Closing the book on another season

Once again summer has come and gone and by the looks and feel of things here, fall is definitely upon us.  The days are rainy and cool and the nights, though cold have not yet brought that first frost, but it's been close.  I thought I'd celebrate the end of summer with this art journal which is definitely one the birds in the back yard can relate to.  There have been so many flocks and types this year, especially now, that identifying them is not possible without the aviary companion.  I once made a 'birdie' tree in which I did watercolor pencil drawings of 18 species of birds common to our area, but I don't know if I could even name them now.  I am not really a bird watcher, but do enjoy seeing them from the kitchen window when I am washing up the dishes, making coffee or whatever else I might do in the kitchen. 

I think the thing I will miss most about the exit of summer is the lack of sunlight and the longer days.  I've really started to notice the early onset of dusk lately and my own internal clock telling me it's time for bed much earlier than during the summer months.  I say the above for purely selfish reasons of course.  I find it so much more difficult to work when the light is not good and need to see the colors in good light.  I recall making a pendant in the evening  a few years ago, thinking it was in one color and astonished to see in daylight that it was completely off.  I do have an OTT light and that helps a bit, but need more than that one illumination to carry out big projects. 

So the sunflower, with its radiation of leaves and face to the sun, is my salute to summer past...Maybe I will write about that in my art journal today.