The journal

I think I've mentioned my obsession with rare journals before. To be honest, some of my journals are still sitting on a shelf with no paint ever touching their pages. But how in the world could I possibly resist getting another one, If it has such beautiful deckle edge paper, a burlap cover and a lovely button on the end of attached bookmark?!

Chenoa the owl

If you ever find yourself in the university town of Eugene, Oregon, I would highly recommend spending some time at Cascades Raptor Center. My husband and I were really excited about visiting that wildlife hospital specializing in raptor rehabilitation and release. A lot of birds of different species found their loving foster home there after being orphaned or injured. And each one of them has a personal story.
For me, the most surprising resident was a magpie named Miri, which had been illegally raised and imprinted on humans. Unable to survive in the wild, that cute little bird is totally socialized to people. Every time we happened to be around her big cage, she tried to get as close to us as she could. It was so touching and sad at the same time.
And of course, it's impossible not to mention about amazing owls, which are very plenty at CRC. As soon as I saw beautiful and mysterious Chenoa, a Northern Spotted owl, I decided to make her an object for my watercolor painting.
16''x12'' on Arches watercolor paper