Isolation Series: Catbird CanCan

"Catbird CanCan"
11x14" mixed media on paper

The Gray Catbird is a regular visitor to our garden - and yes, it can emit a mewing call. One morning, on my way to the creek a Catbird accompanied me, hopping from branch to branch. Once at the creek the Catbird settled in the overhanging branches of a buckthorn tree. As I watched this bold bird it began to hop and flick its tail up and down, flashing bright cinnamon coloured under feathers. What a dance - cheeky and saucy and oh, so fun!

Isolation Series: "Snapper"

 

"Snapper"
11x14" marker & ink on paper

Appearances can be deceiving. This fact is driven home time and again by my observations at the creek. I have watched a sun bleached boulder rise up, elongate, form a sinuous neck and a pair of outstretched wings, then fly away. I have witnessed a family of nearly full-grown mallards transmogrify when doing the bottoms-up dive. Miniature dolphins emerge, beaks beckoning as tiny flippers propel them backwards in a synchronized dance: how delightful! And I have seen a monster from the depths rise to fix a hideous, reptilian eye my way. What is this that lurks in the creek, I wonder? It blinks once, twice, then becomes an old snapping turtle, clambering slowly over rocks, shellback slimed with frothy green algae. It sinks to leave a wide, silent wake of neon bubbles and foam. Move over Harry Potter, this is nature’s ancient magic.

Isolation Series: Least Bittern

 "Least Bittern"

11x14 marker & ink on paper

A new arrival to our creek, the Least Bittern, has been surreptitiously clambering about the grasses and reeds that grow along the shore. It is slender and pretty, a very tiny member of the Heron family. One day, it planted itself right at my feet, hunched down, intent on fishing within the protective screen of water reeds but when it caught sight of me it stretched itself up tall, pointing its beak to the sky, as if to say: “See me become a water reed?” Nature is so very enchanting.

Isolation Series: Daylily Day

"Daylily Day"
11x14 marker and ink on paper

Daylily, ditch lily,

roadside or railway lily,

even known as "outhouse" lily!

(now, that’s a name that’s just plain silly.)

A lily, by any other name,

is still a fragrant, colour-bright,

welcome-in-my-garden, sight.

Isolation Series: Hosta la Vista

"Hosta la Vista"
11x14 marker and ink on paper

A vista of hostas flourishes in my shady back garden. Each spring I watch for their spear tips to poke through the soil, then wait for the unfurling and subsequent expansion of leaf. As summer waxes flower stalks emerge and fairytale-like caps bloom. Fat bumblebees frequent these “pixie caps”, crawling inside to reach each fuzzy offering. When inside, the bees’ buzz is transistorized - as though coming from a tiny radio speaker. It is an amusing sound. Watching and listening to the garden this pandemic year is a rewarding respite from watching and listening to global news.