Swan Poop, Rain and Intuitive Navigation

There was a plan: drive to Jackson's in Balcatta to drool over art supplies and buy stuff, find a cafe near Herdsman Lake to check out the waterbirds and do some sketching, then home. Well we are neither mice nor men but our best laid plans also ganged agley. For a start, contrary to internet advertising, Jackson's were shut. Then, when we got to Herdsman Lake there was no cafe. When we stopped to ask an elderly woman in her front garden if there was a cafe in the area she called her husband in Chinese and he told us that their daughter takes them when they want to have coffee.

So we parked the car and got out a stool and a rug and walked to the edge of the lake to draw. There were ducks and swans and coots and ibis. Most of them made tracks when we got close, though they seemed more resigned than afraid. The sky was dark with clouds and the lake took on a violet grey hue. By the time I put violet grey on my drawing it had started to rain. It eased up for a while as we walked back past a group of grazing swans, enough for us to take photos and have a short mostly one way conversation with them. The ground was a minefield of swan and general waterbird poop. Shoes were wiped before driving commenced.

Thanks to some intuitive and optimistic navigation, we found ourselves in Subi and stopped for a cuppa and some drawing-tweaking before heading home.

Brush pen, watercolour and raindrops.