moss and lichen

This past week has brought thunderstorms through our area, breaking off bits of the local trees. I picked up a couple of broken twigs during a walk yesterday, wanting to sketch the odd moss and lichen growing on them.

Both types grow in abundance on the trees here, but I am not familiar with either one of them. I've been looking for a field guide of moss and lichen but have not found one as yet.

I especially like this tiny lichen that grows on metal boxes and rocks as well as tree branches. An odd shade of pale gray-olive green, it looks a bit fey.

March 2012: Treasures

March 2012: Treasures, a photo by apple-pine on Flickr.

Drawing Mosses and Lichens is something I can do for hours... but trail and companions cannot wait that long - so I grab my book and jump ahead. Sometimes it means colors running all over :)

Scarlet Elf Cups ~ Sigrid Frensen

Winter seems a strange period to go hunting for mushrooms. But there are a few that only can be found in this period of the year. The Scarlet Elf Cup (Sarcoscypha coccinea) is one of them. It loves snow and freezing temperatures. This fungus grows on decaying branches in damp spots on forests floor. It's a rare fungus in the Netherlands... or so they say. Winter, snow, freezing cold and crawling under bushes isn't a very pleasant combination for most people, so it's not surprising it's not such a common sight.

I painted this little group of Scarlet Elf Cups like they were found. On the branches, with moss and dead leaves. I first painted the Fungi because I knew they loved the cold and damp.... not my dry and warm studio. The interior of the cups is bright red and very smooth. The outside is lighter and orange. later they turned even lighter, almost white. Maybe that had something to do with the dry, warm air. They are quite small, about 2 cm.
The hardest part was to paint the moss around the mushrooms. So delicate and fluffy. But I decided not to get into details too much since the focus should be on the fungi. I think I managed to do it. Creating this very tiny little world from the forest floor.