Snow day

It's a snow day here in Wakefield, excited to go out walking in the icy wet stuff. Floating on by. The wetlands are quiet and the absence of people is nice. There are birds on the river that make the odd call, even the noise of the nearby M1 Motorway is dampened. Most of the walk around the Calder Wetlands is through an inch of mud path, with that and the ice it's not long before my 10 year old, go anywhere action boots start to leak. I have woollen sock on so it's not that uncomfortable but I would hate to have no home to go to, no way of warming my wet feet up at some point soon.

Trying to walk over untrod grass I am walking by the lakeside which attracts the attention of two swans, shadow following in the hope of a chocolate biscuit or croissant or whatever it is that they eat at around 11am. Our paths  are set to cross as I am tenderly feeling my way through mud and grass. One of the swans waddles up behind me with a hiss. Up close they are bigger birds than you would think.

Again, made with pencil, dip pen and india ink, watercolour, coloured pencil and white acrylic ink. Interestingly my scanner is not coping with the the subtle colour blue grey and shifts it to a depressing, wet day out, green hue. I don't mind - it suits the content. The image above is reordered to fit a landscape format and slightly tinkered with in Photoshop to enhance the colour.