Skywhale and Skywhalepapa will be making an appearance on Monday morning - Canberra Day - launching from John Dunmore Lang Place.

Although tickets are exhausted for the entire balloon spectacular, meaning you can't get close to them unless you have a ticket, the balloons can still be viewed from vantage points around the city, including the lake foreshores, Mount Ainslie and the National Arboretum.

The balloon flights are weather-dependent, so look for updates on enlightencanberra.com/balloons, Enlighten Festival's Facebook page or the Events ACT Twitter account from 6.15am each day for flight information.

And there is another way to enjoy Skywhale and Skywhalepapa.

Canberra artist Mick Ashley captured Skywhale soon after its unveiling, for the Centenary of Canberra in 2013. His image was of Skywhale as a kind of B-grade movie monster "from Centenia", terrorising the good citizens of Canberra with an unabashed crash-entry.

Now, Ashley has created a companion piece, a print and poster of Skywhalepapa - "Papa Came Home ... And he brought the kids with him". And he's a much less malevolent and more cuddly rendition, although still a little bit of a foreboding presence, looming over Parliament House.

"It's been eight years since Skywhale graced our capital and the reaction at the time was such that I was inspired to create a satirical take on how the general public viewed her," Ashley said.

"Now that Skywhalepapa has joined the party, it seemed fitting to unite them together at last."

Not that all Canberrans get their appeal.

"I still have friends that just don't want to gel with the Skywhale phenomenon and that's quite fine," Ashley said.

"I happen to love them both, inflated warts and all."

See more at mickashley.com.au.