Goodbye Dogwood Berries--Vickie Henderson

The Dogwood limbs are bare now, picked clean by all the berry-loving birds that feast on them-- aided by a squirrel or two. When the Dogwood limbs are bare and the winds turn cold, it's time to put feeders out in Tennessee. (Click image to enlarge...:)Even so, there are still plenty of berries around. Among them, the American Beautyberry. If you've never seen this shrub in the fall, click the link and take a look at this lucious combination of reddish-orange and lilac purple. Only nature could stage such a show of brilliance!

Watercolor on 140# hotpress paper.

a rose on Thanksgiving day

Several times, I have decided to dig this plant up. Although I successfully grew many David Austin English Roses at our old home, this plant has never done well in our present location. Instead of 4 - 5 feet tall, it is only 2 - 3 feet. Instead of covered with roses, we have a bloom maybe once or twice a month.

But how often do roses bloom at the end of November in Kansas? Maybe I'll give it one more chance after all.

This is an exercise for Cathy "Kate" Johnson's current on-line class, Keeping an Artist's Journal.

Finger grass - Maree Clarkson

Nothing belongs to you
of what there is,
of what you take,
you must share.
- Chief Dan George


Common finger grass - Digitaria Eriantha - done in an old soft-cover book

I took and old soft-cover book with me to record little sketches of grasses, weeds and indigenous flowers on our property. I found this finger grass, which is a palatable grass that is regarded as one of the best natural and cultivated pastures (the best known cultivar is Smuts finger grass) in southern Africa. It remains palatable until late in the winter and is often utilised as standing hay.

Chisellers and other marvels

I recently completed a vertebrate zoology lesson on rodents, lagomorphs, and insectivores, only this time I had no live models to sketch from. It was fun nevertheless. And, I learned a lot.
This on the right is a shrew. In 1607, the English naturalist Edward Topsell described this little creature thus: "It is a ravening beast, feigning itself gentle and tame, but being touched it biteth deep, and poisoneth deadly. It beareth a cruel mind, desiring to hurt anything, neither is there any creature it loveth". Hence, the words "shrews", "shrewish", and "shrew", which in the English language describe cunning, ill-tempered, or villanous people. He was wrong, shrews are fascinating. If my photographic references have helped me being faithful to nature, the shrew I portraid is the smallest extant terrestrial mammal, a pigmy white-toothed shrew, weighing only 2 grams (0.07 oz)!

Mice belong to one of the most succesful Orders, the rodents. 42 percent of all mammal species are rodents, and they can occur in almost any habitat, generally in close association to people. Rodents, as their name implies, are expert at gnawing. They have self-sharpening incisors. Their incisors have enamel only on the front and lateral surfaces, so that grinding worns away the softer dentine in the back, transforming the enamel layer in a cutting edge. The incisors of rodents have open roots and grow throughout life, to compensate for wear. I first sketched this field mouse with a biro and then added texture with wax colored pencils.

Hares belong to the Order Lagomorphs, together with rabbits and pikas. The snow-shoe hare moults its fur twice a year and dons a white coat in the winter, for camouflage. Hares are expert runners, and their strategy in avoiding predators is exactly that, outrunning them. Some of the longer legged hares can reach a speed of 72 km/h (45 mph), while shorter-limbed rabbits hide in dense cover or in underground burrows.

Have a nice day everyone!

Barbara Bacci, Rome

Park Sketching - Carolyn Pappas

Last Sunday I went to the park in my city and sketched these trees while sitting in my car and sipping on (too sweet) coffee. It was a relaxing time and it was quite warm in my car so I didn't notice that it is November. There were a lot of old ladies walking dogs, but otherwise it was very quiet. I tried to keep my color selection down to a minimum so I didn't become overwhelmed with multiple colored pencils, but I actually like the limited palette now that I look at it. It seems very mellow to me, which was how I was feeling at the time.

The trees are all bare now. I was meaning to get out and draw the foliage, but unfortunately I had a bad fall a few weeks ago which kept me from drawing. I did collect some leaves however, and they are now on my side table waiting to be drawn.

Veld fire in Magaliesburg - Maree Clarkson

We were on our way to Magaliesburg the other day and to my amazement! a veld fire sweeping across the hills! Some areas that had not previously burnt were still brown and dry, but it always puzzles me how the fires start in good weather with no lightning. A passerby's cigarette...? We stopped and I did a quick sketch and finished it off from memory once we got home.

Mushrooms in South Africa - Maree

"I am... a mushroom; On whom the dew of heaven drops now and then."

- John Ford

Field Mushroom - 3cm diameter - 4cm tall - watercolour in Moleskine Watercolour sketch-book

This mushroom popped through my lawn and is white with the most gorgeous pink underside and small indented warts on the cap. At the moment it is 1½" in diameter and about 1½" tall - still a baby I think.

After Googling mushrooms, I found that it is an edible field mushroom, (Agaricus campestris) which is related to the edible button mushrooms often used in cooking and salads.

At Gardening Eden, a nursery in South Africa, one can even buy mushrooms to plant in your garden!

Mushrooms belong neither to the animal nor plant kingdom, but form a phylum all on their own. This is due to the fact that unlike plants, fungi are unable to produce their own food through photosynthesis, as they lack chlorophyll, but resemble animals in their ability to draw their sustenance from animal and plant matter which is dissolved by enzymes and ingested.

Current estimates put the number of species in the fungal kingdom at approximately 1.5 million, in comparison with, for example, flowering plants at 250,000 species.


(Photo by Pamela Kaminski)



P.S.: I forgot to mention that I wouldn't even think of trying to eat it, just in case! There are many similar mushrooms which are deadly.

Hibiscus by Jane LaFazio

November in California is most often gorgeous, and yesterday was no exception. I spent a couple of hours, with a student, at a nearby winery painting. 5x7" ink and watercolor. http://www.JaneVille.blogspot.com

Bald Cypress - Pam Johnson Brickell

Last Saturday, I took time out to capture the Bald Cypress in our back yard. These wonderfully lacy trees are a favorite of mine. In the fall, their green leaves turn russet closest to the trunks while the ends of the branches struggle to remain green.

I used both Derwent watercolor and metallic pencils along with brown Micron pens. The yellow metallic #86 was the perfect color for the yellow green leaves. Other metallic colors used: copper #86 and antique gold #33. Watercolor pencils used: Copper Beach #61, Golden Brown #59, Deep Vermilion #14, Orange Chroma #10, Grass Green #10 and Prussian Blue #35. And a titch of General's Sketch & wash pencil on the trunk.

Sweet Gum - Laura Gillis

Hello all! It has been a while since I have posted anything here but I finally got something done that qualifies to be here! My latest project has been to do a daily sketch of my dogs or cat and post on my blog (yellowcatart.blogspot.com) but I gave them a break last night and sketched this leaf instead. I want to do this in color soon too.... it has the most beautiful green and maroon colors.... I just love fall. There are some years we go straight from summer to winter with only a few fall days in between but this year we have been lucky to have a longer fall and the leaves have been so pretty.

Pencil in generic sketchbook.

winery pods

winery pods
Originally uploaded by janelafazio

Pods drawn and painted at the nearby winery. (Just drank coffee--Too early for wine, unfortunately!)
Http://www.JaneVille.blogspot.com

Point Lobos, California - Gay Kraeger

Christina Lopp and I teach a class in keeping an illustrated journal every year at Asilomar near Monterey California. It is a beautiful place to teach a class. Normally I don't have time to work in my journal because I am teaching, but this year we had a half day to go out and draw in public somewhere nearby. I managed to convince a couple of students from San Diego that they needed to see Point Lobos. It says on the brochure that it is the "greatest meeting of land and water in the world" I don't know about that but it is pretty spectacular. It was even more spectacular because of the ten to twenty foot waves that were cascading over the Point Lobos rocks.

Rainy Trip Through Florida - Lin Frye

Rainy Trip Through Florida
Originally uploaded by linfrye

Daily Practice
Journal
Car-Painting

WE MADE IT!! Thank heavens for the safe drive through three states, blustery winds, rain, and bits of fog and car spray. Driving in such conditions was a bit trying, but we made it safely, thank HEAVENS, and arrived at Mom's to find her looking good, if a bit tinier and a bit less steady on her feet. This was one of the views we saw -- when it wasn't raining too heavilly!

We stopped to see the grands en route -- and they were wonderful!! Riley is already crawling at lightning speed and will probably be walking by Christmas. Taylor and I painted this morning ... if briefly .... and then we had to hit the road.

Hope your holiday week is wonderful!

Lin Frye
North Carolina

A Fun Chipmunk Finish--Vickie Henderson

It's funny how you set a painting aside while you "think about it" and time goes by.

Lots of time. In fact, May through October went by! But I never put the painting away. It was always looking at me when I entered the kitchen, my temporary studio. (Click on images to enlarge.)

Time is always an issue but as I think about it, the pine needles were also giving me a bit of hesitation. What finally motivated the painting's finish was my desire to complete my Red-shouldered Hawk project which began last February, a wonderful five-month experience observing a pair of Red-shouldered hawks during nesting season. I wanted to include this painting in my sketchbook slideshow.

I began the foreground with a light wash saving the ivy leaves. This was followed with negative painting--painting between the needles to save the lighter colors and create depth. To finish, I added some darker painted needles and a bit of splatter.

Painting is always a learning process for me, part of the fun and challenge. So much of what I do is unplanned and intuitive, even though I do consider how I want to approach the subject. In this case, I discovered that the water used in splattering faded some of my darker needles and I had to repaint them. Next time I might try splattering just before I add the final details and maybe add a bit more pigment to my splatter.

Sketchcrawl - at local farm

I had my boy as a team member and lots to sketch :)

In June I sketched flowers of this tree and even wrote down the name - today I ate a few fresh and delicious feijoa fruits from that tree ;)

Here is my June sketch:
www.flickr.com/photos/23173190@N07/3711344053/in/set-7215...


I am not sure if this is a chestnut and if this is Amaranth though... But theu look pretty close ;)