And through the woods...

I think I may have to accept the possibility that it just might not snow. Yesterday was overcast and colder, but still only in the mid to lower 30s. It felt wintery, but no precipitation. Wintery, in that the sky was that flat light-grey that only happens when it gets colder--it gave the land a sort of de-saturated look, which I think was actually pretty neat.

I spent most of yesterday out by Gramma's house and the surrounding area. I spent a lot of time looking for turkeys, but still nothing. We did however, see several groups of deer and quite a few songbirds. I'm beginning to recognize the deer out there by sight, actually. It's usually a large, older doe, with at least two twin yearlings that I think are hers. They're accompanied by 3-5 other does of varying age, but none as big as that mom. They actually come by Gramma's house two or three times daily, she says. Yesterday we saw them around 3:30pm, and again at dusk--around 5pm. I've got some pretty nice, very detailed deer shots (as I was shooting them from less than 15ft away), but I don't have any concrete ideas about how I want to paint them yet. The thing with whitetails is that they've been done....and done and done and done. I want to come up with something different for them.

We also went hiking in the area (it's mostly farmland/rural residences, though), and up to a farmstead near her house. It was really a beautiful farm, and I took a LOT of pictures of stuff that I found interesting. I'm thinking that it might be the right place for that little kestral, or so I can imagine. I'm hoping to do some thumbnail ideas for a kestral/farm painting in the next few days.

After the hike, we came back and put out fresh seed, and almost immediately there were cardinals on it. There were at least 3 males and 5 females that I counted--the photos don't communicate that so well--and they all came down together. I managed to get some decent shots of the birds on the railing, but they were just too fast to get a well-focused shot of them flying or in the trees. I am however getting more used to the camera, and understanding the settings I need to use to take the faster shots. I'm thinking I should go try for some better fluffed-kestral shots--something actually in focus.

Tomorrow or monday or tuesday, I'm going to go out to a local wildlife refuge/zoo where they keep a variety of native Minnesotan species. Hopefully I'll get some interesting shots out there as well.