sketching & medalling & urbaning

One of the items on my learn how to sketch list is waves! I have been rendering them by just laying down wavy lines.  It took time on a tutorial to make it appear like the waves are in motion.  It was not an easy task even when copying step by step what I was told and shown to do. After a few pages of practice, it was time for placing them permanently in a picture.  I wanted to create a stormy look and this was the outcome!  

My focus these past couple of weeks has been searching for those gorgeous autumn colours.   The colours do not stick around long and with us already having snow in the foothills and mountains,  right now I am experiencing tunnel vision.  There is so much beauty in the autumn leaves!

While I rack up kilometres on the St Francis Way virtual challenge, my medal for completing the Flower Route Challenge arrived.  It's my fifth medal and my favourite so far.  The blade component on the windmill actually spins!  As it spins the scene on the back above the colourful buildings, changes from a day time sun to a night time view with a moon and stars.  A photo of this medal would have looked nice out amongst our wildflowers but since that season is over, I may carry it on my next hike and pair it up with seasonal larch trees.  

After spending last week away in Waterton Lakes National Park, it was time to stick close to home and catch up on getting my urban fix.  I know that Nose Hill gets colourful this time of year so that's where I went to see some shades.  Along with some colour, I got great cloud formations, lots of blue sky and even got to hear some songs.  The bird population is dwindling as each day passes and the temperatures drop.  There were still a few.  I was surprised at how close I could get to two Northern Flickers.  One is on the left in the collage below.  It remained motionless, and I believed that it believed if it stayed still I would think it was part of the tree and not a bird.  The colours are only beginning to change up on The Hill so another visit in the near future is on my to go back list.

On this trip to the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, the scenery stood out more so than the birds.  I did see the usual suspects of Blue Heron, Osprey, Wood Ducks, Black-Capped Chickadees, Norther Flickers and European Starlings,  there were no unusual sightings.  On this cool, calm morning, the shades were sensational and the reflections perfect.