Monday, July 24, 2006

Experiments


I have been doing some practice pieces with a fairly new medium - to me at least. I have used Derwent Drawing pencils previously, and have created a self portrait with them last month, but I am no master with them, that's for sure.

So when Al Jones was going to provide some help in a portrait class using Derwents, I had to join in. Over the next couple of weeks a portrait or two will evolve I hope. Meanwhile, I'll keep practicing.



Meanwhile, down on the farm...hot humid days continue to sap energy and make for cranky animals. Everyone seems to be snapping at each other this evening or at other animals. Kit is pacing the fence of the field, waiting to come in for sweet feed and Angelo is vying for leadership of the geese. That bird is sooooooo vocal. He just keeps on making the same noise over and over while strutting around trying to show oneupmanship over the other male goose.

Sometimes it comes to blows, but they are shortlived and finish with Angelo running back to the female, flapping his wings and shouting about how brave he was and how he really showed the other guy who was boss. Sigh. I think Lucy, the female sighs too at this little ritual and says 'don't pay attention to your father' to the goslings.

There are a lot of birds around this summer and this morning a young woodpecker posed on the old bird feeder. It is a Northern Flicker and has just gorgeous colours. I hear them more than see them usually, drumming on trees or metal electricity transformers sometimes which I guess provide a much louder noise. One morning I was woken to one drumming on the side of the house!

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3 comments:

MS said...

Heh, a few years ago I once dated a man whose family had geese wandering around the then-undeveloped land behind the house. They were incredibly mean birds -- always chasing people who came too close and always sending off these "I'm going to kill you" honks whenever they saw someone around. One of his uncles got chased around the lawn by a particularly crazy one, who nipped him repeatedly.

Needless to say, I gave them a wide berth. They still puffed themselves up and honked at me, making mock lunges. :)

Jeanette Jobson said...

Yes, they are constantly aggressive like they're always having a bad day! :o)

I am very cautious around them and they always make mock lunges everytime I go past them.

Birds with a chip on their shoulders...

Mary said...

Jeanette the first time I heard a wood pecker tap on our bedroom window at dawn, I felt so silly as I jumped up and called "Just a minute please"!

It is always a pleasure reading your blog and seeing you pictures and drawings.