On My Desk
Feathery milkweed pods sit on my desk this week next to a stack of field guides, a large tome on the beginnings of modern natural history, and flyers for holiday strolls. Rounding out the desktop: pens, ink cartridges, notes with art class ideas, receipts, and the usual assortment of brushes, pens, and paints. Outside my window: gray, cold December. Tis the season for messy desks, indoor confinement, and more project ideas than time. Amidst the clutter, I’ve been putting a new fountain pen with an extra fine nib through the paces to… Read More
It never gets old
When bird nests are carefully preserved, they can last a long time. The ones you see here were constructed and collected at least 100 years ago. They eventually found their way into the ornithology collection of the New York State Museum in Albany, where they were carefully wrapped with cotton batting, boxed, and stored in metal cabinets. I was thrilled to get a peek inside recently and be allowed to take out several nests to photograph and sketch. I’ll use the photos in upcoming classes and projects, but seeing the real thing… Read More
Black Friday
Today seemed like as good a day as any to switch things up and go all ink. This started with the notion to sketch random things on my desk, but the addition of the nests and a few insects from a very brief visit to the Pember Museum of Natural History rounds out the collection nicely. Art and nature…pretty much what is always on my desk.
Still Bearing Fruit
Last weekend, I cut the last of the frost-wilted flowers, fed the compost pile, and left a few flower heads for the birds. I thought the garden was finished for the season, until I took a second look at the blackened seed heads. They became the perfect subject for testing my new Pilot Metropolitan fountain pen. I love the way the pen glides over the paper—smooth and fine, not scratchy, just a pleasure to use. The ink is not permanent, so I can’t add watercolor to it, but the line quality is… Read More
Workshop and a Sketch
I have a workshop coming up hosted by the Vermont Watercolor Society that I am now able to open to the public! There are only a few spots left, so please e-mail me if you are interested in signing up. Watercolor Journaling Vermont Watercolor Society, Westside Hub Class Saturday, December 8, 2018 10am-4pm Pawlet Public Library, 141 School St, Pawlet, VT 05761 Learn to keep your own artist journal to capture your creative journey and improve your skills as an artist. We’ll share subject ideas, test drive materials, and consider compositions for combining artwork and text to… Read More
In the Brambles
I discovered this American redstart nest back in May. The birds laid four chestnut speckled eggs and by July they were gone. Now, with leaves falling and foliage dying back, I returned to the nest for another view. Still protected by thorns and a tangle of leaves, and a bit weather worn, the nest remains a thing of beauty: perfectly woven with bark and pine needles and threaded with strips of birch and spider webs. What better treasure could there be in the brambles? Tips and Techniques: In the spirit of… Read More
Goldenrod Galls
What began as a simple search for interesting props for my upcoming Sketching Nature workshop, led to a great illustration of how much there is to discover if we only look more closely. Among the things I collected were the dried stems of goldenrod, many of which had classic round goldenrod galls. But I soon discovered other deformities that I hadn’t noticed before: stunted stems with tufts of leaves at the tops, and elliptical-shaped growths on stems. It turns out that more than 50 species of insects—mostly flies, midges, and wasps– lay… Read More
The Beauty of Bulbs
What amazes me about amaryllis is the fact that a homely brown sphere the size of a softball can contain within it the potential for bold red blossoms to burst forth from its interior with a minimum of effort on my part. How incredible! I realize that onions and garlic are capable of similar feats, but it’s hard for them to compete. This is the last day that this particular bulb will fit on an 8-inch page at full size— it’s growing at about a half-inch a day— but you can be… Read More
Nest
I walked out and found the nest in the gravel driveway, not by the step as the poem says, but close enough. Nest by Marianne Boruch I walked out, and the nest was already there by the step. Woven basket of a saint sent back to life as a bird who proceeded to make a mess of things. Wind right through it, and any eggs long vanished. But in my hand it was intricate pleasure, even the thorny reeds softened in the weave. And the fading leaf mold, hardly itself anymore, merely… Read More
Field Guide to Remotes
Here’s a quick sketch I should have made years ago. No attempt at beauty or precision, just a down-n-dirty guide so that I can finally watch a movie without assistance. (My apologies for such a mundane post. I’m working on a large, precise drawing this week and needed to counter the care of that piece with something really fast. I’m still a good number of hours from finishing the former, so my regular journaling is taking a backseat.)
Jean Mackay
The Nature Explorer’s Sketchbook
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