Earth Day Bird walk

This morning was so lovely and sunny that I went for my morning walk on the greenbelt with great anticipation and joy.  And I was not disappointed.  I had a stellar's jay come in close to the trail and hop around in a tree right in front of me.  Close enough I could see the blue streaking on his forehead.  (The picture below is from a different day at a different park since I didn't take my camera this morning).  Then I went another 10 feet down the path and a towhee, a sparrow and a hummingbird all popped up to give me a look.  I continued on to the lake pier and got a some nice looks at a couple of male mallards.

On my way back to the car, I had a momma mallard squawk at me as she was herding her little brood of ducklings across the path and into one of the waterways that feed into the lake.  I hurried past so she could continue on her way with her incredibly cute little balls of fluff.  A wonderful way to celebrate Earth Day and I am glad I took the time.  I hope you have a chance to connect with the natural world today too.

Latest marbling experiment - what do you see?

So I spent some time in my studio playing with my new marbling ideas after getting everything all set up for the new show I talked about last post.  And I decided to try out using a stencil.  Great idea.  Unfortunately, I also forgot the "change only one thing at a time" rule, and decided to go ahead and try on hand-dyed cotton fabric with an alum presoak instead of the ready for inkjet white silk.  This is my tendency to change everything breaking free again, alas.

Here's one of the results, the one that came out the closest to what I was thinking I would get.  And I want to know, do you see a lotus blossom or a turtle?  Or just a big blueish purple blur?

So, back to the marbling bin and this time, just one change at a time.  Really, I mean it....