Day 7 of AED, With No Idea

My mind was as blank as my paper when I sat down to create today. I decided to rip a random page out of the old dictionary, and see if it could give me any ideas.

 

Let's see what I found....

 

No, Bunny People (and Bunnies). I decided that wasn't great for a wider audience! Farther down the page, I found this.

 

I decided to make a piece about the time a couple of winters ago when a flock of Cedar Waxwings showed up in our yard, to feast on the red berries of the Maple Leaf Viburnums. They arrived on the Oldest Ones birthday, and stayed for three days. It was a little bit of magic.

 

I started the collage by writing about that event with a gray marker. Then, I daubed on some thinned-out paints in wintry colors. Over that, I drew rough images of the shrubs, and the neighbors nearby pine tree with pastels.

 

Next, I printed out some of my photos from that time. As you can see, my printer was running low on ink. After thinking about it, I decided to use them anyway. 

 

In addition to the photos, I used some painted papers, and a quote from Thoreau. It may be sacrilegious as a New Englander, but he's not my favorite read. This quote seemed to work, though.

 

Finally, back in with pastel pencils to add detail to the images, and a little extra blue paint around the edges, and it was done.

 

Not bad for starting out blank! Here is the quote:

"Live in each season as it passes;

breathe the air, drink the drink,

taste the fruit, and resign yourself

to the influences of each."

-Henry David Thoreau

Road Trip Result, and What Are These Robins Thinking?

I couldn't help it. They looked lonely, so I brought them home from this morning's road trip. Aren't they lovely?

And when I got home, there was a huge flock of robins in my yard, maybe a hundred birds, or so. My camera is not great, so I don't know if you can see some of them in these pictures.

They were cycling in and out of these viburnums, a dozen birds at a time. They would fly from here, across the yard to the apple tree, then to the back of the yard to the birch, and then across to the woods, and around again to the berries.  Within 15 minutes, half the berries were gone, and so were the robins.

Last year it took a smaller flock of cedar waxwings 3 days to pick the bushes clean in late February. If the robins come back, the waxwings are going to be out of luck. What are they doing in Massachusetts on the first of February? It sure isn't Spring!