Art and nature

My life largely consists of paying attention to art and to nature in various ways, but they merged a bit more than usual this past week. On Friday I was one of the judges for the open/intermediate painting competition for the Saskatchewan Wildlife Art Association's annual juried show. I've judged at this one a couple of times in the past, but in the photography section. It was fun to join other jurors Val Hinz and Carmen Heinrichs to spend some time with the many and varied styles and media on display. I'm always mildly surprised at how consistently artists with different backgrounds and experience can come to the same conclusions when ranking works in a juried show. Occasionally there will be a bit of discussion, but overall the top three seem to rise to the surface with very little effort. I don't understand how this works, just observe that this has been the rule in any competitions I have judged.

Speaking of nature, it seems a bit off in the park down the street from our house. Something not quite right caught my eye when we were walking the dogs a week or so ago, and I realized that it was this little newly planted (late spring this year) apple tree, which is somewhat confused as to the season we are in and is in blossom. 

In a different area of the same park, this grand elder statesman has risen to the occasion with a beautiful show of fall colour. We've had a very long and extended fall, with sunny days and little wind for weeks on end. As a result, the trees have been following their own inclinations with some totally bare, others still wonderfully colourful, and some still relatively green. Makes for interesting visuals.

On the weekend, Jim and a naturalist friend and I headed into the north field at Ebon Stables to check out the big wooded area that is a bit of a wildlife haven. We spotted this coyote trotting along the skyline of the harvested field. He was big and healthy looking with a beautiful thick coat. On this same outing we also saw a great horned owl, and many moose tracks around the edges of the watery zone, but mercifully no actual moose. I'm quite fascinated with the idea of the Ebon moose and would like to get some photos, but not when I'm out there on foot with no place to hide. Moose are large, fast, can be aggressive, and are generally dangerous, so caution is always in order.

I'm on the lookout for wasp paper to use in some of my mixed media encaustics. Jim pointed this one out in the bushes on the south side of the stables. It's so pretty that I didn't have the heart to take it away from its setting, so I contented myself with photos for now. I'll keep an eye on it and if it gets torn up by birds or starts to fall apart, I'll help myself to some of it then. It's always a bit of a surprise when the leaves fall and wasp nests are suddenly on view all over the place. This was a big wasp year so I'm sure I'll find lots over time. 

The final shot is also from Ebon Stables. I've been having hip and leg pain so my riding is somewhat curtailed. I hadn't ridden for a couple of days and thought I'd turn my gelding Alpac out in the big pen for a bit of a run. He had a wonderful time racing and bucking and visiting with the horses over the south fence. I was just as happy that he was getting all that energy out of his system without me on him! Pretty lively for a twenty-one year old horse.                                                      

If you haven't checked out my other blog lately, take a look at what's new. I've done a "grunge" polo image that I'm particularly happy with. http://judywoodartphotographyjusttheart.blogspot.com 

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