My finely honed abilities for guessing at a field guide were correct. There is RAIN. It started heavy in the night and continues through the day. This is my version of a Nimbostratus cloud. Yes, you may well be amazed at my keen attention to lack of detail...any detail...or any kind of general effort... But there is a reason for this, fellow cloud lovers; it has no discernible puffy appearance of a rainy thundercloud (its rainy brother), but it makes up for that with its immense coverage and uniform mass and lots of decided, no nonsense rain that is continuous....like today.
Cloud Watching
I am back from Peru to be greeted by very lovely weather indeed. This whole past week has been marvy here, but I notice today there are clouds creeping in. According to the "National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Weather"(phew), altocumulus clouds may occur anywhere (Nooo, think of the children!). They accompany the more important moving weather systems. IF they only last a few hours or cover only a small portion of the sky, they don't seem to indicate a system moving in. They are just messin' around up there for fun (my words, not Audubon's). If, however, these clouds show up for an extended period of time, which these ones have, I've been seeing them for most of the day, then there will be "moisture".
On Birds
There is a crow who visits our yard. We call her Sharp-Beak for her top beak extends well past the lower. She defends this yard from all other interloper crows and for some time there were aerial bouts in and out of the trees, quite often leaving feathers behind on the grass. Ironically, we also have a visiting Steller's Jay, and she only has a bottom beak, the top being but a stub of growth. We call her, yes, Half-Beak. You can see her black tongue flicking in and out like a snake's. They get along okay and I never see any battles between them.
The energy of the Jay, Half-Beak is lively, curious and very bold and sees no problem with coming right into the kitchen for a hand-out. Naughty.
Sharp-Beak, on the other hand, is watchful and composed. She will sit still as night, in the apple tree, rarely even shifting her position, thinking crow thoughts.
While I know they are here for the peanuts, they stay around after their handout and rest and groom a few feet away in the apple tree, which is nice as the top of the apple tree is level with the deck. It is a peaceful hour until the neighbourhood jays come swooping in, screeching and hollering and darting about and we all leave in annoyance. Upstarts.
New Life
Watching the baby birds learning how to fly is quite heart-warming. Using the protective lilac shrubs as their playground, the youngsters flap furiously from branch to branch, all clumsy and feather-pointy, chirping madly the whole time.
Feather
A little painting before I start the day...
It's always good to have a feather collection for instant inspiration.
The Robin of Spring
Spring has been busy here while I was away. It has been busy for some time actually, pushing up shoots in the cold earth, bringing migrations of birds in the winds and flooding the banks of the local creeks.
The robins have been hopping about for some weeks now and it is not unusual to find sixty or so birds hanging out together, covering the lawns and trees before they separate into their own territories that they will defend vigorously with the power of song, closing the end of day with their invisible musical fences.
For certain people and places, robins are symbols of new beginnings as they come with the spring, a time of growth, even when clouds, (as grey as the robin's back) shower cold rain on the ground. Their energetic movement reminds you to call upon their energy if you are feeling the cold spring blahs and their warm orange vest reminds you to visualize the rays of the sun and the days getting longer.
Robin Medicine invites you to see clearly. Their white ring around the eye emphasizes this trait, as they run with their characteristic quick gait across the lawn. Suddenly they stop, and look alertly before proceeding once again. They are hunting by clear sight and their medicine invites you to do the same.
Robin Medicine: New beginnings and growth brought with the clarity of seeing clearly.
Night Ocean
Happy New Year!
To start the New Year, I finished this big painting of an ocean at night. It is all shades of blues; teal, cobalt, ultramarine and indigo with lots of phthalo turquoise. It's a decent size, 6'X4' of water energy. I wanted a feeling of stepping into a wave of saturated blue. If you need some colour therapy. This is it!
"Flame"
This a small painting that I had fun doing as part of my Fire Element Series. This one is staying in my studio awhile.
The Moon was a Ghostly Galleon....
Last night, the walk home reminded me of that poem, "The Highwayman" by ...errrr...whatispickle...... I will look it up... Alfred Noyes. ( Funny, that name Alfred has come up three times in two days. Hmmm). So, where was I? Yes, the moon, the moon was indeed a ghostly galleon, albeit, there was no moor, just your typical neighbourhood streets.
THE wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees,
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
And the highwayman came riding—
Riding—riding—
The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door.
I do love using indigo for moonlight paintings. It has just the right amount of mood without dominating the painting with darkness.
Sunflower Oil Painting
Sunflower painting #2. This is about 95% done, just waiting for it to dry before tweaking some values here and there and messing with the sky.