Drawing #81 - Study for "The perfect little trip"

The teacher of my mixed media art class brought some embossed wallpaper to class Thursday. It was part of some she got at a house sale. We both tried working with it. My effort used a corner for collage in a drawing. I combined it with bits from a birding tour brochure, text and a photo from a trip to France a few years back. I worked with other papers, watercolor crayons in interesting colors the teacher brought, watercolor pencils and regular colored pencils. The wallpaper is deeply embossed giving a lot of dimension but its softness tends to absorb and blur some of the watercolor. I thought it was just an interesting sketch until I looked at it with a mat when it became something more. It's on a larger sheet but ends up being about 8" x 10". See what you think.

Big Birding Day on the River

I don't know where the time has gone, but I've done lots of scrapbook pages since I posted here. One that just demanded to be done is from Sunday, March 9. We had a wonderful time and saw a quite uncommon bird. My pictures of this Pomarine Jaeger aren't good, but I got a number of them so put them together as documentation of this uncommonly cooperative bird and a special memory.

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Designer Credits:
-template: FotoWallet Album Template No. 1H by Anna Aspnes
-background ArtPlay Palette EnRoute by Anna Aspnes
fonts: Pea Beth, Probem Secretary Normal

Drawing #41 - Who Ate the Spider?

Who Ate the Spider? Or WAS it eaten?

Our cabin on a birding tour to Tikal boasted some wildlife within as well as outside. Located in dense forest in the center of a large Guatemalan preserve of famous Mayan ruins, we had an incredible immersion in central American nature. Our first stay we had a large, harmless spider up in the rafters for a few days. One morning a large cockroach arrived up there too. We never saw the spider again. We've always wondered.

This drawing reminded me of that spider. It is from the new 8 x 10 sketchbook. Please click on it to see it larger.

At least it isn't the scorpion! One evening we returned to the cabin after wandering a bit in the dark with our two tour leaders. We'd hoped to spot the jaguar that had been seen earlier. What we thought we were going to do if we encountered it, I do not know. Back inside our room we found a large scorpion on the wall. Our intrepid leaders were summoned and they managed to capture and release it well away from our doors. One nice feature of the room was hanging our clothes in a free-standing wardrobe with DOORS. It was several inches above the floor so that shoes could be stored inside as well. Don't let these thoughts give a less than glowing appreciation of our stays in Tikal.

Last Days of Summer

September 12th and 13th were the last really warm days here. We made sure to get out for a little birding to soak it up. We encountered quite a few fall migrants in the process including a Hooded Warbler one day and Philadelphia Vireo the next. We saw numbers of Chipping Sparrows and Swainson's Thurshes. Lots of Gray Catbirds were enjoying the berries on pokeweed in Lake View. We didn't see much in a brief tour of the lakefront, but did see a Green Heron, Northern Shovelers and Blue-winged Teal. Lovely memories of warm days and passing birds.

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Designer Credits:
-background: 52 Inspirations {2012} Week 9 by Sue Cummings
-photo mask: 52 Inspirations {2012} Week 22 by Vicki Stegall
-stamp labels: 52 Inspirations {2012} Week 33 by Sue Cummings
-word art: 52 Inspirations {2012} Week 31 by Sue Cummings
-word art: 52 Inspirations {2012} Week 19 by Sue Cummings
-brushes: ArtPlay Viaggio BrushSet by Anna Aspnes
-brown button: Oscraps Collab nOvel
-gray button: Oscraps Collab Homespun
-bow: Sweater Weather by One Little Bird
font: EnviroD

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Designer Credits:
-template: September CopyCat Challenge No. 1 template by Elisa (EHStudios) based on "Sweet Moment" by Kym
-background: 52 Inspirations {2012} Week 31 by Sue Cummings
-frame: 52 Inspirations {2012} Week 23 by Sue Cummings
-gray flower, stitching: Reminisce by Leora Sanford
-yellow flower, patterned papers, paint: Oscraps Collab DandeliOn Days
fonts: Amapola, Lemon Chicken, Corbel

Winter Birding Along the Lake

The AnnaLift this week encouraged me to use a number of photos I took while we birded on a gray, slightly rainy afternoon on Friday in and around the harbor in Lorain. There were lots of gulls though we didn't see many of the unusual ones. Another attraction was the numbers of Common Mergansers. They are such handsome birds, but I didn't get any pictures of them, alas.

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Designer Credits:
all Anna Aspnes
-background (right), brush: ArtPlay Palette Sophistica 
-background (left): ArtPlay Palette Barren Sunrise
-blue patterned paper: ArtsyBlendz Snow Paperie
-flower: ArtPlay Palette Encapsulate
fonts: EwieD, Lithograph, Journal

Rare Gulls for another Digi Dare

This week the Digi Dares are celebrating a 5 year anniversary. Digi Dare #260 must feature 5 somethings with 5 papers, 5 colors, 5 fasteners and 5 fonts or alphas. I thought of the five rarest species of gulls to appear in the state of Ohio. Ivory, Heermann's, Ross's, and Black-tailed Gulls have each been documented once in the state. That once might be one day or a whole season. I know that is only four, but an uncommon gull here, the Sabine's once spent the winter. It was a bird of the year (or immature) and by January and February it had changed plumage in a process not seen in North America before as they winter far to the south. That is pretty rare too. The top photo is one I took of the Ivory Gull found by my BIL. The next too are Dick's photos. Ross's Gull is also affectionately known as "the pink one" as they have a pinkish cast. All we have to record it are my ID sketches. Last is a photo by a more fortunate birder who was MUCH closer to the current rare gull. My five "colors" are black, white, gray, brown, and pink in honor of "the pink one." This was lots of fun to work on.

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Designer Credits:
-brown, pink, white papers: Sweetness and Light by Retro Designs
-gray paper: Oscraps Collab Homespun
-black paper: All Hallow's Night: Designs by Leora Sanford
-prong, brown/white button, brad, pearl: ArtPlay Palette Barren Sunrise by Anna Aspnes
-black button, tape: ArtPlay Palette Sophistica by Anna Aspnes
-pink paint: little bits & pieces sampler by Sue Cummings
-frame, stitching: Early Bird by Deb Ammerman
-5 alpha: Serendipity by Jennifer Labre
fonts: Mufferaw, Pea Beth, Dry Goods Antique JL, Planet Benson 2, More Enchanted Prairie Dog, Impress BT

Remembering Glacier Bay and our Alaska Trip

Another week and another AnnaLift had me thinking of Glacier Bay and our birding tour to Alaska. We cannot believe this was 30 years ago! It was amazing. The park brochure (in the layout) has marked on the map how much one of the glaciers had retreated since the 1890s. I don't want to find out how far they have retreated since we saw them. I also love looking at what I was wearing. The parka is one I made from a Frostline kit. I added a contrasting yoke in purple with chartreuse machine stitching. The hat I crocheted in my own design. I thought I was fat and out-of-shape then, but wish I could be like that now.

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Designer Credits:
all Anna Aspnes
-background: ArtsyBlendz Snow Paperie No. 2
-transfer strip (blended): ArtPlay Palette Ablaze
-brush, overlay lines: ArtPlay Palette Sophistica
font: Frankfurt Gothic

Light of a Late Afternoon Sun

Last week we went out one sunny afternoon and found fantastic ice formations along the lake. In the warm light of the late afternoon sun they looked enchanted. We birded west to the lakefront airport as the sinking sun created a colorful sky. At the airport we saw three Short-eared Owls up and hunting. I took lots of photos of the ice and sky and have created two pages from them so far. The ice photo was done for the January color challenge which featured just such warm colors. The sky photos were my attempt at this week's AnnaLift.

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Designer Credits:
-background paper, brown strip: Italian Coffee Blends by Creations by TinaMarie
-other papers, paint splotches, stitching, flower: Terra Toni by Maya de Groot
-floral stamp: Fallen Sun by TaylorMade Designs
fonts: Snell Bd BT, Shotgun BT

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Designer Credits:
all Anna Aspnes
-paper, brad: ArtPlay Palette Santa Nicholas Add-On 1
-edging, brush: ArtPlay Palette Ablaze
-outline brush, frame, transfer: ArtPlay Palette Sophistica
-leaf brush: Etched Leaves 1
-text brush: ArtPlay Palette Encapsulate
fonts: Pea Anderson, More Enchanted Prairie Dog, KrooKed

Tangle of Vine, Drawing Ideas?

Theta pointed out that my recent photo of bare branches (and a Blue Jay) resembled my current drawings. Friday while out birding I decided to really try for photos like that and found some grapevine views that satisfied the urge. I had to use one in the weekly scraplift. We'll see if drawing or real life influence each other further. I also listed species of birds we saw in a rather hidden list. I hide text in my drawings, why not here too?

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Designer Credits:
lift of layout "Time Flies" by liahra
all Anna Aspnes
-background paper (blended with another): ArtPlay Palette Barren Sunrise
-other paper, line brush: ArtPlay Palette Autumn Haze
-leaf (with edge effect, blended), pattern: MultiMedia Leaves No. 2
-photo mask: ArtPlay Palette Encapsulate
fonts: Jellyka, End_less Voyage, Tango BT, Huxtable, Loosie Script
-----------So pleased that this received a "Standing O" at Oscraps!