Blue-footed booby Sketch in Galápagos

I just arrived from my last trip to Galapagos islands;

this is a watercolor painting on a Moleskine watercolor sketchbook

hope you like it!

Happy Spring

With muck boots on, off I went into the woods that flank the east side of our home.  We always have deer in our front and back yard.  I wanted to see where they live.  This is a good time of year to traverse the woods.... no bugs to speak of and that particular morning was cool enough that I didn't think any snakes would be out.

I photographed the page-in-process as I sat beside the marsh watching a few Little Blue Herons and Snowy Egrets feeding.

All in all, a delightful Sunday morning walk!

Happy Spring!

Happy Tree

Autumn colors still strutting their stuff here in the lowcountry of South Carolina.  Lots of trees have lost their leaves but the Crepe Myrtles are now fire orange.... yum!

This little Eastern Redbud, Cercis canadensis L., struck me as happy with it's branches reaching toward the sky. It's smattering of leaves like icing on the cake :)

Sketching and painting at Fakahatchee Strand

Fakahatchee grassy marsh, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

“There are still remnants of the old wild Florida. There is always something. Anytime. Day or night, cold or warm, in the rain or shining sun you can find bits of the old wild left around, if you can only get away from your fellow man for a spell.” ~ Archie Carr

One way to rediscover the old wild Florida is to visit Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park, which I did as part of the En Plein Art – Arts in the Fakahatchee event last Saturday. Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park has many different types of habitats: strand swamp, marl prairies, cypress strands, tropical hardwood hammocks where one can find royal palm groves, pine rocklands, and even an estuarine system. A group of us met on the south side of US 41, just across from the Big Cypress Bend Boardwalk, where an old remnant of the highway bordered a vast sea of gold and green grasses.

There were remnants of charred cabbage palms along the roadside, with interesting textures. I found myself sketching one of the palm trunks near the ground because of the dried palms fronds and grasses arranged around it. We are in South Florida’s dry season, and one can find this reflected in the plants and grasses. Things aren’t the crunchy dryness of late spring quite yet, when fire danger is high, but the ground beneath the sea of grasses is only damp, not wet or marshy.

As I painted, I found myself thinking of what it was like when men and women first encountered these habitats, and how their environment shaped their days and nights. Another artist and I walked out into grasses, which was hard going. They were taller than they looked, head height and higher in some places, the ground so low that we couldn’t get to a vantage point for painting. I settled for coming back to the road and painting along the edge, while she remained, creating a lovely intimate watercolor of grasses framing a clear blue sky.

 Off in the distance I observed wood storks flying in low over the grasses. Along the edge of the road, orange, white, and yellow butterflies nectared on the Spanish needles and rattlebox wildflowers in bloom. Overhead flew two large groups of tree swallows in seemingly random patterns. Later a trio of black vultures circled the sky. The sun was out all morning, with clear skies and occasional puffy clouds that soon vanished. Our high was 79 degrees (F)! What a beautiful day!

~ Elizabeth Smith, Naples, Florida, USA

Playful Magpies

I was surprised to observe the behaviour of this family of Australian Magpies, Gymnorhina tibicen. The young one, in the middle with a stick, was playing around with it and the parents , darker in colour, were jumping all around him/her and lying down making strange moves. All three birds seemed to be very interested in the stick. Their behaviour reminded me of dogs playing with each other with a stick... funny Magpies..
http://www.matteogrilli.blogspot.com

Rainbow Lorikeets

It is no wonder that when the 1500s Portuguese explorers, mapping the coasts of Australia, named it Psittacorum regio, the Latin for 'Reign of parrots'. When I first come to Australia I was astonished to see how easily parrots can be seen in any environment, city included in great numbers. In this period of the year, southern hemisphere spring, trees are blooming very generously and lorikeets are very busy taking the best advantage out of this great food opportunity. The Rainbow Lorikeet is probably the most common Lorikeet in Australia, an icon from Darwin to Adelaide. They are also frequent visitors of bird feeders, but they are bold and aggressive to other species chasing every other bird away, this is in fact one of the reasons for the decline of some other bird species where Rainbow Lorikeets are numerous.  Their screeching calls are filling the air, sometimes harsh, sometimes full of joy, to see them darting in the sky is always a pleasure.

 

For the Italian readers, or anybody who reads Italian, I started writing for a website called 'I love Australia', written and managed by Italians in Australia, a website whose goal is to give information about anything related to this country, from immigration to nature, travel and holiday and more: http://www.iloveaustralia.it/

A life bird at the feeder. Whooee!

This morning I sat in our kitchen to try and decide where I was going to walk when the fog lifted. It was 8:30 and there was no sign of sun so I had plenty of time to decide. I looked up at the bird feeder and noticed what I thought was a very large pigeon on it. When I looked closer I saw that it wasn't a rock pigeon (Columba livia). It was bigger, had yellow feet and a yellow and black beak. There was a very faint white bar on the back of her neck with a few iridescent green feathers underneath, which I would have missed if I didn't know to look for them (after consulting David Sibley's Guide to Birds) I got out some paper and began sketching, thinking she would be leaving sooner than later. As I sketched, I noticed how unhealthy she looked and the way she moved her beak as she ate, as though something was caught in her throat. Not to mention the fact that she stayed at the feeder even though I was only 2 feet (61 cm) away from her. An hour later I stopped to walk to the bank with my dog. Still no sun. When I returned at 11 am the sun was finally beginning to show and several birds were lined up on the phone wire above the bird feeder looking down at the mystery bird, who had fallen asleep, preventing them from getting to their morning meal. I went inside and was pleased to see that she had perked up a bit and ate some more seed before flying off at 11:30. I'd already discovered that she was a Band-tailed Pigeon (Columba fasciata), a native to the western United States. Having never seen one before I wasn't surprised to find that these birds are normally found in coastal woodlands here in northern
California. I'll bet that there's a good story about how she ended up at a feeder in Santa Rosa, a good 35 miles from the coast and I hope that whatever ails her is temporary and that she'll be winging her way south for the winter.

As I wrote this post in the late afternoon my husband came to my studio to tell me that she's back at the feeder so maybe she'll stick around for a while.

More information about Band-tailed pigeons:

All About Birds
Wikepedia
Audubon
Whatbird

Painting ferns..

is sort of a meditation. I drew this one first in pencil, then carefully added the watercolor. Most of my work is much looser than this so it was a good exercise in patience and observation for me. I love ferns, especially in the heat of summer when they seem cool and refreshing in the shadows.

I look forward to doing more of these...after I tackle a few Queen Anne's lace blossoms....

by Mary Richmond, Cape Cod Art and Nature

Blue Toadflax

Blue Toadflax, a photo by Teri DC on Flickr.

These 'Blue Toadflax' are blooming along the roadside so I borough one home to sketch. They are such a pretty delicate flower.
They are a light blue violet and belong to the snapdragon family.

They like open, dry and sandy soil so they are at home around here with our sandy soil. They will bloom April through September.

Watercolor seashells - Mary Richmond

 I have been an invited member here for several years but this is the first time I have actually contributed some drawings/paintings. Almost every day I draw and paint either out in nature or from nature and these seashells were some that I collected on a nearby beach on one of my last walks. It is still too cold here on Cape Cod to spend too much time painting outside, especially on the beach so I did these in my studio. Soon enough I will be back outside.

The first ones are moon snails and even though they are voracious predators I find them beautiful. At this time of year is is rare to find a whole one so when I do it always manages to find its way into my pocket.

These are knobbed whelks and although I have painted many whole ones I love the twists and turns of the ones with holes, cracks and even parts missing.

Both pieces are sketched in pencil and painted in watercolor. I write an almost daily nature blog so please stop by at Cape Cod Art and Nature.

Cactus Monday - Out Sketching

DH went golfing and I went along to sketch. I started out at a little lake near there but there weren't any cactus so I went back to the golf course and found these three specimens: Saguaro with lots of bird holes, blooming ocotillo tree (only blooms when it rains or gets water otherwise it just looks like dead sticks.), and a pretty mesquite tree.

It is always so fun to do plain aire painting.

Cactus Monday - Cactus Bloom

Cactus Monday - Cactus Bloom, a photo by Teri DC on Flickr.

The cactus are starting to bloom in Arizona and the colors are so glorious.
I just had to paint this one and I was in a free and easy mood when I did this.
 I like it.

Twenty Minute Challenge for Saturday

I had to do some waiting for DH so I painted the tree and mountains behind it. Took me about 20 minutes. Always something to enjoy in Arizona.

Is It a Pear? Is It An Orange? - Teri Casper

Is It a Pear? Is It An Orange? a photo by Teri DC on Flickr.

When Rose and Tim were here they picked fruit off a neighbor's tree per his request. Rosemary found this one for me to paint. It is shaped like a pear and the color of an orange but it is a TANGELO!

That tangelo has been sitting on my counter waiting for the paint job so I did a journal page with haiku. Very fun

Mountain Snow - Teri Casper

Mountain Snow
Originally uploaded by Teri DC

Since I was so inspired with our snow on Sunday I painted a journal page to commemorate the occasion. I painted the flower to show that while there is snow in the mountains the flowers continue to bloom.

Genova's acquarium

During christmas holiday I've been in genova. In genova there is a big acquarium. Fish dolphin turtles pinguins....My children were so interested and happy that I could have done these sketches

Tucson Mountains

Tucson Mountains
Originally uploaded by Teri DC

We went to the golf range, him for the first time since his surgery, and I went along to paint. I did this plein aire painting of the Tucson Mountains in my 3.5 x 8.5 inch sketchbook. This size is so perfect for a mountain range.

He did just fine golfing and you know I had fun.

Cactus Monday and Pumpkins - Teri Casper

Cactus Monday and Pumpkins
Originally uploaded by Teri DC

Now I have the inspiration of being in Arizona with cactus. When I saw this arrangement at my neighbors I was hooked and got the paints out just in time for Cactus Monday.

"Red Elderberry" - Teri Casper

Red Elderberry
Originally uploaded by Teri DC

Our neighbor came over to show us this 'plant' that he found in a state park and wondered if I knew the name of it. I created such a fuss over how neat it looked with those dried berries he gave it to me.
I googled it and found out it was called "Red Elderberry" and this was in the dried stage.
So I painted it.
And it was so fun to do.

Autumn Wild Grapes - Teri Casper

Autumn Wild Grapes
Originally uploaded by Teri DC

I found this sprig of autumn grapes and liked the combination of the colored leaves with the grapes, so I brought it home to paint.
I like it but I am even more happy the way the background turned out.