just an eye on my week

Getting "lost in the woods" is such a great way to rejuvenate, escape, refresh, renew and so sometimes is getting "lost in the details".  On this day when I felt the need to get away from it all, yet with a -40C windchill to the start of our day, getting away from it all was not going to happen by getting out the door to get "lost in the woods"!  Following tutorials on how to sketch eyes was exactly the distraction that gave me what I needed.  My first try was with a graphite pencil and it took many attempts to get it looking like it looks.  Next I was ready to sketch an eye with coloured pencils and thirdly sketching an eye with much more detail.  These projects required full on focus that filled a few hours for each eye. There will be another next and that is to sketch a green eye!  

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As we exited another deep freeze, I then headed up Nose Hill!  I had not been since the fire ravaged a long stretch of the grassy open area lower down. The higher I climbed I could then see to where the fire was and it was now mostly covered in snow.   Yet, as I write this post, we are back into a warm spell and that snow is probably already gone. On this morning that new layer of snow glistened from the glow of the sun shining on it. The open sections high on The Hill were wind swept and the reflections were pretty & plentiful.   A coyote did cross the path in front of me but scurried up a slope the split second it spied me.   Once it felt safe, it stopped and looked back to make sure I was keeping my distance.  It then trotted off into the woods.  I headed in the other direction into other woods to where I could find my soul!  

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I want to see what they are seeing!  I check my resources to see what others in the group are spotting and from that I then go with open eyes. On this day I went to the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary with hopes of seeing what they saw!  I arrived just after sunrise.  Upon arrival the place was already buzzing with activity and from what I heard and saw, it was mostly courting activity!  Some of what they saw, I had success with seeing for myself and that was the Townsend's Solitaire which is shown in the middle bottom photo.  It stood true to its name in the sense there was only one and it is uncommon to see one at this time of year in a place like this.  The Northern Flickers (one in top, left) were in full on courting mode vocally and with pecking.   The Juvenile Bald Eagle flew around for the first while after I arrived and then it was gone.  The Black-Capped Chickadees were plentiful and always add cheer to my visit here.  The Downy Woodpeckers were enjoying a game of chase.  While I had success with seeing the Townsend's Solitaire, I did not have success with spotting the Great Horned Owl whereas many others on previous days were successful.  I have an idea of the location and spent some time scanning the trees but it remained elusive.  As the weeks pass, the variety of seasonal residents should increase and I look forward to that!  

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I remember when I was a child, I would draw and colour on brown paper bags.  I now have a toned tan sketch book and have been looking for ideas on projects to render on those pages.  A funny thing I found while searching was numerous sites sharing information about sketching on kraft paper.  There were many lessons to follow so I picked a few to try.  Here are three.  My first try was with a bit of white and india ink.  The main focus was getting the moon right.  Many moons I sketched, I made fully bright white. This one looks more realistic.  For the second sketch, more white was added along with india ink and black coloured pencil.  The third project used the most white along with india ink and brown coloured pencils.  I was surprised at how quickly and often the white coloured pencil needed to be sharpened and I am now in need of more white pencils.   I like this look and have many more blank pages to fill in the toned tan book.