Mother Lode
After a season marked by a dearth of mushrooms I found a mother lode of amanita growing under a large spruce tree just down the road last week. They were so colorful and numerous I could hardly wait to go back home and retrieve my sketchbook. When I nestled under the branches later in the day to sketch, I was surprised by the driver of a passing car who rolled down his window and called out—“Amazing mushrooms!” This was a first. I’ve had people slow down to see what I’m doing, and… Read More
Stopped in My Tracks
While out for a run last week, this giant mushroom on the side of the road quite literally stopped me in my tracks. I took a quick look and knew I had to sketch it. Driven by curiosity and enthusiasm, I managed one of my fastest two miles in recent memory completing a loop that led me back to it. The mushroom was so large it wouldn’t fit life-sized in my sketchbook, so I used a 9×12” sheet of watercolor paper. I’ve since returned to the small grouping of mushrooms where this… Read More
In Praise of Precision
It’s nearly mushroom season here in New York, the only time of year that I’m rooting for humidity and rain. I typically work fast to keep up with sketching the variety of mushrooms under our grove of oaks, but for now, I’m taking my time. There’s so much subtlety and beauty in the simple form of a mushroom. It’s a pleasure to look closely and capture it on paper. Tips and Techniques— I did this painting as a demo for my online Mushroom Explosion in Watercolor class using a photo I took… Read More
Mushroom Time
After 48 hours of rain earlier this week: BOOM, it’s mushroom time. I’ve been cataloging mushrooms in our yard for several years (2018, 2020, 2021, 2021) and I am constantly amazed by the number and variety that appear. Most come up under a small grove of oaks along our driveway, but a few show up in the lawn, or in piles of mulch. Mushrooms are the fruiting body of a much larger network of underground thread-like filaments called mycelium. This network is either breaking down and recycling dead stuff, feeding on weakened… Read More
Enough Already!
Two weeks ago, I wrote about the near daily rain we’d been experiencing in Upstate New York, which had been a boon to mushroom growth but not much else. Since then, it’s been more of the same: rain, humidity, and mushrooms. I want to stop sketching them, I really do. But with more colors and varieties sprouting by the day, I just can’t seem to stop. When opportunity arises, I find myself wandering the grove of oaks on our property, looking for the latest species to emerge, and adding them to my… Read More
Mushroom Rains
It has rained nearly every day for a week straight. This is not good if you like summer or swimming or outdoor dining or if you want to cut the lawn every now and then. It’s not good if you like painting outside or if you want your watercolor paints to dry inside without using a hairdryer. What all the rain and humidity is good for is mushrooms. They are fruiting like gangbusters in a myriad of colors, forms, and variety. I went out to sketch them during a blessed break in… Read More
Fortunate Find
How many mushrooms can claim to have multiple websites, several online forums, numerous books, and various t-shirts dedicated solely to singing their praises? If that isn’t enough, how about an annual festival? The answer: only one, the morel. I didn’t know this until I stumbled upon a sizable patch of morels in our back woods this week. I knew they were morels, but until I went looking for more information on their natural history, I had no idea that they were such a highly prized and elusive delicacy. Because they cannot be… Read More
Mushroom Season
Weeks of hot, humid weather followed by a rainstorm or two means it’s time to watch for mushrooms. We had a terrific explosion of fungi in our yard in August two years ago, then none appeared last year; so I’ve been hoping this year would yield another bonanza. I am not disappointed. In the last few days, hundreds of mushrooms have pushed up from the soil under a small grove of oaks and walnuts. Among the benefits of keeping a nature journal is having a record over time of everything from mushrooms… Read More
Spring Arrivals
Early spring is underrated. The splashy colors of daffodils and tulips are still weeks away, as is the return of more prized migratory birds– warblers, tanagers, orioles. The woods, too, show only the slightest hint of green. And yet, despite temperatures that fluctuate between 20 and 55-degrees, between snow and sunshine, spring unfolds in myriad small ways each day. I keep a list of spring arrivals, marking the date and the species. I like to compare my lists from year to year, to anticipate what’s coming next, and to celebrate each small… Read More
Mushroom Explosion
Call me obsessed. I probably deserve it. I have spent nearly every evening this week painting nothing but mushrooms, buying field guides, making spore prints, and staying up late trying to identify my finds. In my defense, a treasure trove is growing before me– new species emerging each day under the grove of oaks that line our driveway. And I know that the intense humidity and rain that brings them out, all too quickly turns them to mush. In the end, my obsession stems from being astonished: I have recorded an impressive… Read More
Jean Mackay
The Nature Explorer’s Sketchbook
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