The Common Lake Loon

In the spring of the year (usually in April) & then again in the fall (usually October) I take classes from Terry Armstrong an Indiana artist, (click on his name to take you to his website) - a wonderful Indiana Artist.  There are 4 sessions in the spring and 4 in the fall. Our first class for the spring session was a Common Lake Loon.  First time painting this bird for me.  However, this is a bird that I have loved all my life.  From the time I was born, our family vacationed in the Northwoods of Minnesota, up along the Canadian border and in northern Wisconsin along the border with Michigan.  As a small child I would lay awake at night, just waiting to hear the calls of those beautiful birds and I am no different today.  If I were told that today, I would loose my hearing but would be allowed to take 3 sounds with me it would be easy for me to pick those 3 sounds.  The first sound I would take with me would be the sounds of the lake loon, calling across the lake.  The other 2 sounds would be a train whistle, way off in the distance.  As a child I lived near enough to the rail road tracks and station and could hear the sound coming in through my bedroom window as I wondered where the people on the train were going, who they were and why they were traveling.  The 3rd sound that I would take would be the sound of a ship moving through the fog in the night, it's fog horn sounding so haunting in the distance.  It's funny, but I notice these 3 sounds that are my favorite are all haunting, mournful sounds, but they are sounds that call to me.  Sounds that all my life, I have listened for and have loved to hear.