A Snowy Owl

It has been snowing a lot in the Pacific Northwest where I live…

And look who showed up today! All dressed in holiday attire:

This weird snowy owl knows how to keep warm!

I went for a walk all bundled up at Priest Lake, Idaho last weekend:

Lucky for me it was only 23 degrees and not the 7 degrees that is predicted for tomorrow!

I do think the snow is beautiful, especially at the lake.

Happy Weird Bird Wednesday and a Merry Christmas!

Cheers!

A Marvelous Maple

The maple tree in our yard is turning many marvelous colors!

I took these photos on Wednesday when we had our first SNOW of the season…

It was a shock to many trees in our area that still have their leaves…

Many people woke-up to fallen branches and trees in their yards as the branches could not hold the weight of this unexpected snow. Always so sad to lose a lovely tree!

I experimented with my Gelli-plate a little more. This time I printed on a couple of garden magazine pages.

I will use the negative and positive shapes of this oak leaf in my art journal:

May you have a marvelous weekend!

Cheers! 🙂

Petals Fade

We had a sunny day mixed with rain yesterday. I took this photo of a rose bush in my yard.

I thought it was beautiful how the rain droplet was held within its petals like arms holding onto the end of summer.

It inspired me to write a haiku:

Last bloom before frost?

Petals fade but one remains…

Unfolding with hope.

May you find hope in the beauty that surrounds you.

Cheers! 🙂

Nature Inspired Doodles

Remember my nature inspired watercolor pumpkins and leaves that I posted last week:

I enjoyed adding doodles with ink and white gel pen:

It was so fun that I did another page of leaves with a couple of mushrooms:

And a page of seed pods:

Nature photos from Pinterest inspired my patterns but my imagination created my doodles!

Yesterday was the first day of Autumn…

It was sure in the air! Aren’t the reflection of the clouds on the lake amazing?!

Cheers! 🙂

A Perfect Day

I interrupt this weekly weird bird post to share a perfect day with you!

We had to make a quick trip to the lake yesterday to have our RV fixed by “Bob,” the mobile RV doctor! 😉

It was a beautiful day with temperatures in the 80’s so I thought you might want to tag along with me for some lake time in Northern Idaho…

Priest Lake does look rather inviting with its pristine water but it is still a chilly 60 degrees.

I’d rather sit in a beach chair and enjoy the view, how about you?

The wild roses are in bloom and so Pretty In Pink

I even discovered a bumble bee enjoying them!

The Cottonwood trees were shedding their cottony seeds and it looked a little like snow falling from this brilliant blue sky.

My friend, Marsha showed me her amazing needlepoint she is creating of BIRDS! I can’t wait until she completes all the unique stitches and adds their beaded hats!

I hope you enjoyed this perfect day at the lake with me!

As the sign in our kitchen at home says… “A day at the lake is worth a month in town!”

Cheers! 🙂

P.S. I did see a “gang” of turkeys cross the road on the car ride home… perhaps they will show up in next week’s weird bird Wednesday! 

A Nature Study

Last Friday, I had a little time to create one of Carla Sonheim’s assignments from the year long online class I’m taking from her.

We were to collect some items from nature and arrange them in a pleasing manner:

I collected the above items from my yard.  🙂

Next, I drew them quickly with pencil:

I added oil pastels to my pencil sketch by starting with a light color and layering a darker color on top.  I added details by scratching into the oil pastels with a wooden pencil.

I wasn’t totally liking the oil pastels so I scraped white acrylic paint over it:

I like the muted look better… I’d like to try my nature study in watercolor too!

Happy Monday!  I hope your day is blossoming into a good week…

Cheers! 🙂

Strange Fungi

When I was at the lake last weekend, my hubby discovered this strange fungi (wild mushroom) growing under the garbage can and pushing it up on one side:

My husband, who knows how much I enjoy taking photos of these strange natural sightings; told me about it…

I couldn’t resist a photo or two!

I looked it up on the internet yesterday and discovered it to be of the “Puffball” fungus family.  Seriously, the Puffball fungus family of Agaricaceae.

It is sometimes known as the Brain Puffball, I kid you not! 😉

It looked to me like it had a hidden message in it… kind of like “dad” since it was Father’s Day weekend… I guess all families have their strange fungi family members! Lol!

Cheers! 🙂

Wild Horses…

I created this wild horse using a masking tape technique recently.  I scribbled copic markers inside the tape as my first layer before adding watercolor.

I hadn’t planned on creating a horse but after I removed the masking tape, he appeared! Lol! 😉   I added pan pastels and watercolor splashes to soften the image.

The masking tape was EXTRA sticky so I tried my next animal creature using washi tape.  Below is a before and after photo:

I learned this technique from Carla Sonheim. I think it would be a super fun activity to do with children.  (The washi tape was much less sticky and worked better than the masking tape for me.)

When I took this photo at the lake Saturday evening, I saw a horse head in the storm clouds afterwards:

Do you see it?  I must have had horses on my mind!

Hope your Monday starts out in a slow trot and not a fast gallop!

Cheers! 🙂

Lake Doodlings…

What inspires YOU?

This last weekend I was at the lake…

The weather has been unusually warm which has made the snow melt too quickly.  The lake water is well above normal.

Beaches are now part of the lake…

Perhaps stories around a campfire some day?

The lake was so calm for these photos… beautiful reflections:

I love how the sky reflects on the water…

It gave me time to relax and reflect on my own life.

And create this lake doodle in my art journal…

I’d love to hear what helps YOU relax!

Cheers! 🙂

A Lazy Daisy Day

Yesterday, I had a lazy daisy kind of day…

I was at the lake and the weather was very nice!

What a difference a week makes!  The photo below on the left was taken last weekend and the photo on the right shows how the beach chairs would NOW be under water!

The sunshine feels wonderful but we don’t need the snow in the mountains to melt too quickly!  Flood warnings are now in place…

Oh, the balance of nature… glad I’m not in charge! 😉

Hope you had a lazy daisy day too!  What did you do?

Cheers! 🙂