Dwarves and Seals

(Elephant at Happy Time, Sunshine in Wallingford, Ladder to a Lakeweed Forest, Leaf on the Window)

  I saw the movie 'The Hobbit' recently. Before viewing the movie, I heard reviews from both professional critics and movie-loving friends. Every review I heard by a professional critic was negative, but all my friends  were enthusiastic about the movie. I am happy to say my friends were right on this one. I thought 'The Hobbit' was great fun to watch. I read the book several years ago, but it is sufficiently vague in my memory so that I didn't know what to expect while watching the movie. I loved the dwarves and their gruff but jolly manner and also their great love for dinning. There was also a really neat (but also slightly gross and a bit sad) wizard who had a bird nest in his hair, a hedgehog friend named Sebastian and a carriage pulled by a bunch of rabbits. I liked that character and think that someone should make a short film on him and how he came to be a hermit wizard living in the woods. He reminded me of the fantasy-character version of a lot of people that lived in a small hippie town I use to live in. And of course I was a fan of Bilbo, our unexpected and reluctant hero! Out of all the J.R.R. Tolkien books, 'The Hobbit' is the only one I've read and viewing the movie made me want to read or listen to the 'Lord of the Rings Trilogy'.

  (Two pressed leaves found on the ground, two pressed flowers given to me in a bouquet, one pressed flower, picked from the side of the road)

   Today I saw a very cute sight... two baby harbor seals! They were splashing around in the water, chasing after fish. When I looked into the water, I could only see the fish sometimes. They would flick their bodies a certain way and the dim winter light would catch the shimmer of their silver scales. So when I looked into the water, I sometimes saw the quick glimmer of silver light shine through the murky green water. One of the baby seals and I exchanged a look. We were curious about each other.  But the seal decided he did not trust me so he disappeared back into the cold, hazy water. He reminded me of  a little puppy with his big soulful eyes and large, puffing nostrils.

  Here are some sketches from a sketchbook that I reserve for only nature themed pictures, and mostly studies on singular items from nature like a shell or a rock.