artsy urbanite

You may have noticed some changes to the left side of my blog over the past little while.  I wanted to find a way to put some of my sketches to use so a few have become promo photos for categories of posts.  A watercolour kayaking sketch done solely for this purpose is my most recent painting. 

This painting represents the maiden voyage of my packraft. The backdrop is the range of mountains that you see when facing west while in the middle of Forgetmenot Pond.  Me sitting in the kayak was rendered from my mind.  The duck idea comes from a recent paddle at Bowness.  I look forward to paddling more and sharing my stories here.  

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Drawing food has intrigued me lately.  I had all intentions of getting more into anime but got distracted by food.  This burger was quite the project and took loads of hours.  I followed a tutorial which took me in a new direction for creating the image of the burger.  Each ingredient was completed before moving down to the next item.  That means, the entire image was not sketched out first.  Each item was first drawn with a white coloured pencil then filled in with white using various levels of pressure.  The colours were then laid and layered on top of the white.  First came the top half of the bun, then melted cheese, the beef pattie with pieces of onion in it was next, that sat on a layer of mayo sauce, below that are two tomatoes, red onions, lettuce and finally the bottom half of the bun.  What a yummy project to work on!  

The goal was to make the skin of this kiwi look fuzzy and the inside look juicy!  I am content with the fuzziness but not so much with the other goal.  I used a different brand of coloured pencils than what was listed in the tutorial.  I tried to match up the greens as best I could yet I was short two shades.  The white spots on the seeds and at the tip of the skin are done with a gel pen.  

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Time spent enjoying nature locally has been plentiful.  I no longer always take my camera with me knowing I have my phone to snap a shot if something grabs my attention.  I knew there would be lots to see on this early morning visit to The Ranch.  I beat the heat of the day and was happy to be back home inside well before noon.  

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After a recent kayak outing at Carburn, I realized I missed meandering the dirt trails there to see and hear the birds.  I booked off a morning to do just that and this view was what greeted me! I like to believe the deer was admiring its reflexion but in reality it was having a sip of water.  I am still tracking all my bird sightings and I saw plenty on this morning.

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With the sun rising  a tad bit later, it is easier to get out the door to at least catch the golden glow.  I wanted to accomplish that on this morning yet the main reason was to, I hate to sound like a broken record, but to beat the heat!  A quick little note about the yellow bird, it is an American Goldfinch and I could hear its constant call from a distance away.  The call lasted long and I headed to where I heard it coming from.  I found it and not far from it was the other bird which is a Kestrel, a bird of prey.  The Goldfinch's call may have been a warning call to all others in the vicinity.

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The Sanctuary continues to offer me much joy so I have been trying my best to get there once a week!  I like how there are a couple of early morningers (I made up that word) like me and we share our sightings with our greetings.  The ducklings are growing yet others are quite new. The adult ducks are beginning to all look alike, tis the season.  It's funny how in the winter seeing the Black Capped Chickadees is such a joy but during the summer the sightings feel lacklustre.  As we approach the end of August, the seasonal visitors will now be thinking of heading south.