Sadness is

We went to collect my exhibition at Kerry Woods Nature Centre in Red Deer on saturday. It felt sad to take down the show, though it was wonderful to briefly visit friends as they came to retrieve their butterfly paintings. Initially the exhibition was up for the month of July though wonderfully was extended till last friday so many people were able to enjoy my take on Nature. One young woman complimented my art by saying she was happy to see wildlife art that is "vibrant and Not boring" I am glad to have brought some colour and joy into peoples lives.  As usual we did a small walk to the duck blind where dragonflies were abundant and a few ducks and coots still present.

 Muskrat swam by, don't you just love those sunlit ripples.

 Dragonfly

 Autumns golden pathway.

 Dragonfly or Darner?

 Two honking geese flew overhead.

Beautiful Coot, these birds are crazy and endearing I must really do a portrait of one soon.

Gorgeous spot of red, a delightful ladybug.

I love the Kerry Woods Nature Centre and Sanctuary. Its a wonderful stop point when we travel to Calgary. Tables out front by the parking lot make it a great place to picnic before taking a stroll around the lakes, though I must admit I have never made it all the way around the two lakes yet.

We decided to check out Bower Ponds in Red Deer as we've been informed it was a beautiful place.

 There are a few neat sculptures of beaver that look to be carved from red brick, how cool is that.

 Water trees dancing ripples.

 Fall flowers in bloom.

 Bleached Blossoms, these did not seem to be attracting the bees,

Though these ones continually had bees on them.

 Pesky photographer disturbing our nap, sheesh wheres a duck go for privacy these days!.

 Fountains contrast nicely with the yellowing leaves.

 Canada goos enjoying the pond amidst colourful reflections.

Three Amigos.

 Above the pond leaves exchange coats of green for sporty fall color.

Blue grass and blossoms, such a delightful park, hope you enjoyed the stroll.

Big hugs and Joy to you all!

Bloggers meet at art exhibition.

The exhibition at Marjorie Wood Gallery in Red Deer was a blast. My show apparently had two openings, one on friday eve and one where I was present on sat July 9th. Wonderfully olde friends came to view and bought two beautiful butterfly paintings; thank you so much dear ones. May the butterflies forever brighten each day.

I excitedly met the kind blogger who suggested I apply at the Kerry Wood Nature Centre, I say excitedly as staff informed me they heard me squeal when we met. Thank you Keith, I appreciate your taking the time to attend.

Here we are, two Alberta bloggers posing for my delightful daughter whom kindly snapped photos. Of course I am the one dressed in brown. My children drove a couple hours to be present and give generous support, thank you to my son and daughter.

Many viewed the paintings with intensity and left with a smile. For some memories were triggered, for others inspiration surfaced. Some people came specifically to view the show and meet the artist and others who had come to the Centre to walk the grounds were surprised to find fifty paintings on display.

Each one who attended made the day extra special.

 The staff at Kerry Woods are all so wonderful, and I must say a great job was done in the arranging of all the work, whew, what a job. I used to be employed by Galleries and know that it takes a fair amount of work and a good eye to hang an exhibition, especially one of this size.

 It has been a busy time. The following day we went to Medicine River Wildlife Centre to take behind the scene photos of injured birds. Then once home we packed our camping gear and headed west to Jasper, oh how I love being in the mountains. One week and over 4000 images to sort through, I am definitely trigger happy. Next post will be on the Nations of Jasper camp and totem raising.

May your days be filled with the warmth and brightness of a hug. 

Hugs!

Rain, Ruddy Ducks and Red Deer

Whirlwind trip, we drove to Calgary friday arriving later in the day than intended to collect my paintings that were displayed at The House Coffee Sanctuary. Presently an Emmaus Art Group exhibition "Town and Country" is hanging in which I have two paintings, an llama and a rooster and as Gerald was invited to show he has two archival pigment printed photos displayed. One image is the peaked roof portion of an old barn, and the other of an abandoned chair inside a derelict house. My favourites the old chair as many stories could be wrought out of that image.

We happily spent what was left of the afternoon visiting our sweet little grandson. In the evening we briefly took in a group art exhibition with a dear friend, enjoyable company and wonderful art and artists present but I could not stay as the incense burning gave me a raging sore throat, ouch! a salt water gargle fixed that all up and by saturday my throat was fine. Once again there was not enough time to meet up with old friends as I've been planing on; hopefully third trip be the charm.

Early saturday we headed north through pouring rain that at times obliterated vision into greyness beyond twenty feet to deliver paintings to Kerry Wood Nature Centre in Red Deer. As a note of interest the Centre now has Alberta Museums designation, how cool is that, my first exhibition in a museum art gallery. The exhibition runs from friday June 24th to August 1st. Artist in attendance July 9th 2-4pm.

Surprisingly though mosquitoes didn't seem to mind the downpours, to our amazement when we opened the vehicle window to photograph a Ruddy duck just north of Red Deer we got swarmed.

Purple Finch, male.

 Wet little finches enduring the rain perch near the seed feeders at Kerry Wood Nature Centre.

 Purple Finch, female.

 In the wildflower garden at Kerry Wood, I took a quick snap of orchids amid rain drops, they are so beautiful.

Dandy Mr Ruddy duck was doing the head pumping be-bop-bob water-strut with his tail straight up to entice the female, ooh-la-la, isn't he magnificent with the bright baby blue bill. 

The female scurried past fast and into the reeds. Look at those rain drop splashes.

Venturing Northward finally the sun broke through so we detoured to Talbot Lake, Leduc to take advantage of the rays and check out birds along the boardwalk. Timing was perfect, we got in a small walk and some fab photos before storm clouds chased us on our way. 

I will post Talbot Lake images in a few days.  

Hugs; the gift of giving and receiving thats plentiful and ageless.

Bluebirds to Red Deer

Mountain Bluebird, female.

There's a bluebird on my shoulder, not really, but I did photograph two. Yesterday was a great day for a road trip. Gerald drove me to Red Deer to check out the Western art and Wildlife show that was promoted there this weekend. There were fantastic artists displaying their work but sadly the promoter of this venture changed their venue to a school gym rather than keep it at the proposed Westerner. The change of venue cost the artists dearly, it was hard to find as signage was bad, almost non-existent, and though we found it thanks to google maps, only four other people walked through in the 3 or 4 hours we spent talking to the artists. I felt sad for the artists and hope that the promoter gave them a refund, cause he sure did not do his job drawing people in, seemed more like he was trying to save himself a few dollars rather than doing his best for the artists. Well, thats why we went to check it out, to see if it was worth showing with this company, and I sure got a clear-cut answer on that.

Mountain Bluebird, male.

On the way I got to try out my new camera, a Canon 50D, ohhh-yaaa. It is ever so nice, a 15 pixel as opposed to my ole 6 pixel Rebel, it has more options and is a lot faster, I can now photograph swallows in flight, yay, couldn't do that with the Rebel. I photographed a female Mountain Blue bird on the way to Red Deer and captured the male on our way back. I was excited to see them as last year we had a late storm that wiped out a good portion of the population; the poor things froze to death. I sure hope we don't get any snow storms now. I would like to paint Bluebirds and Yellow Warblers for my upcoming show in Cochrane. Hopefully I can pull it off as its fast coming up. Also my meet the artist day in Donalda is in three weeks, that will be fun as wood carvers will be there as well. I am so looking forward to it.