Finally! Mushrooms
I’ve been waiting patiently for mushrooms to come. It’s been hot and humid. It rained. It was humid again. Perfect mushroom weather. Still, I waited. Mushrooms, it seems, have a mind of their own. Some years they come. Others, they don’t. One year there are twenty or more varieties. The next year ten. And then, finally, they appeared. I seized the moment and here’s the result.
Tips and Techniques– If you are a fungi enthusiast—or are intrigued to know more—I highly recommend Drawing and Painting Fungi, An artist’s guide to finding and illustrating mushrooms and lichens by Claire Kathleen Ward (Crowood Press, 2024) Ward’s book is not only amazingly comprehensive and incredibly beautiful, but also a joy to read. It’s illustrated with Ward’s detailed drawings and paintings, as well as artwork by others, including yours truly. I realize that makes me a biased reviewer, but believe me, this book is a triumph.
Drawn In 
I don’t like eating mushrooms, but I can devour your drawings of them. Love the fun you have depicting the varieties of colors and textures!
I’m not a mushroom eater either, but I find them absolutely fascinating and so find to look for and paint. Thanks for your nice note.
Love these paintings. I, too, am always looking. Going out on a limb here with my identification of the following: Aminita, Strobilomyces xerocamellus, and two kinds of Boletes plus others I have seen before. The Strobilomyces was so dark that I just walked into the “garden” of them on the lawn. That book looks wonderful. Thanks for the recommendation.
Identification is such a challenge! I have three different guides now to try to help me narrow in and still I come up short much of the time. The Strobilomyces is fascinating. I just learned about them while trying to identify a toothed fungi.
Your mushrooms are so beautiful! I love drawing them too. I remember your Mushroom class a few years ago and I found so many different ones in my area. Since then, very few. I hope this will be a good year with all the rain we have had. Thanks for the book recommendation.
Thanks Lucille. The book is terrific– I think you’d really like it. I don’t really understand the cycle of mushroom “blooms.” Some seem to come up almost every year, but others not so much. I hope you find a few this year. Conditions do seem like they’ve been perfect.
Thanks for the heads up Jean, I looked up the book.And I really enjoy receiving your lovely paintings and tips. 💕judy
Thanks Judy! The book is terrific!
I really dislike mushrooms as a food but your gorgeous illustrations have definitely made me want to draw them.
I’m with you Janette. But sketching and learning about mushrooms is absolutely fascinating.
So beautiful and I can spot my lovely Russula!
We have green ones, too, but they were mostly eaten by the time I found them. Love the shades of reds and pinks on the Russalas.
Mushrooms on toast for breakfast, so delicious! But only the commercial variety for me. As a child I remember finding the huge edible field mushrooms, but otherwise, all the rest were toadstools = highly poisonous….although beautiful. So I take photos and never touch any that I come across…. 🙃 I love your drawings of them.
You have to be very experienced to be a mushroom forager if you plan to eat them. Definitely not recommended. But drawing and painting them– I’m all in.
These are lovely.
Thanks!
As always, I love your painting. I enjoy drawing and painting mushrooms. Unfortunately, I live in a part of the country where we only have five species. Still it’s amazing to see how they change throughout the day. I looked at the book and think I’ll add it to my collection.
Only five! Yikes…Southwest? There are several thousand species in northeastern North America. I think you’ll enjoy the book!
North Central Texas has 5 species.
That is a stunning fact. Thanks Peggy.
Stunning renditions of these mushroom varieties… and how you captured the colors! Brilliant.
Thanks much. I think watercolor is a perfect medium for layering color for mushrooms.
I love what you do with mushrooms. They almost leap off the page! The colors are just gorgeous, as if you lifted them from the real thing, so accurate. That Russula has the feeling of a pirouetting ballerina – really joyful. Your work learning the species over the years shows, too. I saw a book preview online – it looks very comprehensive! I like her inkcap drawing and the exploding inkcap. Here’s to seizing the moment!
Absolutely. I missed a couple of mushrooms this week because I couldn’t get to them, and there is one new cluster that is screaming at me to paint them. With photography, the light and the moment are fleeting, too, so I appreciate your understanding of the need to be out and seeing.
Wow, screaming mushrooms, a new species. 😉 Sorry!
Good luck with the next batch. We probably won’t see any for a while, given the dry-summer climate, but we did have some rain last week so who knows! 🙂
Hi Jean! By now, you’re probably swimming