When I woke up this morning I lay there and mapped out this grand plan for the rest of my life.

1. Crawl out of bed and find my warm slippers
2. Fire up the computer and book a ticket to somewhere warm. Cuba would be nice, or Provence or Italy?
3. Shower and brush my teeth
4. Pack a bag
5. Get on plane.
6. Write world famous novel that makes me rich so I never have to work again

I made a major mistake somewhere around step 2. Instead of booking the ticket and looked at my wallet instead. Bugger Damn! So here I sit at my local Starbucks watching people wander by the window instead. Maybe if I close my eyes and wish r-e-a-l hard I’ll find myself in Provence. ***SQUEEZE EYES SHUT**** Nope, no good, still here at Starbucks. Reality really does stink sometimes.

I was positively giddy with excitement when I heard all the birds singing their feathery hearts out earlier today.  Speaking of birds:

From Catpaw’s Art work – birds

I looked and didn’t see this little fellow posted, if he has been, well.. think of it as a spring repeat. I was testing out different types of pencils with him. Parts worked very well, other parts were a bit heavy handed. Initially I didn’t like him, but looking at him again, I rather like him. The head shape is just about correct.

I haven’t drawn much since I started feeling kind of ill. I’ll try again this week… I’m getting that itchy feeling when I get around pencils and paper. I’m going to take another stab at drawing cats again. Well… still a bit of daylight left to the day. I’m heading back out to enjoy it.

To make up for my whining here’s one of my latest little birds for you. I did this Tufted Titmouse during the holidays. I’m using both the classic Staedtler Mars Lumograph B 2B and 6B for the darkest parts of the birds. For the lighter softer downy feathers I’m using Cretacolor Fine Art Graphite pencils 2H HB Fine. The Cretacolor leads are terrific for creating a soft fluffy look and the leads are very durable. I tried some other brands but found the lead tips kept snapping off.  Staedtler and the Cretacolor hold a sharp point beautifully. I haven’t settled on either brand yet, but I’m enjoying a great deal of success in using them. The mechanical pencils were great but using a variety of pencils allows for more detailed and softer sketches. Well enjoy the bird, I’m off to the cafe for a latte and to draw a bit and dream of spring. Oh… spring… outdoor cafes, sunshine and warmth … sigh….

From Catpaw’s Art work – birds

To make amends for the endless snivelling about snow, cold and wind you are about to endure this winter, I present you with …. a bird:

From Catpaw’s Art work – birds

A Scrub Jay I drew back in the fall. I’ve been drawing a bit here and there this past month, but have been so busy with my new computer I’ve not spent a lot of time drawing. Well except for the unfortunate looking sparrows … but we won’t go any further with that short lived experiment. They are best left unseen. Let’s just say Frankenstein’s monster meets the Birdman comes to mind. See, I’m still struggling with new pencils and techniques so some of my pictures are a wee bit embarassing. Although the other day I did manage a passable attempt at a song bird. I haven’t hooked my scanner up yet, so I can’t load up anything new. I’ll stop being lazy today and hook it up so I can show you some of my newer birds.. or maybe tomorrow…is it spring yet?

It is cold outside
I curse my ancestors as I shiver
Why not move to New Zealand

I saw snow today
I shivered in my jacket
Come back summer

Stupid fecking ancestors just had to choose a cold country, didn’t they? Why not New Zealand? It sounds lovely to me.

Looks like a couple of funnel clouds touched down outside of Toronto and the high winds here in the Toronto area did tremendous amount of damage. About 22,000 people in the area are without hydro and hundreds have been evacuated because of damage done to natural gas lines. 88,000 across Ontario are dealing with no power. The BBC has an excellent clip on the storm BBC coverage on Ontario storm

Funny, when I came out of the library yesterday I looked at the sky and said “somebody’s going to get a tornado!” I remember how the sky looked back in 1985 when a tornado tore through Barrie, Ontario. I was working in a 7-11 store in Burlington then (a weird chapter in my life. I’ll tell you about it one day). I will always remember how terribly, terribly dark it became. And as dark as we were in Burlington (@136km south of Barrie) on that May, it was completely black to the north were the Tornado came down. The skies rarely get that black and yesterday was almost as bad. The sudden drop in temperature told me all I needed to know. That was the other thing I remember from that day – how quickly the weather shifted from muggy to cool. In minutes the humidity vanished and the temperature dropped. That is never good.

There is a lot of clean up needed today. A couple of trees in the park near me are severly damaged – one looks like it may have taken a direct hit by lightening. The others lost a lot of large branches. But we were lucky – very little damage done in the area.

Earlier in the day, I wandered down to my neighbourhood Starbucks where I do most of my sketching lately. I like the staff there – they make me laugh and are masters at making my latte nice and foamy. I tend to sulk if I don’t get the correct amount of foam and the staff there make a wonderful production out of getting it just right for me. We are going to have a “Foam Off” – where the staff are going to compete in a contest to see who can create the most exquisite foam. I haven’t decided upon the award yet, but I’ll post the photos and let the public vote on them. I’ll let you know when the contest starts. But I digress… as usual…

I did a few more bird heads. I’m gearing up to doing the entire body. It could get messy…

First the complete sketches:

From Catpaw’s Art work

Now… this is what I’m working on today (or tomorrow)

A nice cowbird

From Catpaw’s Art work

From Catpaw’s Art work

I will likely work on the birds today. I’ll post them when I’m done with them.