bare hills & sunflower meadows

Given a positive double digit forecast, I hit up Nose Hill without spikes or many layers.  I went early enough to enjoy dry trails before they turned to mud yet still feel the warm sunshine.  There is not much up there these days other than the pretty sights and a bit of ice here and there.  As for wildlife, today is was just a variety of birds that I heard and saw.   

I found my way to "Nose Hill Lake" expecting it to be bone dry as it was a couple of weeks ago.  We have had no moisture to speak of in any form so I can not figure out how it could be full to the brim and overflowing with water and ice.

The usual Woodpecker and Chickadee residents were nice to see and the added bonus was spotting a Northern Shrike and two American Robins. The Northern Shrike will soon be heading much further north for the spring and summer months.  My sense is the Robins are new arrivals and are not ones that spend the winter here.  The Robin has quite the detailed pattern on its rear-end.

a look that I like a lot

The sky looked big today if that makes any sense!

It will soon be time to begin the crocus search!

🌻sunflower🌻

Who ever thought that sunflowers would be so popular when it is not even their season!  Their prime time is still a few months away but they are at the forefront in the news and in peoples thoughts these days.  This beautiful cheerful colourful ray of sunshine is the national flower of Ukraine.  

I invested a few hours the past couple of days to learn how to sketch and paint sunflowers.  The first picture was done with coloured pencils and the following two are done with watercolour brush pens and brushes.   They are all "free" sunflowers meaning they are rendered in a loosely, nonrigid, non-uniform manner.