Artwork--Blue Heron continued

She's coming along nicely. It looks like I've gotten a lot done, but I have miles yet to go on this. I'm excited, though! Been years since I worked a great blue.

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They are one of the birds I grew up with. They'd hang out on our neighbor's dock (ours was only 2 sections long) but they were very shy and if they caught a glimpse of you off they'd go. Their shyness gave them an air of mystery. I always loved their grace, and I admired any creature that would tolerate contact with human-kind, however fleeting.

The Crystal River

After spending a few hours in Glen Arbor, we headed east out of town on Highway 22, then took a right at county road 675. The sun was just starting to peak out and I was looking forward to a pretty drive across the Leelanau Peninsula back to Traverse City. As we drove around a bend in the road this beautiful little river came into view. I quickly checked for traffic and veered off onto the shoulder, much to the delight of my fellow travelers (they like it when I do spontaneous things).

We piled out of the car and started exploring the river. Here Karin, Lori and Lisa are enjoying the scenery.

The Crystal River is a lovely, shallow, slow moving river that winds its way through the western part of Leelanau Peninsula. Karin said she has kayaked the river but that there are some parts that are so shallow you have to get out and drag your boat. Sounds like my kind of river!

The current was so slow moving there was barely a ripple on its surface.

The sunlight grew stronger as we dawdled along the riverbank. What a gorgeous fall afternoon.

So calm was the water that the opposite bank was clearly reflected on its surface.

The area is dominated by hemlocks and birch trees. I love these trees. They are both cool climate trees and so we don't see many down state. The birches especially are "north woods" tress and any sight of them makes me long for a cozy log cabin, flannel shirts and a hot cup of tea.

For me there is no substitute for clearing my mind like taking a walk in the woods. There's so much to see, so much to know, that it takes me right out of my head, erases stress, reminds me that my life is just a tiny part of the greater glory that is the world that sustains us. I cannot help but think that if people spent more time outdoors, exploring, learning, getting to know their world, that they too would be much happier for it. Our ever-increasing distance from nature is perhaps the greatest failing of modern man and our "civilized" world.

New piece--Blue Heron

Here's an image of my newest piece, as yet untitled, of a blue heron. Just started it last night but it's been in the back of my mind since, oh, June I think, when I went out to the heron rookery at Kensignton Metropark. I'm very excited, it's looking good so far, and I'm liking it without color. Hmmmm...

South Bar Lake and Glen Arbor

Before leaving Empire Beach on Lake Michigan we hopped across the parking lot to see South Bar Lake. This long narrow lake runs north/south just behind a dune ridge from the big lake. There are several houses on it but is relatively uninhabited.



There's a playground and a nice beach here, and we were following critter tracks on the sand when we noticed this beaver chewed stick.

In the fall beavers will fell many small poplars, or large ones and chew the branches off, and carry them back to their lodges. As winter sets in these branches will serve as their pantry--the beavers eat the bark and then discard the rest of the branch. This one must have gotten away from the lodge. Though we looked for their lodge we couldn't see it, but it was cool knowing there's an active beaver colony here.

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There were also quite a few common mergansers here, and this is the first time I've seen the male of the species.

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I would have loved to stay longer at the shore but we were hungry and daylight was short, so we headed up the road to the little town of Glen Arbor. Hosting a thriving art community, Glen Arbor is a natural place for a bunch of artists to hang out. We had lunch at Art's Tavern and then did a little shopping.

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The Glen Lake Artists Gallery features work by local artists and Lori spent some time talking with the fellow behind the counter about Susan Bullock, an artist she met while up in the area for her artist in residence.

After the gallery stop we went across the street to my favorite place, the local bookstore. I love this little shop, they are super friendly and have a great selection of books. I don't think I've ever seen a cuter shop than this! I bought Ecopsychology, a collection of essays about the importance of nature and wilderness on our psyches.

We stopped by another gallery and the local coffee house where I got a hot chocolate (don't do coffee--yuck!) and then headed out of town, thinking we were going back to Karin's. But I was behind the wheel and you just never know what might catch my eye and send me careening off to the shoulder....

Empire Beach, Sleeping Bear Dunes

Every once in a great while we take a trip for the fun of it. Because we do art shows we spend a lot of time on the road, and so when we have "time off" we generally want to stay home. But our last show was a month ago and we were starting to get itchy to do a little traveling, so we hooked up with our friend Karin, who lives in Traverse City in northern Michigan.

Perhaps I am biased because I've lived here my whole life, but I think Michigan is a spectacularly beautiful state. We have 11,000 lakes, 3,288 miles of shoreline (second only to Alaska) on four Great Lakes, and a variety of terrain from the (almost) mountains of the western U.P. to the marsh lands of the southeast. Four hundred foot sand dunes can be found along the Lake Michigan shoreline. Thousands of square miles of wetlands provide a haven for waterfowl, and the state hosts a rare type of wetland called a fen. There's boreal forest in the north, hardwood forest and stands of old-growth white pine and white cedar 400 to 500 years old. We even have prairie in the southwest part of the state.

I don't have a particular favorite when it comes to scenery or habitat, but just about any time I have a chance, I head for Lake Michigan.

Lake Michigan has some of the most wonderful beaches I've ever seen. Being on the west side of the state and catching the prevailing winds, huge dunes have formed along the shoreline. Great swaths of dune grass, dried to a golden hue, sway and rustle along the dunes. The winds drive the waves too, and the constant rush of water upon shore is soothing and meditative.

Empire Beach hosts one of the best views from shore of the sleeping giant herself, "The Bear".

Ojibwe legend tells of a mother bear and her two cubs who escaped a great fire on the far shore of Lake Michigan by swimming out into the lake. The cubs were young and not strong enough to make it all the way across. Her cubs became the Manitou Islands (South Manitou is just visible on the left side of the photo below, on the horizon) while she became the dune on the shore of the great lake, forever waiting for her cubs to arrive.

I don't think there's a more poignant story out there. Many have retold and illustrated the tale, including my partner Lori Taylor, who also won an Artist-in-Residence at Sleeping Bear in 2007. This is one of her illustrations below.

I love the big water, its moods, its history, its stories. Ever changing yet ever the same, constant in its motion, shifting, collapsing, advancing and receding. I could have sat there for hours, getting lost in the sounds and smells on that warm November afternoon. But there were others places to visit, other waters to explore, so we had to move on, unlike the mother bear, forever perched upon the shore, waiting patiently for her cubs.

Happy 50th Birthday, Lori.

Long Weekend

Off to Traverse City to spend the weekend with my backpacking bud, Karin. We're looking forward to seeing the Big Water and doing a little hiking and hanging with The Fish.

Winter Birds Part 1

As many people who live in northern climates do, I have a particularly soft spot for those birds who tough out our winters with us. While the weather here in Southeast Michigan is not particularly brutal, we do occasionally get very cold, very snowy winters (like the last two). Every morning after a night of sub-zero temperatures and biting winds I am amazed to see any birds at all, much less the crowds that amass on our feeders. While the weather is mild still, they are busy at the feeders all day, putting on fat stores that will help them through the winter.

The tufted titmouse,



black-capped chickadee,

and white breasted nuthatch are three of the most common birds of our winter world. None of these birds has bills strong enough to crack open a sunflower seed, so each will fly up, take a seed, and fly off to a nearby tree. The chickadee and titmouse will hold the seed between their feet and hammer at it until the shell is cracked. The nuthatch, with its long torso, is designed for clinging to a tree rather than perching on a branch, and seems unable to grasp a seed with its feet. This bird will fly to a nearby tree, cram the seed in a crevice, and then hammer at it with its bill to get at the meats.

The northern cardinal,

and the goldfinch have strong bills for cracking seeds, and will sit contentedly at a feeder devouring seed after seed.

The downy woodpecker (this one's a female) usually sticks to the suet, but will occasionally take sunflower seeds, and has to go about cracking them open like the nuthatch.




I think mourning doves are beautiful birds, but I'm happy not to have as many as we did in Ann Arbor. Their light eye ring really makes their eyes stand out, and their lids are light colored too, so you can see when they blink. Makes them seem less reptilian or something. I miss their cooing when breeding season is over.

The dark-eyed junco is not a year-round resident here. They breed farther north, and come down just to spend the winter. I guess this is like their Florida. We saw the first one this year on October 23--last year the first sighting was on October 22. Either we weren't paying attention or they were running late this year!

Now, I know this isn't a bird, but she's too cute not to include, and is certainly a regular at the feeders year-round. As long as they don't chew their way into my studio (from where all these photos were taken) then they are welcome at the feeders.



Missing from this group are the blue jay, red-bellied woodpecker and a sparrow or two. I'll be curious to see if the hairy woodpeckers stick around for the winter--I saw one the other day, but have never seen one in the dead of winter. We also get eastern bluebirds and cedar waxwings, who will come in mid-January to our crab apple tree out front--they tend to hang out at our neighbor's house, who is back in the woods.

Also absent are the winter birds who have yet to arrive, those who breed and nest to the north. Those include the red-breasted nuthatch, common redpoll and pine siskin. This will be our fourth winter here, and it's taken awhile for some of these part-time birds to find us. The redpolls first came two years ago, the siskins last year. I'm excited to see who may show up this winter.