finding merry & bright

My Christmas Tree has been up since early December and each day since, that I was in the city, it brought merry to my day!  These are just a few of my decorations and each one has a story to tell.  The newest addition to my collection is the one at bottom right, the birds at the front door with a welcome sign.  

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It has been some time since we had a significant snowfall in the city.  Many I am sure are happy about that, yet I prefer when it is a bit brighter. While I am not getting out the door to add kilometres to a challenge, I am still getting out the door.  The cold snap was dwindling so it was time to be back outside for a lengthy period.  On this day at Confluence Park,  there was more brown than white but I did find bright!  The double sundog lasted mere minutes!

late day light made the creek area look bright

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A glass of white paired with my fairy tree lights made me feel merry while painting bright sights!  I am learning to lay backgrounds before painting the subjects.  The first watercolour painting has a wash background with the two Black-Capped Chickadees as the subjects.  The birds were roughly outlined on top of the wash and then painted. In hindsight, there should have been more blue wash at the top for the sky and more green around the needles on the branch.   For the second painting background I used the Bokeh effect.  First, I did a very wet wash with various levels of thickness of paint. This time I cut pieces of a sponge into various circle sizes then used the sponge pieces to remove the paint to give the Bokeh look.  I also added salt to give the snowy, flowery look.  Then I painted the fence and lastly the bird.  That's a Robin sitting on the snow covered fence which is not a sight you would normally see around here at this time of year!  

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The stars aligned on Christmas Day to experience an amazing time skating at Bowness!  Between the Ice Trail, the Lagoon and the Canal, there was lots of ice to etch designs on.  The ice by the Boat House was cleaned of snow and waiting to be flooded.  It was still good to go though and it was nice to loop in around here from the Lagoon. 

The Ice Bikes are locked up yet will be ready to rent later.  

These are just two of the few available. 

The Lagoon!

This is a ten second video of a section of The Canal.  I skated the whole length as it winds it way through the trees.  If it looks familiar from being a regular follower of mine, that's because I kayaked here in the summer.

a kayaking view from along the same area

Before skating on The Lagoon and The Canal, I spent an hour skating the Ice Trail which had just been flooded.  It was divine!  What I noticed this time was there are black arrows in the ice where I began to skate to show which direction to head.  This time for the first time since they built the Ice Trail, the direction to start skating from the benches by the parking lot is west.   

This is a short video while skating west along the Ice Trail.

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Little did I think, while painting the Robin on the snow covered fence which is a sight I have never seen at this time of year, today I would change that narrative!  It has been awhile since I stopped by the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary and I was curious as to what birds might be hanging around there at Christmas time.  It was a welcoming sight crossing the bridge!

All the trails were open as construction workers were on break for today.  As I approached The Lagoon, I could hear the Starlings, Ravens and Magpies.  There were plenty of Black-Capped Chickadees, Woodpeckers and Nuthatches.  Then what to my wondering eyes should appear but a Robin, then two, then three!  As the minutes passed more appeared on the scene.  They slid on the ice and sipped from the water sitting on top of it, they looked in wonderment at me, at the snow and they frolicked like it was spring time!   They were entertaining to watch and brought much merry and bright to my visit!