Ducks

Buddy and BD are two male Muscovy ducks that are the last of 8 that were the original ducks that were bought. 4 males and 4 females. In the first year of their life in early December they were attacked one night by coyotes who killed one of the males and all the females. It broke my heart at the time and I still dislike coyotes. I know they were doing what coyotes do, but why my ducks??!

By the summer, the 3 remaining males were not getting on too well so one was sold to be companion to a Toulouse goose and that worked out fine. The remaining two stayed here and are inseperable. They lounge around and are large and slow moving, preferring to stay in the shade and snooze than wander around like all the other ducks.

Muscovies don't quack. The males give a sort of soft hiss that sounds rather like a large dog panting. To those who don't know them, it sounds agressive but they are far from that. When I come home, they see me and start hissing and wagging their tails like little dogs. Its so funny to see.

I noticed the other day that Buddy has become rather pale around his eyes. These ducks have strange growths around their eyes and beak called caruncles which are usually bright red. After a little research it turns out that these ducks are prone to anemia!

Each evening Kit, the horse, is fed sweet feed which consists of oats and grains and corn mixed with molasses and the other birds have access to scratch mix, a similar concoction without the molasses. The ducks come waddling over to claim their fair share and stuff themselves with it given half a chance. Unfortunately it isn't high in protein, unlike the 18% feed which they had been eating previously.

Also Buddy had a great time eating mice (yes, I know ewwwwwwww) but the barn was full of them and he was doing us all a favour. But the mouse population got out of hand and poisoned bait had to be used to control it (there were hundreds, literally, of mice caught) so the ducks mouse entrees were no more. It seems the lack of protein in his diet caused the anemia. The solution? Tinned dog food. So now, without a dog, I'm off to buy dog food then ensure the happy ducks get back to their rosy glow of health once more!

Technorati tags: muscovy ducks, anemia, high protein

Blocks

My mind is at a standstill tonight. No, that's a lie, its not. Its whirling with thoughts and niggling little worries and a bit of frustration combined as I consider all I have to do in the coming weeks. I am hiring an assistant. After working alone for so long, its a daunting proposition. I need someone to assist but I don't enjoy the prospect of training someone. And the adjustment of considering workloads for another person fills me with a little dread as well. But I'll manage. I may lose a little more sleep, but I'll manage. Then there is the drawing course I'll be starting in 9 days. I am creating my lesson plans now and it will go ahead but with less people than I originally anticipated.

Meanwhile I'm having a drawing slump. Yes, I draw but it looks more like wild monkeys createad it. I've started and dumped a number of drawings. I need something to inspire me. I think I will start another negative space drawing. WHile fiddly to create, it was also satisfying to oomplete. Also another animal image is calling me and I want to work in colour. I seem to have played with sketches and bits of watercolour and ink for too long. I want a large piece of paper and colour. Tomorrow...

Meanwhile, tea anyone??

Technorati tags: art block, drawing, tea, sketch

Constable and turkeys

I sketched this cottage during the weekend in watercolour. It is Willy Lott's Cottage near Flatford in Suffolk and is the same cottage that was painted in John Constable's famous painting "The Haywain" in 1821. Flatford Mill was owned by Constable's father and the house on the left side belonged to a neighbour, Willy Lott (a tenant farmer), who was said to have been born in the house and never to have left it for more than four days in his lifetime. Willy Lott's house has survived to this day practically unaltered, but none of the original trees in the painting exist today. The water level is also higher as that area of East Anglia has sunk into the sea by 30cm since Constable's time.

Until a few years ago I had never seen a live turkey except on television or in a photo. When I visited the Liens to purchse my first chickens, I met their turkey. It was a huge tom - a bronze turkey and it filled the doorway of the barn. I've never seen such a large bird before. It wasn't agressive, but it sure was big.

Since then there have been many turkeys in the barn. And so far all have been white turkeys. They are rather interesting creatures and very curious, investigating everything and everyone who enters their pen. They do also have an agressive streak like most birds and if there is an injured bird or any sign of blood they keep attacking. This is what happened to one of the older turkeys. Some pin feathers were pulled in its wing and the bleeding attracted more attention, so it was removed from the pen to provide the bird time to heal before being returned. As a result, the turkey wanders around the barn and out into the yard, exploring its new found world. It makes funny little barking noises, rather like that of a seal or small dog, not the gobble gobble, that people associate with turkeys. Like most animals, their voices change with age and it is 6 months or so before they have their adult voices.

Technorati tags: art, sketch, watercolour, Willy Lott's cottage, Constable, Flatford Mill, turkeys

Sunday - plein air

I've become so used to sketching lately, its as if I've forgotten about other mediums. And today was no different when I took my sketchbook with me to Torbay beach. The tropical depression, Ernesto, is causing large sea swells here so while I sketched a bridge over the river leading the the ocean, I could hear the surf breaking on the rocks behind me and feel the occasional bit of spray from the waves at my back. The river flows from the hills in Torbay down over the rocks to meet the sea. Wild ducks, who are now almost tame, enjoy the shallow, fast moving water and linger at the edges, occasionally squabbling amongst themselves.

I decided that this scene needed an injection of colour. The day was bright and sunny and warm. The light was sparkling on the water and the greens of the valley constrasted with the subdued colours of the bridge and stones. I used coloured pencil for this sketch, but at the scene, the drawing was done with my mechanical pencil in an ordinary Canson sketchbook.

I am amazed how I can lose myself even in public once I start working on a drawing. I become absorbed and nothing distracts me. Well something did distract, a loose dog whose big wet nose jerked me back to reality with a chuckle.

I moved on later to Quidi Vidi Lake in downtown St. John's. I sat in the sun, fighting wasps and finally moved to some large stone slabs laid around a statue to have some peace. The stones are huge boulders, dressed no doubt to be flat on top and are arranged in arcs surrounding The Rower. I sat and sketched with rapidograph pen til I was approached by a woman who was admiring my sketch. She was Russian and in broken English told me that she too drew and painted. It was a lovely encounter and I enjoyed meeting her. I watched her and her young family take photos then move on to feed the ducks on the lake.

Then home again. I had spent the morning making paper. A messy business that needed me to be outdoors to do it. While waiting for some paper to dry I sat by the backdoor and started sketching the view for a Scavenger Hunt list item. I felt like Snow White, as every animal decided to come visit me, take a sample of the slurry that I was making the paper from and try to walk on the drying paper. Ducks and chickens invaded my space but were still amusing and I included some of them in the sketch. The view from the backdoor. Its a rather unusual view compared to the average home where the fence acts as the boundary. This fence was created to keep the old dog contained so he wouldn't come to harm. The dog is now gone but the fence remains, like a little piece of security in a huge 15 acre landscape. Its now more an oasis and sanctuary for timid creatures escaping the wild world.

Technorati tags: art, sketches, [coloured pencil, Torbay, beach, Quidi Vidi, boulders, St. John's, back door, plein air

Bread and seasons

Tucked away in a small street in the heart of old St. John's, a little bakery sprang up a couple of years ago, called The Georgetown Bakery, after the area of town it is located in. In fact, that area is one I know well as I lived there for a few months when I first moved back to St. John's after many years of living in Europe. The bakery is located in a residential street on Hayward Avenue, in a converted house with a tiny shop showcasing the efforts of the bakers and bakery ovens seen in the rear. Wooden floors, a basic counter and large wicker baskets of breads show what is for sale with a friendly local woman explaining the different types of breads, it is tempting to try them all - and I nearly always do.

I rarely eat bread anymore, but when I do it must be good, artisan bread, handcrafted and worth the indulgence. Georgetown Bakery has that bread. I stocked up today with a Belgian loaf, a wholegrain round, some bagels crusted thickly with sesame and poppy seeds and a chocolate and cranberry loaf that is only made on Saturdays. To find a true bakery in this town is often more difficult than anticipated, as it seems the population often prefers to buy their bread in a plastic sleeve from a chain supermarket. This drives up the prices of 'real' bread, but still makes it worthwhile in my estimation.

Fresh bread with flavour and texture, crisp crust and soft holey interior, warmed, with real butter melting into its warmth, is the food of the gods. It is an indulgence and one that I enjoy occasionally. I wish it could be an everyday occurance for me, but my metabolism thinks the other way and only provides me with the once a month luxury of real bread.

With the heat taken out of summer, foods and rituals arise again. An extra blanket is put back on the bed; firewood is stacked and cut waiting its turn to make warmth; the chickens shake their feet as they walk across the heavy dew on the grass as they're turned out in the morning; goldenrod is starting to show its blonde tresses all along the side of the road to the house and hides in fields and trails along with cornflower blue New York asters. Pearly everlastings stand like sentinels along the roadways, their papery flowerheads already dry to the touch, crinkling like stiff tissue to my touch. These are wonderful for drying, rather like ghostly versions of their coloureful cousins, heliochrysum (straw flower).

There is always something a little sad about the prospect of summer slipping away, but there are also delights in the coming seasons of autumn and winter that can take away the sting of regret at the loss of warm breezes and hot sun. Artisan bread is one of those delights. Throw away your mass produced bread and go out and find a local bakery making artisan breads. Or make it yourself. You won't regret it. Celebrate the seasons and the moment.

Technorati tags: art, drawing, watercolour, bread, bakery, Georgetown, artisan bread, summer, seasons

Technology

Technology is taken for granted until it goes wrong. Like tonight. I started my notebook and it was doing its thing very nicely then suddenly a big blue error screen appeared and told me the sky was falling and the only way to save myself was to reboot. But it wouldn't let me reboot as it was locked up.

After some Anglo Saxon persuasion I managed to reboot it and it started again, with another little message telling me there had been a serious error - no shit?? - and I should do a variety of complex tasks to the guts of the machine to make things right with the God of Notebooks. I did a adware check and cleared out old files and hope that will appease the gods for the moment. If not, I'll have to start sacrificing chickens again...

Its those tasks of backing up files and saving things on cd that we put off and put off until suddenly something happens that jeopardizes their security and it sends us frantically saving everything we can. Life is like that too. We never know what we have until it is in danger of slipping away. Unfortunately, unlike backing up information, backing up life isn't quite so simple, however the resulting losses are even more devastating.

There is a little technology in this photo - horsepower in a couple of senses both in the tractor engine and in the hay. Kit nickers in delight when she sees piles of hay for her. She's such a greedy girl. The sketch of a wasp on a flower was completed a couple of weeks ago.

Wasps are what are preventing a number of things being completed around the farm. One big wasp nest is under the front steps that need to be replaced, several others are in the woodpile, preventing it being moved with danger to life and limb. Once the weather gets colder, they'll have moved on and can be safely removed.

Technorati tags: technology , computers, hay, computer backup, art, wasps, watercolour, moleskine