….even though it’s sunny and it’s milder today winter is not done with us
There are, however, clear signs that spring isn’t too far off.
Signs of Spring????
10
Category Archives: birds
Share Your World – March 12, 2018
….thanks to Cee for hosting Share Your World
If a distant uncle dies and you were always his favorite and leaves you $50,000 (any currency) in his will, what would you do?
I think I would use some of the money to do some repairs around the cottage and then take a chunk to travel to London, England. With any money left over I would divide it amongst my children.
What sound or sounds do you love?
I love the sound of birds in the morning, cicadas on a hot summer day and the laughter of children.
What’s your middle name? Why?
My middle name is Hildegard. I was named after my maternal grandmother. I always hated the name and wouldn’t tell any of my friends for fear of being teased. I actually never realized until much later that I was named after my grandmother. I knew her name was Hilde but I never realized that it was shortened from Hildegard. I wouldn’t have had a problem telling people that my middle name was Hilde.
What did you appreciate or what made you smile this past week? Feel free to use a quote, a photo, a story, or even a combination.
This past week I attended two wonderful concerts with friends. The first was an afternoon concert featuring the Elias String Quartet and the second one was Tan Dun’s Water Passion After St. Matthew.
On Saturday my husband and I drove to Hamilton to spend the day with our daughter and granddaughter. Of course that brought huge smiles to our faces. As she gets older we find that we can actually carry on conversations with her and she happily instructs us on how to play with her. 
Cee’s Black and White Photo Challenge – Words With Double Letters
Silent Sunday – February 25, 2018
Image
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge – Birds
….thanks Cee for hosting the Fun Foto Challenge
365 Days of Art – Collage Character
…..day 48
In Carla Sonheim’s class today we were instructed to take some of our art papers and with our eyes closed cut out random shapes. Then we were to create a character of our choice. We weren’t suppose to have a character in mind when doing the cutting. Instead the character would appear as we tried to arrange some to the shapes.
Gluing the pieces down was the last step in the process. As we created a character Carla recommended taking a photograph of each version and move the pieces around until you came up with a character you liked.
I found one piece of paper that looked like bird legs running so I build my character around that. Here is the process that I went through before gluing my final character in place.
On my final piece I grounded my little roadrunner with a strip of ground and put a cloud over her head. To me she looked like she was running off to a party.
Roda’s Critter Connection – January 29, 2018
…..hard to capture photos of critters these days but the ducks are always co-operative
365 Days of Art – Day 29
….making up for my non-painting days
Carla Sonheim’s post the other day had us use the scraping method to make a random blob shape onto watercolour paper and then look for shapes or designs to bring out with marker. This was a lot of fun.
For some reason I saw birds and cats. I hate drawing cats, only because I don’t think I’m very good at it, so I did the two birds first. In the first blob I saw an eagle with a fish in his mouth and the second one was a random mythical bird with an angry look. Then I tackled the cat drawings. One is of a cat sleeping and the other is a cat from the back side.
Playing With the Zoom Lens for an iPhone
…..it’s a bit tricky holding the iPhone with this long lens attached
I was very excited when I received all those wonderful lenses for my iPhone at Christmas. I used the fish-eye lens first (which I promptly lost) and posted a few of my experiments soon after I received them.
A couple of days ago I headed out for a walk with my trusty iPhone in hand and the zoom lens in place. I came across a group of birds, flying back and forth and hopping from one branch to another. This is the best I could do.
As I got closer to the park the wind picked up and the temperature fell. I came across some ducks, some in the lake and others in the pond.
I tried using the zoom lens for some landscape shots, sometime focusing on the branches in the foreground and other times on the background.
I’m not sure why it’s happening but can you see how the horizon line in the second set of photos is bowed?
Here are a few more photos taken of objects and scenery in the distance.
The only disadvantage of taking photos in January, even on a relatively mild day, is that your fingers freeze very quickly. Did I mention that the winds picked up and the temperature dropped? If I didn’t feel frostbite coming on I would probably have stayed out longer. As you can see from the last shot I was losing the light anyway. If you have any suggestions about using the lenses for an iPhone I’d be very appreciative.
Cheers!
365 Days of Art – Day 24
…..spent most of the day on the road and in Collingwood
My husband had a meeting with clients in Collingwood today so I decided to accompany him on the trip. While he was with his clients I spent time walking up and down the Main Street of Collingwood, taking photographs and checking out some of the stores. After awhile I stepped into a lovely little coffee shop and treated myself to a flat white. I had to ask what it was and it sounded interesting so I ordered it. Delicious!
I brought my sketch book with me and some markers. It was the perfect place to practise my one-liners. Carla Sonheim wanted us to make several one-liners of birds, cats, potted plants or flowers, shoes and houses. For those of you unfamiliar with one-liners, you literally draw an object without taking the pen off the paper until you’ve finished the drawing. It should be loose and free flowing. They’re fun to do but sometimes a bit frustrating. My favourite are the flowers and houses. Here are a few pages that I worked on in the cafe.
Mama Cormier 