wanderlust

On a recent day trip west to the mountain town of Canmore, I came across this locally crafted piece of art work that I had to have! I always wanted something like this and in the past I even put together pieces of paper to create a look alike.  This cork on wood wall hanging measures 14 inches by 24 inches.  It came with a silver charm heart and white push pins. I placed the heart where I live and some pins where I have been.  I placed a heart in Nova Scotia.  That heart is from a pierced earring.  I no longer have pierced ears but kept these pierced earrings because my Dad gave them to me decades ago.   I do not like the push pins that were provided, the pin part is too long and I would rather the heads to be various colours or even designs.  I will work towards getting this to be exactly how I want it to be and that also includes pushing pins in places I wanderlust about!  

My painting project over the past few days was rendering a winter scene of Lake Louise from numerous photos I captured from various visits. This place gives me much to wanderlust about!  Winter is my favourite season to visit here and I have been fortunate to have experienced a multitude of trips to Lake Louise in Banff National Park.  I wanted my creation to have that winter-wonderland look like it does in the photos.  This was my third try and with this painting I feel that wintry vibe!  

I used these photos of mine as references.  

 

Wanderlust means to roam, explore, travel, hike, wander and I am adding "wonder" to that definition.  Wanderlusting afar would be for most people and it is for me yet I love to wanderlust about close by, then wander there. I did some of that this week.  Earlier in the week snow still sat on the ground in a very few local places.  This was one of them.  

I don't need to "wonder" what the Black-Capped Chickadee wants!  

I had no treats to share.

The sunrises continue to be gorgeous!  On this morning the reflection was crystal clear in the open water and transitioned to being muted in the ice.  I "wonder" why some of the ice has the white formations in it and why they are in certain spots!

I "wonder" if the White Breasted Nuthatch is sitting pretty waiting for a treat! 

 icy design in the ice

You can't have it all or I "wonder" one day soon maybe I will be able to!  On a previous visit up on Nose Hill, I captured a photo of a male deer standing in some snow with the snow covered mountains as the backdrop.  On that day I did not have my good camera so was not able to take a great photo.  On this day, I had my good camera but the deer was near the trees and the snow up on the Hill had melted.  This was one of three males, so I know there is potential for getting another photo of a male but the deer needs to be out in the open in front of the mountains and there needs to be a snow fall or two or three.  I am not so sure snow will fall any time soon.  I will "wonder" and wanderlust about getting the photo I want!  

Elbow Pass & Elbow Lake November 26, 2023

when the wind will blow

the sun-kissed snow

that's where I must go

In five days the gate deep in along Highway 40 that leads to this wildlands playground will close for the winter until June 15th of 2024.  I ventured out that way to Elbow Lake, Elbow Pass and Desolation Flats in early September to witness the fall foliage. Today I went back to feel the winds, see the snow and get mindfully lost in the beauty!

While it was cold and very windy, it was heart-warming to see the trees still laden with the new fallen snow.  I covered the first steep hill quickly to warm up then once the terrain levelled out, I took time to admire my surroundings.  

The trail was well packed by hikers from previous days.  I wore spikes but could very easily have done without.  I did step off trail to closely inspect the crystals on the trees, that's when I realized yes the snow is deep.

the result of my close up inspection

The early morning light was not user-friendly for capturing pretty pictures of Elbow Lake so I hiked on by.  Just before where Peter Lougheed Provincial Park meets Wildlands Provincial Park, I found some untouched snow off trail to dash through into the Wildlands.  

After a bit of dashing came some sauntering. Every little thing was catching my eye and calling me to stop and savour the sight.  Look at this icicle!  Look closely, look inside, you can see its soul! How perfect it is!

With not a cloud in the sky and the sun shining bright, the snow looked whiter than white.  

Through the forest, I was protected from the wind yet the snow was sun-kissed.  

Let that sun-kissed snow kiss me!

Being familiar with this wildlands playground, I knew very shortly I would break out of the forest and face the wild wind.  That wind whipped up some pretty clouds that shot out from the mountain top while the sun peeked out front the side  

I knew the creek was just down the slope and others had been, I followed the beaten path to the water's edge.  The sound of the running creek sounds so soothing.  I stayed awhile because the sight and sound drew me in and I got mindfully lost in it.

methane bubbles

methane bubbles in the making, these bubbles were dancing

The sight and sound underneath this thin layer of ice was mesmorizing!  

This was my destination for today!  By now the cloud formation was stunning.  It did not last long.  I watched it develop quickly and thought it may dissipate just as quick so I better get my destination shot right now.

The clouds danced across Tombstone Mountain, then over Piper Pass and the Cats Ears. 

It was time to do the wind test! How strong are they!  Proof is in the pouring!  After capturing this video, I sipped some more, pairing that with savouring the sights and snacks.  While doing so, I watched the clouds dance away and disappear.  The sky once again became clear blue except for plane trails.  

It was time to leave my destination location behind and hit the trail back.  

This was my view as I looked back

 just before putting my head down 

and fighting into the wind working my way out of the Wildlands.  

By now the light was better yet oh so bright at Elbow Lake. The Lake was snow covered. It was an invitation for people to safely partake in activities on it.  I watched a fellow set up an ice fishing hole,  some people were skiing across it, others were walking on it.  I enjoyed it from the trail that follows along side. 

Those few hours of mindfully being lost in such beauty felt so fulfilling, healing, rewarding and satisfying.  I arrived back at my vehicle ready to face reality once again!

 

remembering & rendering that June 28, 2017 day

remembering

The day was June 28, 2017  a day that began so wrong turned out to be so right!  

When I was truly getting into this artistic thing, I began to wonder, would I some day be capable of painting a scene or two from my ten days spent in Iceland.  These past couple of weeks, I looked back at my photo albums and read my blog posts.  Oh my, I got lost in my thoughts remembering those absolutely wonderful incredible days.  Waterfalls, glaciers & geysers, wild & colourful landscapes, ocean & lagoon vistas, lupins galore, there were so many options to choose from to paint yet all my photographs looked complicated and intimidating to render.  Over the last two years, I learned to sketch and paint icicles, icebergs, flowers, waterfalls, lakes, landscapes plus other things.  This collage shows some of what transpired from those lessons learned.  Is what I learned enough to tackle painting an Iceland scene?

In addition to the link in the first sentence at the top of this post to that June 28, 2017 day, these maps help give a lay of the land that was covered on that day.  What was to be a 13 hour day became a 17.5 hour day.  I won't go into details here as I shared the full story in that blog post.  The second map shows in numerical order, the locations we visited.  What I will tell you here is that when my name was called at 7:00am that morning in front of the hotel across the street from the condo I was renting, I excitedly jumped on board the small luxury bus, not realizing what I jumped on board for! 

rendering

The first stop was in Vik at Black Sand Beach where there was a view of the Basalt Stacks. This was the first painting in the series of four that I did for this version of a "remembering & rendering" post.  These four paintings were done in a hard covered journal that measures 8" x 5.5" with the painting size at 6.5" x 4". The paper is 140 lbs, 100% cotton, cold press.

my photos used as references 

 

Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon was our second stop but my third painting in this series.  I choose to simplify this creation by painting two icebergs rather than the many that were actually there.  After declaring the project complete and I stepped back to look at it, I wish I had painted more icebergs.  It was at this time too that I remembered the numbers theory of there should be an odd number of objects not even.  That being said, when I look at the painting as I type this, the scene still takes me back to being there on that day!  

my photos used as references

Hiking and climbing up on the Falljokull Glacier was not on the itinerary for the tour I signed up for and paid for, yet I got to do it for free!  This was our third stop but my last painting.  I left it to the last, I was not sure I would even attempt to paint something from this experience, rendering the scenes seemed complicated and beyond my ability.  Lots of self talk took place and I got to a place where I knew I needed to create a painting.  Experiencing what I did on this Glacier was an unplanned and unexpected amazing gift!  It was complicated to paint, I accept the outcome even though it is not what I thought it would look like when done.  Painting icebergs in the water is much easier than painting glaciers in the mountains!

my photos used as references 

Visiting Seljalandsfoss Waterfalls was our last stop but my second painting.   Our guide/drive decided at the last second, which was around 10:00pm, to pull off at this stop.  A few stayed asleep on the bus and the rest of us hiked up to the falls. I was the only one to go behind the falls.  I had my tripod with me so it was easy to capture a selfie.  Coming away completely soaked from head to toe, through and through, was so absolutely worth it!  

my photos used as references

(the red star shows where I stood behind the falls)

It was a childhood dream to go to Iceland!  It had always been a dream too, to be able to watercolour paint.  Mixing Iceland with watercolour painting has been double the pleasure!   

Appalachian Trail Virtual Challenge Progress November 19, 2023

Today I completed my portion of the kilometres that go towards conquering the Appalachian Trail.  As we are a group of 35, each Team member was allotted 90.5 kms.  "The Appalachian Conquerors" began this virtual challenge on November 12th.  Our goal is to complete the 3168 kms (1968 miles) and have everyone be across the finish line by end of day Thursday November 23rd western hemisphere time.  Our Team Captain resides in Australia and gives a daily update on our status with notifications to those who are nearing completion time of their 90.5 kms. Once you cover your distance, no more manual entries are to be made and syncing your activities to the challenge are to be turned off.  Even though these daily reports are given, I still follow the inputs on the app by each member.  Our Team members are located in Canada, United States, Mexico, United Kingdom, Singapore, Switzerland, New Zealand and Australia.  

These are my daily distance entries:

As I put together this post, these are the stats so far.  By the time I finish writing the post, these numbers will probably have changed a bit.  So far twelve of us have completed our distance.  We cheer the others on as they work towards their goals.  

This is what it looked like for some of the days 

as I worked at conquering this challenge! 

(The first few kms I covered were included in the 1st Appalachian Trail post on Nov 12.)  

On this day I forgot my camera with the great lens.  It was not the day for that to happen!  I wanted to share a few photos with the Team on our group site, so I snapped a few shots with my iPhone. It was a gorgeous day up on Nose Hill, but a windy one.  I watched this male keep his eye on the young deer.  I was not sure what was going on but every time the young deer ran, the male chased it down.  My camera with the great lens would have captured a wow shot of the male in front of the mountains.  

Yes, it was a bit windy!

The trail winds through a forest touched in golden light.

❄❄❄❄❄

I woke to a new blanket of white!  It was a bitterly cold morning with the temperature forecasted to  increase by 19 degrees by days end.  I got out early to enjoy the snow, it would be gone by the end of the day, and it mostly was.  I meandered through the Birth Forest catching the sun as it shone through.

full on winter wear

Oh Canada! Someone as proud as me!

dashing through the snow

🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡

On this day, I returned to Nose Hill, this time with my camera!  My timing was perfect to capture this gorgeous colour, it does not last long.  It was then time to get serious and cover those kilometres.  On another day, I would have spent more time taking various versions of photos like this one. 

🎵🎵Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy!🎵🎵

This is why I like my camera with the great lens!  I wanted to share this photo letting the Team members from the UK know, that ski jump is where their treasure "Eddie the Eagle" became famous during the Calgary 1988 Winter Olympics.  

I found enough snowman snow to build a snowman!

⛸⛸⛸⛸⛸

These double digit temperatures above freezing are wrecking havoc on the soon to be skating season!  While Carburn Park is not a place I skate, it is a Park I like to wander about in.  On this day, I put in lots of kilometres walking from Carburn to Fish Creek and back.  At this rate, that ice will not be ready for skating any time soon.  The ice looked only sliver thin. 

arriving at Fish Creek Provincial Park

We eyed each other!  This young coyote had a big gash on the side of its neck at left in the photo. Other than that, it looked very healthy with a thick shiny coat.

This is one of two Bald Eagles that were sitting in the tree.  I did a complete circumnavigation around the location but could not get a good clear shot of the other Eagle.  

Once everyone is across the finish line and we have conquered the Appalachian Trail as a Team, I may or may not write another post about this virtual challenge.  If has been quite enjoyable teaming up to do this. I have already let it be known to the others, if another Team Challenge is created, then I would be interested in being part of the tram.  Also, once skating season starts, I may take on a virtual challenge of a shorter distance for skating distances only.