A magical Friday afternoon ...

The fun started at lunch. I had a "play date" with Erica in the art room. She had brought some gel medium with the intention of showing me how to do layers of gel and acrylic paint. We were going to do it on Wednesday, but I was out with a migraine, and then yesterday we were both feeling kind of blah. So today was the day!

One of the things I really like looking at on mixed media artists' blogs is how they layer on colour after colour to create a great background. Well today I learned how to do it myself! I actually squealed with delight, I was so happy!

There is a lot of glare from the window in this picture, but I think you can still see them quite well. For the bluish one on the left (my fave), I'm going to add maybe a hint of gold or copper paint. The one on the right still needs at least one more coat of paint. It'll be really cool to see what happens with all that diamond-shaped texture.

So I bounced out of the school today feeling like a little kid. To further "happify" things, the weather is the warmest it's been in months, and all the birds are singing and flitting about. There was a flurry of activity as I drove up the driveway -- I scared them all away from the feeder hanging on the nearby birch tree. I was barely aware of a burst of red as it sought shelter in the neighbours' trees.

Well, I was just about to open my car door when it came back! I was so excited I could barely sit still! A cardinal! A male cardinal in my bird feeder! I reached for the camera and did the best shot I could, through the slightly dirty windshield and with the bird feeder swaying a bit.

But look! It's a cardinal! On my bird feeder!

I sat and watched it until it flew away, then I became entranced with the chickadees and other small birds (whose names I don't know). Finally a woodpecker arrived, and I managed to get a picture of him/her, too!

At the rate my day is going, I'm going to win the 50/50 draw at the hockey game tonight and the Sea Dogs are going to beat the Titan!

I love Fridays!