After one of the mildest winters in recent memory, seems "normal" has returned. Heavy wet snow coats everything and unfortunately the landscape has taken a hit.
Poor birds have been working hard to keep warm and find seed with the feeders coated in ice and snow.
The resulting sunsets have been spectacular!
I've kept busy in the studio painting snow as well...well snowy owls!
Some of my paintings are large, intended for framing....
And some are quite small, just for the pleasure of creating...
The color of the month for No Excuses Art Journaling is BLUE! I do love blue, well there's not really a color I don't like.
Sprout #44 feather~ and yes it too is blue. I seem to find a "pile" a day lately in the garden. This is the most recent victim of our resident owl, poor blue jay....
And a pretty little blue bird card peek!
I issued myself a personal challenge this weekend, use only one color and in loose strokes create a small portrait.. sometimes it's a good thing to break out of my existing groove. This was fun, I will do it again.
Have you seen FLOW magazine? Great illustrative fodder for inspiration. They have an app! Each day has a different tip or motivational quote with an illustration. I'm making small copies to insert in my visual journal.
The snow continues to fall...the poor adirondack chairs are disappearing. 26 days until SPRING, it can't come soon enough. Another round of storms this weekend following a sub-zero blast tomorrow...
Our resident buck has been sleeping under the pine trees in the garden. I think we've reached an understanding.
There are opportunities to be seized with all this bad weather, more studio time! This week's No Excuses Art Journaling sprout~ teapot. Some days you are just at a loss for what to draw and paint. I love Gina's weekly challenges, just the inspiration needed!
Card peeks for February, normally done one a week but as I'm snowbound I've finished them all. This month's color focus is pink. So cheery on a cold winter day.
This sweetie is a commission for a charity auction coming up locally next month. I can assure you our beach looks nothing like this today! Even the sand is buried in snow!
Clearly the pattern of repeated winter storms continues here in New England...at this point a yard stick won't do to measure all the snowfall....It is winter,and this is coastal New England. All this snow should be no surprise. We've been spoiled of late with mild winters, not so this year.
Adirondack chairs hold the promise of Spring, a reminder that winter too will pass soon...All those footprints in the snow are from the deer and other critters who come seeking food...the snow is too deep for a reasonable person to venture to the woods.
garden pathway in the snow
The advantage of all this snow is an opportunity to spend lots of time in the studio, and so I have.
cat in a box
And now off to the market for bread and milk, because for some unknown reason that's what we do when a storm warning is issued. A very happy Valentine's Day to you!
Another week of winter and another winter storm...definitely one for the record books.
I do enjoy watching these sweeties from the studio window while painting. The snow is so deep I'm filling the bird feeders once a day and tossing handfuls of seed on top of the fresh snow.
Although the colors for February are not much different than January, they seem more cheery with a splash of red and pink for Valentine's Day.
Pink is the color for this month in No Excuses Art Journaling. It is such fun to focus on a different color each month. More importantly it is forcing me to move out of my comfort range in color choice and explore different shades.
If you are counting, and I think many of us are....it is 44 days until SPRING!
This captures the mood for this Monday...Here in coastal New England we are all preparing for the "blizzard of historic proportions". Out early for provisions~honestly, I did not buy any bread but always find the bread isle amusing pre-storm. How many sandwiches can anyone eat? We needed dog food for Miss Maggie, our elderly Labrador. She's been "under the weather" this past weekend and needs a special diet. Clever how I worked the weather in....
As the month of January comes to an end, the past week's painting has all been in shades of grey. The "sprout" for the week in Gina Armfield's No Excuses Art Journaling group above- a grey wolf.
Playing with grey in my daily pages....
Food for thought in the blank pages of my journal.
Talk with you all after the blizzard!
Grey is the color of the month for No Excuses Journaling in January. This is the perfect choice if you happen to live along the Atlantic coast in winter....shades of grey are everywhere. These greys are along the south coast of Rhode Island taken while hiking with friends hoping to catch a glimpse of the elusive snowy owl....No luck to day but we will of course try again, a wonderful walk in the woods on a snowy day. Way in the distance you can see Block Island, 13 miles off the coast. Lovely.
A gaggle of geese ducks and swans in the salt pond. The serenity broken occasionally by the sound of gunshots off in the distance. A strange comination...hunting season here...next to a wildlife refuge...we foolishly kept yelling "turn left!" to no avail....maybe we saved a few lives.
But it's not all grey here. Snow boots lined up near the door.
And off into the woods we wander, three friends on an adventure.
Making time for creative expression every day does wonders for your mood and outlook!
These are a few recent pages in my No Excuses journal. Are you spending a little time in yours each day?
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