Audubon |

watercolor and white gel pen in beige toned Nova sketchbook

As I was finishing my sketch of Mr. Black Headed Grosbeak, I caught myself thinking like a bird (?) “Oh you are a handsome fellow!” Something debonair in the way you. . .oh really!

These two were my picks of the month from our monthly Gals Go Birding audubon group of sage women bird watchers at Millersylvania Park in Olympia. I tag along with them each month for the thrill of it, since I would see not a fraction of these birds along with trail without their skills and generosity.

Honestly I am happy as a clam just to explore a different PNW park each time, always with water and sky and . . .

the dense forest carpeted with wildflowers and ferns, under the towering sentinel trees. Birding gives an excuse to walk slowly, stop a lot, attuning all the senses to nature’s cues and clues.

red black ink, dip pen, watercolor, white gel pen

Meanwhile back home the pink peonies out front had started their metamorphosis, losing petals and gaining a new kind of pod-beauty resembling a jester’s floppy hat, which I almost prefer to the flower!

The Bumblehummer in a recent post turned out to be a female Rufous hummingbird, for those of you who wondered. Positive identification occurred when I emailed the local Audubon society and in the process made a new friend! Kim is a wealth of information and answered a slew of bird questions I hardly knew I had. And now I have an invitation to go birding with the Gals Go Birding group. And Kim even teaches a workshop for people like me whose vision is fading, called Birding By Ear.

Undoubtedly there will be more birds arriving on the blog, but today I’ll slip in a recent portrait . ..

gouache on gray toned paper (Inspiration from the app, now called Museum )

.. .which I have named Pathos, because the beauty of this woman rests in the utter depth of feeling her face conveys. Her heart breaks for the suffering of humanity, which knows no bounds. Her own suffering is etched on her skin, even while she glows with the light of compassion. One’s eyes brim over just by gazing on her image and the heart muscle jolts awake.