Well, since my last post I have been from the extreme southwest of our province, up into the Bruce Peninsula and a few other places in between looking for the lovely little birds that spend their winters in the Caribbean, Central and South America and then fly thousands of miles north into the Canadian Boreal Forest and even as far as the northern Tundra to mate, nest and raise their young before turning around and flying all the way back to their winter homes.

Many of these little things are no bigger than a mouse, although much more brightly coloured when they arrive in their breeding plumage. When they return to the south some of them will have changed into a more subdued colour scheme and are much more confusing to identify.

Warblers are very tiny and very quick little birds, always on the move through the branches looking for spiders, caterpillars and other bugs that we can't even see.

Bay Breasted Warbler

This year I was hoping to find and photograph a Bay-Breasted Warbler as I didn't have even an identifying photo of one. As luck would have it - and trust me when birding you need lots of luck - we saw Bay Breasted warblers very often this spring!

Chestnut sided Warbler

I also wanted some better pics of a Chestnut sided warbler and again hit the jackpot - I have a few really nice pics that I will be using as reference for a painting eventually. This shot I thought was cute with the warbler framed by the leaves.

Yellow warbler

We didn't see as many Yellow warblers as we have in some years but there were still enough to get a few good pics of them- these happy little guys are still my favorites I think.

Black and White warbler

and there were quite a few Black and White warblers this year as well - they make their way up and down tree trunks much like a Nuthatch or creeper behaves.

Eastern Phoebe - a Flycatcher

Along with the warblers come the Flycatcher and Vireos. These  usually tend to be a bit larger than the warblers and much less colourful - which makes them much harder to identify! Some you can only tell what they are by learning their call and behaviour, they move just as fast as the warblers and once they get up in the trees with even small new leaves on the branches they are very hard to pick out.  I am learning the easy ones but most just confuse me!

Blue Headed Vireo

 Next time I will share a few more pics of warblers etc and also a few shots I got of some captive raptors at a raptor show that I attended. Although we are having a really slow start to summer weather, a day here and a day there separated by rain and cool temps the flora and fauna are still doing their "thing" so I have some nice butterfly and flower pics to share as well.

Thanks for stopping by!

J

Blue cup and Green grapes

Blue cup and green grapes

...I guess I better show you the finished piece before I start uploading some pics from spring migration!

grapes stage 3

I have finished 3 of the grapes and started the layering process on the background

Spring Migration is just about here!

I have a few new pics on my photography page for you! I teach at C2C convention this coming Friday and then I will be out of the studio for most of the next month walking the trails during spring migration. Mother Nature is dragging her heals kicking and screaming out of winter this year but the birdies are slowly returning regardless of the cool temps and snowy days we are still having.  I put my Oriole feeder out yesterday - my records show that they had already arrived by this time the last few years so any day now I am sure they will be sitting in the apple tree.

Icy Interlude

As it seems to usually go, life gets in the way of your best plans. A week ago today we were carefully stepping over and around our yard surveying the results of an ice storm. Although we suffered some pretty severe damage to the old maple trees that ring our property...and a large limb through the roof of our cargo trailer, we consider ourselves lucky, considering that there are some homes to the north of us that went without power for almost 5 days due to the toppling of a whole row of hydro poles.

Needless to say, we were up all night so the lack of sleep plus the unexpected yard work has put me behind in the studio....I have spent some time on the grapes project and will probably get it finished sometime today!

grapes stage 2

I have continued to reinforce the colour sequence on the grapes, added some reflected colour on the cup and a darker value in the shadows as well as first layer of cast shadow on the 2 grapes sitting outside the cup. I think I will start on the background now, it is difficult to judge values without having a full range to work with....I hope there is enough cover on the grapes to keep them clean once I start using the darker pigments on the background!

grapes stage 1

Here is the first stage - 2nd attempt.  I have a nasty head cold and trying to make decisions about sequencing is difficult with a fuddled head and a drippy nose....The only thing to do is start over when this happens, you can't fix or hide mistakes when you are attempting realism, discipline and a very critical eye is required throughout the whole process.
...good thing the paper has 2 sides!