365…29

Wow, can you believe how quickly January has flown by? The sun sets after 5 pm now. That’s worthy of a happy dance! Spring is not too far away. Longer, hopefully warmer, days are on the horizon.

Today was another bitterly cold one, with a smattering of snow – not as much as I thought we’d get but enough to keep things looking pretty and white. I spent a good time outside this morning cleaning off and filling up the bird feeders. Then I got to sit back with my tea and watch them flutter all around. The cats enjoy watching them too.

So, not surprising, today’s photo of the day is of the birds. We’ve had one mourning dove who hangs around, long after sunset when everyone else has left for the night, he’s still here. Last night I found him sitting on the edge of the bird bath. It took me a few to realize why he was sitting there…it’s heated! He eventually left but, first thing this morning when I opened the blinds, I saw him sitting there again. Later this afternoon, a second dove joined him. They spent the day together. I enjoyed watching them together and managed to capture a few photos. This is just one of them:

For my painting of the day, I wanted to paint a sunflower. I love sunflowers! My first painting on a large canvas (in 2007 – before that I tended to only tole paint or paint on small cards or wood) was my interpretation of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers. (A little backstory: I had sketched the sunflowers as an in-class assignment in grade 7 (1991) art class and kept it all these years, as I love sunflowers. Shortly after my dad passed in 2007, I felt inspired to paint outdoors, and paint on the large canvas that came with my travel easel. That was the beginning of my adult painting journey.)

So, tonight, using the watercolour pencils, I drew a sunflower, then used a paintbrush and water to fill it in.