Midwinter Sky & Birds

© Robin Edmundson, 'Midwinter Sky & Birds', watercolor, 18x24 inches. 
Framed to 26x32 inches.  $750.

I've been working with this scene for a while and I realized that what it really wanted was more space, so I worked it up in a larger format. I love it.

Our winter palette is mostly umbers and ochres - until it snows, and for a few days it's hard to tell where the sky stops and the trees and fields begin. Then the trees shake off the snow and clouds and re-establish the boundaries.

There is a stark beauty in a winter day like that, with scraps of earth showing through the snow. On a day like this, there is quiet in the clutter of our woods and farms, with nothing to distract from the ebb and flow of winter birds moving from one field to the next.

I love this about Indiana.

Linton Barn

© Robin Edmundson, 'Linton Barn', watercolor, 18 x 24 inches.

We came upon this barn while we were out birding near Goose Pond, south of Linton.  I was inspired by the many contrasts: 

• angles & curves
• light & dark
• blue & gold
• lines & space

I decided to emphasize those contrasts, so I did a couple of drafts to test out colors and composition and got some great feedback from my critique group.   [I can't tell you how important it is to get feedback on your work!]   Then I dove in.  I'm especially happy with all of the textures.    I'll be submitting this one to this year's Hoosier Salon.  Fingers crossed it will be selected for the show.

Plein Air

I've found a lovely place to do some plein air work this year.   The Goose Pond Visitors Center in Linton, Indiana has a beautiful perch on the top of a hill with great views on three sides.  Plenty of windows so I can paint in shelter and warm for the rest of the winter.   I'm hoping to get over there a couple of times a month.

While I was painting this, the rain rolled in and several flocks of geese and cranes flew over.   It's a wonderful place.   I'm excited to make this a regular part of my painting routine.

Haybales

© Robin Edmundson, 'Haybales, blue trees', watercolor,  8 x 14 inches.  $375

Usually I try to paint the colors in season, and winter here is all about the umbers, cobalt and indigo.  This winter, though, I haven't been able to set the golds, greens and brighter colors aside yet.   I'm still loving those brights. 

I have a feeling that I'll be keeping with the brighter colors for a while. 

October Maple

© Robin Edmundson, 'October Maple', watercolor, 18 x 24 inches.  

I hope you're having a wonderful weekend!  I'm doing my best to eat as much pie as possible.

There's always that one maple in the neighborhood that puts on a show every year.  I love that red that shows up on the south side.   I'm always grateful for how beautiful things are in the fall here.  I've been painting a few of these October scenes to help keep that wonderful color here as long as I can before I switch to the winter palette.

The birds are moving through these days.   Flocks of cranes overhead, flocks of cedar waxwings, starlings, crows and others filling up the trees and gleaning in the fields.   It's an active time of year before things get really cold and quiet.

I think I'm going to start another of these colorful ones today.

The Mailman Always Brings Treats

© Robin Edmundson, 'The mailman always brings treats', watercolor, framed 27 x 33 inches.  $650

Finished!  

I got stuck on this one at one point and put it up for my critique group to look at.  I thought it needed some vultures and I got some great ideas from the group about the birds on the wire, too.  In the end, I did both because when I covered up either set on the transparency I tried it out on first, I missed it.   Plus, I regularly see that many birds hanging out all over the place here, so it felt natural.

It's at the framer now getting all dressed up for the Big Show in August and September.

Pelicans at Goose Pond

Goose Pond NWR is not far from us and we like to pop over every once in a while to see what new birds we can see.      We love our water birds, so we were excited to see these guys last weekend.   They are American white pelicans.     So beautiful in flight.      Claire snapped this pic as they flew from one pond to another.

Gorgeous.

Here's another pic of some pelicans.   The day we were here, they counted a flock of 1500 pelicans.   That is the largest number of pelicans ever for Indiana.  They were first recorded in Indiana in 1887, so this isn't their first time here, but until 2004, the number stayed below 52.   Then BAM, they re-discovered the midwest and the numbers have been climbing ever since. 

We also saw some northern shovelers.   Apparently it's been a spectacular year for ducks, too, at Goose Pond.  


Here's the Friends of Goose Pond site, if you are interested in what else goes on out here.

Canadian Robins

We had some Canadian visitors to our crabapple tree.  A whole flock of robins showed up one blustery day to snack.  

They stayed for a few hours.   I wondered where they were going next - north?  or further south?   

I like the look of them in the tree.  

Best winter ornaments ever.

Winter Visitors

A flock of these guys stopped by last week.   About 100 or so - all over the gardens and yards.  


We see a bunch of them every winter.  I think they were headed north - just in time for that last cold snap.   They only stayed for a few hours.

One year, they showed up in January - in the snow - and I could not figure out what on earth kind of bird they were that looked so much like a robin in January.   I was sure they were something else.

Nope - just plain robins.   

Winter Bird

K2 likes to take pics of the birds.    It's cold out now, so she sits at the window and patiently waits for the birds to come to the feeder.









And they do come.   We've stocked up on suet blocks, which we break in half and feed to the birds.  The little birds love them.

Here's a titmouse.   One of our favorites.  It has a lot of attitude.

Bird on a Wire

This is a wood thrush sitting on a wire.   We hear these a lot, but rarely see them.   Mostly they stay in the woods all summer long where we hear them fluting - eeee oh Lay! throughout the season.  

They are one of my very favorite songbirds.    They make the woods sound like an orchestra tuning up on June mornings. 

Lily saw this one just after sun-up and snapped the pic one foggy morning last month.  

Early Fall Color

The kids love this time of year.  [We all do.]  They grab the camera and take off to their hidden places outside and come back later with glorious pics like these.

K1 caught some great pics of early fall color [including the one above] on a beautiful foggy morning.

K2 likes the macro shots, like this one of Bushy Aster, a fall blooming plant with tiny pink and white flowers.

It looks like the autumn color is coming on fast this year.  The wet, cool weather has super charged the color in the landscape.    I reminded the girls yesterday that it wasn't so very long ago that they were wondering if it would ever rain again, or if the temps would ever dip below 90.    And now it has rained and it is cool.

And we smile and dream of warm kitchens and soup dinners and cups of hot chocolate around fires in the firepit.    Bring on the Fall. 

Vultures

These birds are as much a part of our lives out here as trash collectors are in town. 

They have the same job, essentially. 

Last week we had a dead possum and a dead deer on the road.    The scavengers, mostly vultures - during the day, took care of them before they really started to stink.

Thank heaven.

Have you ever watched one of these guys fly?    They float on the air.    You can always tell where the updrafts are in the Spring and Fall - the vultures ride them, long lazy spirals in the air.

They go south when the weather gets too cold to carry the smell of....uh....dinner....to them.    They leave toward the end of November and come back in February.     Vultures mean Spring.

The Sibley Guide to Birds

A new field guide!    I love field guides and I think it's important to have several different kinds.   Thanks so much to my MIL for passing this one along to us. 

This book is published by the National Audubon Society, and written by David Sibley. 

It is organized by bird type - waterbirds first, then shorebirds, then birds of field and forest.    Each entry has a color drawing of the bird both male and female [juvenile if necessary], as well as in flight, often with a flight silhouette.   Significant features are indicated with arrows and a short description to help you identify gender and distiguish between species. 

Even better is a description of the voice [very helpful!] and map of the distribution of the species over North America.

This is an excellent guide and one that I am very happy to add to our collection of field guides.

Going South

I love it when the cranes go over.   It's one reason that I love to live out where there's not a lot of ambient noise.   I like to hear the birds.  

There aren't a lot of birds to hear this time of the year, so I'm especially excited when the sandhills go over.     We literally drop everything to run outside to greet them.

Road Trip - Michigan: Water birds

I love birds.  

Ducks in a row

I love water.    

Swans on the lake

I had a field day with the camera on vacation.     

Mirror, mirror...

Especially with the swans.

Oh, yeah.

Lucky shot

This is my favorite one. 

Bird Bath

I found a big basin [not an antique one].   Once cleaned up, it looked like a mighty fine birth bath, so I turned my old gazing globe stand upside down [Lost the gazing globe in a snow-falling-off-the-studio-roof incident.] and voila!  a bird bath for the bottom terrace.   It makes a lovely focal point for the main axis of the garden looking from the road to the terraces.

It looks great with the iris and poppies.     That's oregano beneath it. 

What have you repurposed lately?

Guess that bird...

We get this bird for a short time every spring and fall.  I wish we had a better pic for you, but this is all we could get -- through a window and the screen.   

Apparently, I need to wash my windows. 

Hint:  It's a female.   Note the eyebrow, the white stripe on the wing, the striped breast, the beak.

Answer below the fold.

House Finches and Purple Finches

There are two kinds of "red" finches that frequent our feeders: house finches and purple finches. They look very similar, so let's talk about their differences.

Roger Tory Peterson described purple finches as "sparrows dipped in raspberry juice." They are patchy red all the way down to the tail, with very little brown on them; as opposed to house finches which have a red breast and brown wings and head.  Their songs are also different, listen to the Purple finch here, and the house finch here, (When you get there, you'll need to scroll down for both).

Purple finch (Carpodacus purpureus). 
Photo: Thomas Klak

Purple finches are a bit bigger than house finches.   The females are very streaky and they have a light eyebrow - in the males, the eyebrow shows up as a lighter red patch.  They have a distinct red patch at their tail, visible just under their wings.   You can see it in the photo right.   


 

House finch (Carpodacus mexicanus)
Photo: Birdfreak.com

House finches have distinct brown stripes on their lower body and a very small red patch above the tail.  Their cheeks are brown, not red.

Guess that bird...

photo: birdfreak.com

This cute little thing is a year round visitor here.    We call them the you-hoo birds because this variety [extra points if you guess the variety!] sounds like it's calling 'yoouu-hoo' when you hear it from a distance.

Hint:  The variety has a state name in it.   When you hear them from close by they say 'See-bee, see-bay'.   Answer below the fold.