The season that never was

For those who have cared to check in with this blog from time to time I must apologize for my absence over the last several months...I was in a bad car accident that laid me up for the whole of the fall and the beginning of the winter.

The good news is that I am back in the studio working hard to get caught up on neglected deadlines and commissions. Ill post the results of these days spent toiling away when there is something worth showing..until then I will post this painting of a travel weary woodcock (one of my favorites) that I did a while back.

2010...Here we go

I was fortunate enough to be with gun in hand as the northern Ontario grouse season opened on the 15th of September...Lots of birds both ruffs and spruce grouse. The good news is that there were allot of young birds among those collected. Hopefully a sign that this years hatch is doing well. This has feeling optimistic about things on my home coverts...They open on the 25th. I'll be at a friends wedding....I mean who gets married on bird opener? geesh!

Drum Role Please

I had the opportunity to spend a little time walking the old paths through some of my favorite coverts today and was pleased to be serenaded by the thumbing of at least one grouse playing his favorite spring song.... While I did this humor illustration a year ago, today seemed like an appropriate day to post it.

Later. Tom.

On My Must Do List

This is a photo I took last spring at my good friend Bob Showers place in Vanessa Ontario ( that's him there in the photo moving in for the flush). Bob is an excellent trainer of bird and trial dogs and each year we try and arrange a little spring training day on live quail at his ranch and training center. Working our dogs along side Bob and his setters tends to be much more of a learning experience for myself and a few friends than it often is for our dogs.

What a thrill it must be for Amy my Britt to have a nose full of game bird scent after a winter of staring at song birds out the window of my studio. We shoot a few quail as well, just to rekindle a flame or two among us two legged hunters too. Ultimately though, the day is really about scraping off a little winter rust and connecting once again with valued friends.

Yup, we must do it again soon.

A Cold Reception

Well, the woodcock that have returned to the great Lakes area will have needed to tough a cold one out last night...While I heard several males sky dancing last evening, I woke up this morning to temperatures well below freezing...Still open ground though, so when the sun gets a chance to warm things up a little they should be able to find ground soft enough to probe for a meal.

In addition to the woodcock I saw last night, yesterday proved to be an active one in the area. Several deer were seen well after sun up and the turkeys are now seen almost daily strutting their stuff. Last but certainly not least among those who care to check in on this journal, are the number of grouse that can be heard thumping their drum roll into the breeding season. Lets hope for a warm dry June to bolster their numbers.

later.

We are Back

As promised in my opening post on this journal, my postings will occasionally be intermittent to say the least...Well we've just come through one of those occasions...Chalk it up to publication deadlines or maybe just plain old winter blahs, but I am back...And certainly more importantly to most of you, so are the woodcock.

Last evening as I made my regular rounds around my village I heard my first woodcock. His quintessential "Peeemp" was heard coming from a piece of cover that must be very much in demand.In the 15 years I have lived here I have always had a cock bird claim that particular spot as his lech. The early snow melt has me feeling fairly optimistic about their chances..and somewhat reinvigorated about keeping this journal up to a more than occasional duty.

Later

Moving Along

So after finally settling on a gesture for my Gordon setter. I have turned my attention towards placing him in a believable and complimentary landscape. As discussed earlier I have in mind a suitable back drop, but now here I am working through positioning him so that he is properly contrasted against suitable colour and values to make him stand out. In this sketch I think I have something that fits pretty well with my original concept.

From here I will move onto the actual wooden panel that I paint on. The next installment will discuss that process and the building of paint layers...Yup, it's about to get messy.

Back soon. Tom.