First, the pile of accumulated hail is still present, now more than 48 hours after it fell:
Temperatures are in the 7-9 degrees (Celsius) range, so it's cool, but well above freezing. Apparently it was a lot of hail.
Next, I went to school today - despite it being a Saturday, and covered my slab project in white slip. The photo isn't great - they were on the top of the drying rack, well hidden, but you can see them here, sort of:
Those will be white once they are bisque fired. Then I will cover them with a turquoise glaze, I think, which should make them quite pretty. Tentative title is "E.M and J.B. Early Efforts". Someone will work it out. Email me when you think you have it.
After that work was done, I decided I had a few minutes to spare while there, and one of the perks of being an art student is you get a locker which you are allowed to paint. A few weeks ago I covered mine in gesso, to hide the old homage to The X-Files (which was nice, but a bit stale, to be honest). So, today, I turned it into this:
It really stands out now. You can't miss it. And I rather like it. I might need to do another layer over it at some point, but possibly not. Also, for the record, the texture on the front predates me, and I left it there. I kind of like it, actually.
On my way out the door to go home, I noted this:
That's a display cabinet in the central arts courtyard area in which the various art instructors hang shows of the work their students are producing. Down in the lower left, that's my most recent project from design studio. The other works in there are really good, though. Much better than mine, in my opinion. Top right is a sea snake or eel. Middle left is jelly fish. Middle right is a rabbit. Bottom right - unlabeled - is a jumping frog. I think they are all more expressive than mine, but each has its strengths.
And finally, from this morning's dog walk, I have several photos for your consideration:
Each of those shows a bunch of torn up grass. The question for you is, what is doing that? What is ripping up large areas of grass like that?
Before I tell you, I should mention that this started a few weeks ago. The torn up spots started appearing - at random - all over the area we live in. Sometimes they were under trees, sometimes they were out in the open, well away from everything. For several weeks we didn't see what was causing them, and we wondered. Squirrels digging up old nuts, perhaps? Skunks or raccoons digging for grubs?
Anne finally saw the answer, and I saw it as well a couple of weeks later. I was rather surprised, really.
Crows. Yes, crows.
The local crows have can openers where their beaks should be, and we've seen them pulling the grass back to get at something - we're not sure what - beneath. There is a lot of sod in the area, and perhaps that makes it easier to pull it back, even years after it was installed. Or maybe not. Maybe they are just that strong and that determined. Either way, it's crows, and they are prying open people's yards to get at some sort of food. It's quite impressive, in a certain destructive way.
Those are the updates for today. Hope they were fun!
