Reading · Lounge Like A Peacock

Helloooo there! I hope Groundhog Day on Monday was entertaining for you, do you follow the predictions annually? I actually saw an interesting story on CBC about how the various rodents across the northern US/southern Canada that “predict” the weather actually had something in common despite their differing predictions. They put up a map of Canada and the US, and showed that the western critters (except for our very own critically endangered Vancouver Island weather-predicting marmot named Violet) said there’d be an early spring, and all the eastern critters predicted six more weeks of winter. Then they overlaid a forecast map of weather, and showed that indeed the eastern part of the continent will be getting more nasty stormy weather over the next while, whereas us westerners will likely be getting warmer than average temperatures. Aren’t animals fun…😂❤️ But hey, it’s patio weather in Victoria already (almost, but the pubs are starting to set them up now), so maybe Violet needs to come down from her mid-island mountain dwelling and come enjoy the mild Victoria weather… 😂

So normally January is a quiet month for many, as people get settled back into their regular routines, many are rueing their life choices and making resolutions to “do better” this year (whatever that means, I think most are doing the best they can most of the time), etc. For me it was actually quite busy. I joined in with a 30 Day challenge a local artist was running, and I ended up working on four oil paintings simultaneously. Which is a lot — on one hand, it gives each painting time to get touch dry between layers while I work on the next, so it means I’m not waiting a day or more in between painting sessions so I end up getting more painting done in a week. On the other hand, my paint palette ended up looking like someone put oil paints onto a merry-go-round (one of those scary metal ones from the 80s that would fling you off across the playground, obviously) and let ‘er rip. Plus it was challenging for me switching mentally between paintings, like remembering thoughts I’d had about what I’d like to do in the next session, how I was feeling about it, etc. I may try it again but take some notes for each one as I’m working (so I can come back to it and remember what I was thinking), but we’ll see. I’m juuuuuuuust about finished the last of the four, here they all were a week or so ago.

And here are the ones I have finished now, this email is the first time I’m sharing them finished… 😍

Stillness at Sunrise, Great Blue Hunter, and Breaking Dawn

These paintings are featuring a Carolina Chickadee, a Great Blue Heron, and a Great-tailed Grackle, all featuring the wonderful photography of Mark Luther.

On top of all that painting, I also did a live painting at the annual Wounded Warriors Canada Gala. It raises money for the upcoming Wounded Warriors Canada run down Vancouver Island, it’s 800km over 8 days. Current and ex-military, RCMP, and other first responders participate, and the run raises much-needed funds for mental health support for military/veterans/first responders and their families. I did the Wounded Warriors Canada Battlefield Bike Ride in 2015, from Vimy Ridge, France to Nijmegen, the Netherlands, it’s such a worthy cause.

Everyone LOVED Coco on the ride, he was the best co-pilot ever 🥰

And as a “wounded warrior” myself, I wanted to do what I could to give back. So here’s me painting at the Gala, and the painting (“Fierce Warrior”) was auctioned off at the end of the evening (and raised $400 for Wounded Warriors which was so incredible). 😍

And in case you missed it last month, I was asking people if they had any feedback on ideas for these emails/Substack posts, as of course I want to make sure I give you things you’ll enjoy reading. One popular idea I had in the post (feel free to go back and read it and add your feedback in the comments if you’d like 😊) was to teach you some fun facts about some of the critters I’m painting. I did a University of Victoria Intro to Biology course last semester, and I learned a lot of neat things (and I love attending webinars about marine mammals, birds, etc). So here we go! 😁

One marine mammal I’ve been learning a lot about recently are otters, both sea otters and river otters. A lot of people mix the two up, so here are some fun facts about both of them:

River otters have little “hands,” and sea otters have “mittens” and rear flippers, which is an easy way to identify between the two.
Sea otters can come out of the water, but it’s rare as their rear flippers aren’t designed for being super mobile on land, they live their whole lives in the ocean. They even tie their babies up with kelp to keep them from drifting off while mum is off hunting for her and her baby (which is as adorable as it sounds).
Sea otters have 1 million hairs per square inch, which keeps them warm in the frigid seas and keeps them floating on the surface. But this dense fur is also what caused them to almost be hunted to extinction — thankfully sea otter populations are slowly rebounding on the west coast due to protections in place.
River otters are very playful and mischevious, and have been known to make their homes under docks, under people’s decks if they live near the sea, and even in fishing or live-on boats (much to the chagrin of the boaters, they’re awesome at destroying cables, cords, and pretty much anything in their path if they think it’s tasty or fun to play with).
Both make adorable squeaky sounds, you can hear the noises sea otters make particularly when the pups are being cared for by organizations such as the Vancouver Marine Mammal Rescue Society (click to watch a short video, brace yourself for the cuteness). 🥰

Afternoon Snack (river otter) and Guardian of the Kelp (sea otter)

Shop Art Prints

Did you know any of those facts before about otters? Please feel free to leave other fun factoids about otters (or other critters) in the comments, it’s always so fun to learn about these beautiful beasties. ☺️

Progress, progress on some new work

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