Subject matter grows scarce in winter, so for the past few weeks I’ve been spending my spare afternoons on the waterfront in Burlington. LaSalle Marina is always teeming with waterfowl looking for a handout, making scopes and other cumbersome equipment unnecessary. Feeders along the shoreline attract a few songbirds as well, although their apparent tameness only seems to apply as long as they think you’re not paying attention. Scores of Trumpeter Swans winter here, sustained by the volunteers who come by several times a day to scatter corn for them.
If I’m feeling particularly masochistic, I’ll head out to the pier at the Burlington lift bridge for hundreds of Long-tailed Ducks. I don’t typically wear gloves while sketching, but within a few minutes I’m usually unable to hold a pencil any longer and I give in. An hour of biting wind off the lake and I’m usually good for another week, but there’s a deranged enjoyment to be had in this solitude.
