alberta.
The opening reception yesterday was wonderful with many artists present. My dear friend Mary came up from Calgary as she also has a piece in the exhibition. The thought and diversity that have gone into the works that were juried in is amazing to say the least, I am thoroughly impressed and pleased to be showing in this historic exhibition. This is one show that is well worth seeing and hopefully it will be able to be shown in other places as a movement of artists visually expressing reverberations from government arts funds slashing.

Thanks to my sweetie for being a wonderful cameraman and capturing the moment so that I could mingle, meet other artists and the staff of the art gallery who by the way have done a wonderful job on this exhibition.

The previous night Gerald and I went to see the Forest show at the Mcmullen Gallery juried by the ASA.  At that show thought they are quality works I found myself disappointed by the lack of diversity.  I had expected the show to behold a forceful environmental theme that would make people really think, but aside from one piece which held a tree shaped air freshener which by the way is an outstanding piece wonderfully thought out and presented, the rest were just a bunch of "nice" forest paintings.