Along the Roadside: November
If you were to walk along the roadside here, you would see a landscape of tawny browns, russets, and grays, mixed with pale ochres and faded greens. But every now and then, a pop of red hangs on, waiting for wind or birds to snatch it away. It’s late November’s palette. I appreciate its bright surprises, glinting in the cold sun. Tips and Techniques- Even when it’s cold, I often take my sketchbook with me when out for a walk. I stop to sketch what catches my attention and hope that a… Read More
Retreat
The sketches I’m posting today are from my weekend teaching at the Botanical Art & Nature Sketching Retreat at the Ashokan Center in New York’s Catskill Mountains earlier in November. Sixty-eight people from all over the country came for the weekend and it was an incredible convergence of artists. I was honored to teach alongside extraordinary botanical artists Wendy Hollender, Lara Call Gastinger, and GiacoMina Ferrillo, and to be in the company of so many warm, enthusiastic, and supportive people. Given my brother’s deteriorating health, I wasn’t sure whether to go but… Read More
I’ll Look for You
Losing a brother is like losing part of yourself– part of your childhood, your growing up, your everyday life. You grieve for yourself and for the future without him, but also for those who lost a friend, a teacher, an uncle. My brother Jim died last Monday night of a progressive and fatal lung disease. His decline over the last few weeks was precipitous and heartbreaking. I’m grateful that we shared many intimate and honest moments together, including on his final day. When I told him how much I would miss him,… Read More
Leaves Down
We know it’s coming; sooner or later, the brilliant colors of autumn leaves will go from trees to ground. After slowly letting go little by little, a strong gust of wind came along last week and blew everything but the oaks down all at once. Suffice it to say, we have a lot of trees surrounding our house and we were blanketed overnight. Which explains this page and why I didn’t post it last weekend. Tips, Techniques, and a Note…After working most of the day last Sunday, I wandered around looking for… Read More
Otherworldly Stars
I’m back in the basement collection of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography’s Benthic Invertebrate Collection this week. Not literally, alas, but channeling row upon row of jars filled with bottom-dwelling spineless creatures from the world’s oceans and drawing upon photos from my visit earlier this year. I’m not striving to bring these brittle stars and sea stars back to life on the page, but rather to highlight their beauty and understand their complexity. Even though they have been “living” in jars for fifty years or more, I like thinking about how they… Read More
Indian Summer
Back in my own habitat this week, I enjoyed sitting and sketching in the field in the warmth of Indian summer sunshine. The goldenrod is in its glory, while other plants are fading. Still, I like showing flowers past peak and I find their curling petals and dried seedheads as worthy of sketching now as when they were in their prime. Tips and Techniques– Consider not only what you want to convey with your subject, but also how you want your page to feel. After sketching this page using a sepia 005… Read More
Diving into Seaweed
How often have you walked along the seashore or a rocky beach and not given a second glance at one of the most important players in the ocean: seaweed. Seaweed, or marine algae, live in the marginal world between the tides and in deeper waters where sunlight still penetrates. Arguably, they are the key to life for the world’s oceans and the larger species that we notice and care about. But as an artist, the variety, color, and beauty of algae are just as fascinating. Seaweeds are identified and grouped by the… Read More
Leap of Faith
With nesting season over and summer on the wane, birds have quietly started to leave us. Most go south, making incredible journeys across land and ocean. But others simply go out to sea, where they spend the winter riding the waves. The beloved Atlantic Puffin is one such seafarer. Along rugged coasts in the North Atlantic, young birds born just this year jump from islands and cliffs where they were reared and head out into the open ocean alone. Their parents do the same, spending the next eight months at sea. I… Read More
Odds and Ends
It’s been much too hot and humid to be outside, let alone sketch outdoors. So, I pulled out some things that I have wanted to paint but haven’t made time for. The seaweed floats are from a trip to California several months ago where I picked them up dry from the beach and stowed them home. I had read that you can rewet seaweed and lo and behold, it’s true! I put them in a tray of water and they went from blackened dried up bits of algae to beautiful floating fronds…. Read More
A Most Intriguing Package
I received a wonderful surprise in the mail last week. Sent to me by a former class participant, the well-wrapped container held two mahogany seed pods—one closed and one open. The mahogany tree has evolved to create a serious package for its next generation—the pods are hard as rock, thick walled, and tightly sealed. When the time is right for them to release their winged seeds into the wind, the pods split open in five segments. Pods that fail to open simply fall to the ground – which is why it is… Read More
Drawn In 