northern nights & bright lights sketches

Up north here, there are times of the year when the nights are full of bright colours that dance and sing across the sky! A couple of decades ago I saw the aurora borealis (northern lights) when I had no idea they existed and had no idea what I was seeing.  It was a sleepless night, I looked out the bedroom window that faces north and the sky looked weird.  I got my camera (which was not much of a camera) stepped out my front door to capture a photo but no luck.  One of the news stories the next morning was the show the aurora borealis put on that night.  That's when I learned what that weird sky was!  

While searching for night time scenery tutorials to sketch, I came upon numerous videos for rendering the aurora borealis and also for galaxy sketching. The majority of the projects are completed on black paper, which I now need to buy.  I used white and toned tan paper.

This is my first try at sketching a galaxy from a tutorial.  It is done with prisma coloured pencils and a while gel pen on toned tan paper that measures 5.5 inches by 8.5 inches.  After the shades were laid, I blended them with a blending stump.  I don't have a full set of prismas so used what I had and came up with my own variation of colours.

I used goldfaber pencils for this night time scene of the northern lights. The white trim and stars are done with a gel pen.  It is also completed on the toned tan paper.  The tutorial for this used prisma pencils so I did the best I could with matching my goldfaber pencils.  

The supplies for this lesson were Faber-Castell polychromo pencils, white gel pen and white paper all  of which I have except my pencils are Faber-Castell goldfaber.  Instead of using a black pencil for the rocks, boat and mountains, I used india ink.  The page measures seven inches by ten inches. 

As I began this project, I had the feeling I bit of more than I could chew.  The tutorial uses pastels on black paper  but I used goldfaber pencils on white mixed media paper and india ink for the trees, hill and bear.  I worked on the aurora borealis starting with the lighter colours then moving towards the darker shades.  I used a colour scheme of my own but followed the shape from the tutorial.  I did not care for how it was progressing but decided to carry on and use it as a practice sheet.  It took many many many layers, the more I laid, the more I liked the look.  When I began adding the dark blue and the black around the bright colours, the project popped and I was now committed to making it a real thing and not a practice sheet.  This is a keeper and the page will stay in my book!   

The purposed of this project was to learn about pointillism which is the technique of placing small dots in a pattern to form an image.  I picked a lesson that was basic for the pointillism.  This tutorial fit the bill for that, yet it included a water-colour night sky filled with aurora borealis whereas I used coloured pencils for that.  The pointillism in this project is done with india ink.  Using india ink made for easy work but pointillism is typically done with paint or pencils.   This is a technique I would like to experiment with, maybe!

Wyndham Carseland January 30, 2022

The local lady that I met here in the summer when I was comfort camping told me this is a nice place to snowshoe in the winter.  Well, it's winter yet there is not enough snow for that sport but the conditions are ideal for  spike wandering.  I packed my gear and a lunch and drove east to Wyndham Carseland Provincial Park.  The Campground is closed for the winter so I parked at the closed gate and walked in.  

It was obvious right away this is a popular place to explore in the winter.  The pathways and campground roads were packed solid which warranted spikes for the most part. I hit the campground road that would lead me to the river trail.   

This was the view when I reached the river.   

It was nice to see what this place looks like in the winter after hiking along here in both summer and autumn.  Although, these conditions are more spring-like than winter.  I can imagine it would be beautiful here with a couple of feet of snow.  It is only the end of January yet, there's lots more winter to come!

As soon as I began hiking, I heard the birds belting out their morning songs.  I did read that birds have been plentiful here and that proved to be true.  They were a pleasure to listen to and to watch.  While there were a number of all these birds, there was only one Blue Jay.    

Black-Capped Chickadee       Hairy Woodpecker       Blue Jay

Downy Woodpecker      Common Redpoll

While walking along the river trail, I veered off often to wander throughout the campground trails and the forest.  It appeared people hike into the campsites to have fires and picnics.  Near the end of wandering about, I did see two families hauling in kids and gear on sleds. These items caught my eye along the way.    

At the end of the campground trails, I carried on to the day use area and further along to the weir.  Canada Geese, Mallards and Goldeneyes were in abundance yet there was one white species swimming about with them that appeared out of place.  The female mallards seem to be curious. When I got home, I did some homework and discovered this is a Snow Goose which is a "lifer" for me.  

view as I headed towards the weir 

on my way back from the weir where the trail was snow free

From this point forward, I headed back into the forest trails and meandered about finding my way back to where I started the day. Along the way, I found a table with a view and settled for lunch envisioning spring/summer/autumn when I would like to come back here to comfort camp. 

Mountain Therapy Escape Day 4 January 27, 2022

This morning I crossed over into Kootenay National Park in British Columbia to hike around Marble Canyon. I stopped off at the Continental Divide border to take a photo and decide if I wanted to carry on further along the 93S.  The road had a bit of snow on it, I was driving in and out of fog, there were a few transfer trucks heading in both directions  and I felt a bit unnerved.  After collecting myself and my thoughts I forged on.  

The parking lot was empty and there were no tire marks nor footsteps in the new snow.  I bundled up in my warmest gear, strapped on my spikes and aimed for the trail.  It was gray, it was dull and it was lightly flurrying yet I could see a bit of blue further off into the end of the canyon. That was where I headed!

What a load of snow!  This is one of the many bridges to cross.  In summer the railings would be level with my waist, today they were level with my ankles.  There was a packed trail in the middle of each bridge and I gingerly worked my way across them.

This was the view around me and behind me!

This was the view ahead of me.  

Marble Canyon is deep, this was as close as I dare lean to get a photo.

There were a few trails that led off into the trees and I knew the red chairs were in there some where.  I followed a few of the trails, this being one of them but no National Parks red chairs down here. 

I eventually found them and rested for a bit in one of them.

This is a summer shot of them.

I carried further along the trail where I could get a deeper view down into the canyon, or so I thought.  I was not leaning over any further.  The sky was opening up more and presenting more blue.

This was as far as I hiked.   Some one made a trail through the snow over the railing, that I am sitting on, and to the side of the canyon but there was no way I was venturing any further.  From here I followed the trail on the other side of Marble Canyon and then crossed back over one of those bridges.

I found a few spots where I could easily and safely get down to the water in the canyon.  

the colour of the water against the snow looks incredible 

Mother Nature's marshmallows

icy edges

It was still foggy and flurrying a bit when I arrived back at the parking lot and my only concern was driving that 93 again and safely making it back to the No 1 where I would veer right and hit the highway to home.  I white knuckled it and then breathed a sigh of relief once I was on the main highway. 

This mountain therapy escape did everything for me that I hoped it would!    

Ahhh! Sigh!

Mountain Therapy Escape Day 3 January 26, 2022

One place for sure that I knew skating was possible was at Lake Louise.  I arrived just after sunrise at the Lake Louise parking lot where a dozen or so others were there before me.  I bundled up in my warmest gear, grabbed my skates and aimed for the Lake.  This was the view as I arrived! 

I saw two guys in hockey jerseys getting their skates on.  There were a few people walking along the trail.  No one was at the ice castle so made capturing photos of it my first order of enjoyment.   

me in the doorway of the ice castle

The last time I skated here was March 3rd of last year when I met Elijah Balde. In less than a year, he has come so far with his cause and has made quite the  name for himself. I follow him on social media and knew he would not be here today.

Who I did meet though were those two guys in hockey jerseys who were putting their skates on while I was at the ice castle.  They were two young guys from Quebec who flew here to put a check mark next to  their bucket list item of skating on Lake Louise.  They made their way onto the ice and skated a few laps and  then as soon as I joined them, I was recruited to be their photographer. After capturing many photos of all kinds of scenarios, they returned the favour.  I borrowed their stick and puck and performed a slap shot pose!   

skating photo

She shoots she scores she summits!  After he took this photo, they then wanted one like this!

The staff began flooding the ice and while it was already bliss to be skating here, 

it was now a higher level of sheer bliss!  

I skated for seventy minutes and by then felt so fulfilled.  I changed into my boots and walked around the area to enjoy the sights.  The ice carving festival was cancelled for this year. There were a couple though that would have been carved by locals.  This was one of them.

He's maintaining the route the sleigh rides follow.

I always enjoy getting to this section where the water remains open in the winter.  What a perfect reflection!  That rock with the ice and snow on it is about the size of a basketball.  I like playing with perspective.  

view from the little bridge that leads back to the parking lot

Before going back to my chalet, I drove to a spot where you have an unobstructed view of Castle Mountain.  It is a popular sunrise/sunset location for photographers.  It was early afternoon and the lighting was not ideal although I like the look of the mountain, the trees, the river, the open water and the chucks of ice.

I arrived back at my chalet and before picking up the new bundle of wood, paper and kindling and entering in, I scooted around the corner to get a photo of this ice sculpture.

Today was like a dream with so many mountain views, 

loads of therapy and with a feeling like I was so far away 

from any care or worry in the world!   

Ahhh!  Sigh!

Mountain Therapy Escape Day 2 January 25, 2022

After winter hiking to Boom Lake last year, I knew for sure I wanted to go there again and today was the day to venture there.  I was first to arrive at the parking lot after a thankfully easy, short, clear, dry drive on the 93S.  It was a bit overcast with some winter fog as I set off.  The trail is right through that opening on the right.   

This photo puts it all into perspective on the amount of snow!  

From reviews I knew I would be OK with just my spikes so left my snowshoes in the car.  Being on my own, I had no intentions of going off trail. As you can see the trail is well packed by the weekend warriors.  It was such a peaceful feeling to be working my way through this forest of snow laden trees.  

I was smiling wide too!

It was a cold morning here!

winding through the forest

After a few final descends ascends and descends, I arrived at Boom Lake.  

This was the view to my left...,,

...,,and this was the view to my right!

Ahhh!  Sigh!  The beauty here was incredible!  

After snapping a few shots from this location, I continued on a short distance to where I could settle for awhile to savour a snack and the scenery.  This was my wide open amazing view.  While it was cold here there was no wind.  The time did come when I was ready to head on back.

I stood in this spot and just listened to the sound of silence!

that looks like a dairy queen ice cream on the left

I arrived back at the bridge with the parking lot being just around the corner.  

When I pulled up to my chalet, I saw a new bundle of wood, kindling and paper sitting at the door.  I unloaded my gear and before doing anything else, I got a fire going!    

Ahhh!  Sigh!