Christmas Day Walk at the Guildwood

Had a nice Christmas eve and morning with my kids. Later in the day, went for a little walk/hike through the Guildwood Inn Park. It was surprisingly mild day, that began as a sunny one, but did get overcast later on, closer to 2 or 3pm.

We have not been to the Guildwood Park since about 2013, in winter. It's lovely and sort of moody. Old Toronto architecture pieces have been brought there, standing now as monuments to what remains of the historic Toronto.

There were quite a few birds there, mostly gathered just in from the beginning of the path where people had left a lot of seed.

We saw a Spotted Towhee, a White Crowned Sparrow, Chickadees, Blue Jays, lots of Dark Eyed Juncos, lots of Downy Woodpeckers, Yellow Finches, and 2 gliding Red Tailed Hawks.

We called it Double Day because in several instances, we spotted twosomes of things :-)

End of Fall, Still Lovely

I love Fall seasons that are still so gorgeous that it feels like a bonus Summer. It's so much more delicious than real Summer even.

This past weekend, Sunday, was like that. The Sunday before, I thought was it, it was the most beautiful Fall weekend this year, but Nov 13th came close.

We went to Birkdale Ravine, on Ellesmere, late afternoon. The light was stunning. There were so many beautiful little things. Some I did capture, others we just looked at and experienced.

The little stuffed anime critters on the dash of a car and the super moon were a bit of a special bonus :-)

Back to Painting

After a bit of a too long break from my recent portrait undertaking, about 5 weeks or so, I got back to it.


It still has a ways to go, but it is getting there.

Worked again in the face today, some of the hair, neck, and began establishing the sweater (which will be Hard as hell).

Hopefully over the Christmas holiday time, I can get about 12-15 hours into it.

Fall 2016

Well, this was a bloody fast Spring and Summer, that's for sure. It's now well into Fall. I love Fall, it's such a pretty season. There are a lot of birds to see too, migrants heading back south, and raptors making their journey too. It's always sad to see in a way, because it means waiting 7 months to see them all back here again, in March. But, we shouldn't wish our time away too fast, even if winter is not as pleasant and enjoyable as Summer can be :-)

Some early October prettiness from our favourite close by walking area, Birkdale Ravine.

Great Studio Painting Lights for Artists

These lights live in our bedroom, where my husband's easel stands, and where he works during the day painting. They are from Lumicrest Lighting Solutions. He purchased these lights for excellent colour accuracy, clean light, easy on the eyes, the help they give to older artist's eyes that require good illumination of sharpness and clarity. He has 2 suspended from our bedroom ceiling, and they can be swivelled.

Though bright, he is right, they are not hard on the eyes when just on for general "I need to see in my bedroom" use. I am not a lover of bright light. I like dim, warm, ambient light in my living space. It also means that I cannot paint the walls a nice medium terracotta rose colour either, as they need to stay relatively light. However, I'd not really have a choice as both concessions are required anyway lol! 

I am sharing this Toronto based lighting supplier because he knows what he is talking about as well as being a good supplier of working lighting for artists in the GTA.

There are many uses for these lights, they are not just for visual artists. By visiting their website, you will learn all the details. As well, their Youtube videos are informative. The one I linked to is a good one to start with.

Several Walks at Rosetta, East Point Park, and Birkdale Ravine in Scarborough

Last few weekends, we've gotten out to Birkdale Ravine, which is a walk from us, and Rosetta McLean's Gardens, which is a drive.

We didn't have our car much this summer, having lent it to my daughter probably 65% of the summer, so we didn't get out to High Park, Col. Sam Park again, nor the Leslie Spit much, which is fine. There is Plenty to see right near us.

Birkdale, which is so close, we were happy to see 3 or 4 Cooper's Hawks, so we knew the babies from this year did well, and are out and about, lingering around the area. Three were playing together in the sky above our heads on one of the visits.

We walked the Doris McCarthy path once in the last 3 weeks as well. This is by far our favourite. We tend to stay away from Bluffer's Park in the summer, just too crowded with groups of people and laden with garbage. Similar situation to if one goes out to Oshawa lake front too.

East Point Park is great for birds, and a really nice walk. You just need to be aware of the "rendezvous crowd", if you venture into certain spots along small foot paths. The guys mostly park down at the far west end lot, and traipse in a constant stream in and out of their established paths. Walking along the beach shore of this park is also really fun, lots to discover and lots of old dead drift wood textures and shapes too. Just be prepared to disrobe at Scarborough's famous "Nude Beach" lol!

The Monarch butterflies seemed to be just starting, early Aug walks, and are now out in full force this Labour Day weekend at Rosetta.

This seems to be the year for Cicadas. There were a lot of them flying around, making their loud buzzy sounds, at East Point Park in Scarborough. I had not seen them so active before, either we see them dead or just sitting.

Sunflowers were beautiful at Rosetta! Lots of bees, tons of wasps, and small butterflies and moths too.

We were treated to humming birds, twice, both times at Rosetta, feasting on the flowers there. I did get some shots of them, not great ones, but good compared to most years :-)

It's a treat just walking around these areas, seeing so many different types of people along our jaunts, lots of photographers, and of course, all the thrilling textures and such, as well as the creatures! Not to mention, the one lawn that was green this summer, the AstroTurf lawn on Brimley lol! I used to threaten to do this to the lawn at my old house as I hated trying to keep a good lawn lol! Seems someone else actually went further.