We have had a barred owl trying to move into the “hood”. The crows and jays were (and still are) joining forces to let this bird know ” We aren’t having it!”

On this particular day they were squawking and aggressively flying towards the owl’s perch. Meanwhile, the owl sat quietly, slow blinking and rotating its head (motion parallax). The owl was unruffled and had plans to stay in this tree as long as it wanted … turns out it was most of the day. What a noisy day this was!

I admire both the owl’s stoicism and the Crows and Scrub Jay’s persistence. There is something to be learned here for me.

My intention was to capture the ruckus in the yard. The delight of leaf showers happening simultaneously was an added joy! I added our feline friend because he has been reported as lost. We miss his visits and hope he has found his way home by now.

It was a bit of creative cleansing to design this whimsical piece. I needed to play and it was fun!

We are grateful for the urban nature that brings us so many interesting experiences sometimes funny and frequently inspiring.

This piece was created using a commercial cloth for the background and trees and hand dyed cloth for the leaves. I sprinkled the chopped leaves on the surface and used my sewing machine to lightly stitch them down; I wanted them to appear to be free floating rather than fused flat. What a messy idea that was I’ll be finding leaves for months.

Unruffled

24.25 x 39.5