March 30, 2010

231: They're Magically Beauticious

A couple of weekends ago Kerry and I went to Montréal, much like last year; don't ask me why I'm only getting around to this now. But even though the days were drab and grey and nippy and even big-fat-sloppy-flakes-falling-from-the-sky, we found more than our fair share of colour inside the greenhouses at the city's botanical gardens. In particular, on display was a giant room full of flowers and free-roaming butterflies. In the spirit of Lucky Charms, there were...

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...blue morphos!

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...green caterpillars with creepy false eyes!

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...yellow cacti!

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...orange monarch-/viceroy-like butterflies (possibly monarchs or viceroys)!

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...and red reservoir flowers!

March 17, 2010

230: Screech

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For the past couple of weeks I have been scoping out a certain tree in the neighbourhood, as it was rumoured to be harbouring a screech owl. Friends of Kerry's had spotted it on more than one occasion in a notch of a grizzled tree about two kilometres from our house, but were reluctant to disclose the exact location. Owl hogs.

Luckily, I was able to recognize the tree from the photo they showed. We found it during our frosty walk a couple of weekends ago, but the owl wasn't included. Two more visits by bike this past weekend were equally fruitless, though the ride – my first of the season – was muddy, filthy and tons of fun. Yesterday though, I struck paydirt, and the owl and I had a decent 10-minute shoot before direct sunlight disappeared. It seemed half-asleep, but tracked me with a mean stinkeye (below) as I navigated around with the camera.

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I am hoping this is the little fellow's home and not just a hangout; it looks more than suitable. It would be great if I could track its progress over the summer.

March 16, 2010

229: Subterranean Homesick Owls

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Illustration Friday's current theme of subterranean – very specific, which I like – allows an opportunity to display wares from a weekend spree of woodcut-based monoprints.

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In January, a friend offered me a couple of small blocks of particle-board and some cutting tools to try my hand at carving, something I hadn't really done since high school (on linoleum, I think we all did this in high school). After a few sessions of trial and error, I carved myself a nice little cut of a burrowing owl (above).

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Actual printing went down on Sunday; about a dozen or so decent copies (above) run off on a small but effective homemade press at my friend's place. These I am quite proud of.

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For Illustration Friday's purposes I scanned one of the black-ink prints (above) to further the piece digitally, though I hoped to retain the print's sense of hand-craftedness. Burrowing owls are unique among the owl set for nesting in abandoned prairie-dog dens, among other subterranean abodes, and the stark, confined nature of these prints suited an idea I had in mind. Where the concept – and this write-up – takes an odd turn is in the piece's source of inspiration. Subterranean, for some reason or another, made me recall the mining sequence about midway through Dance, a two-minute animated National Film Board vignette that used to fill space on CBC when I was a kid (any Canadian worth his toque should recognize this tune).

Click here, to view the illustration larger (and on black).

March 10, 2010

228: One Month Check-In

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Just over one month of my photo-a-day project has lapsed, and I don't know if I could be more pleased with the outcome. The camera – and my brain – have been getting a workout, the results by and large have been decent, even the usual stark and mind-numbingly cold of February was held at bay. I really can't wait for this thing to inch into the colour and daylight of spring and summer. For now, as seen in the grid above, vibrance isn't a word that comes to mind (with a few exceptions). But I am having fun, and my schedule has been mostly kind.

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This is my favourite so far. It was taken in the brilliant late afternoon Saturday sunshine in our living room a couple of weeks ago. I stood on a chair, and Kerry stood very, very still.

Take a look through my Flickr slideshow of the 34 entries to date. And I'll try not to think that I'm only 9.3 percent complete.

March 08, 2010

227: A Frosty Reception

It has been – and I'll say this now because it's a week into March – an amazing winter. And if it really is drawing to a close (jinx!), then yesterday was truly its crowning moment. Kerry and I went for a walk in the neighbourhood, and on the river, and witnessed the frost of frosts – and there have been some real treats this season in the frost department.

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At the end of Dominion Street where we scaled the banks and hopped onto the Assiniboine, we saw this branch…

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…and this branch…

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…oh, and then this evergreen. It was all around; I was basically pivoting with my camera.

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We got off the river at Omand's Creek Park, where it was laid on even thicker. We watched kids on the toboggan hill for a little while, then went to look for a tree that's rumoured to be harbouring a screech owl. We found the tree, but not its denizen.

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But we did see more frost.