Grasses, Sage and a Little News - Laura Gillis

I think I may have mentioned before how much I like the grasses... so, here are a couple of pages of grasses with a little sage thrown in there (‘cause I liked it a lot). These were all found in Mueller State Park, Colorado.

From left to right: Unidentified - this looked a lot like wheat but was different; Witchgrass,Panicum capillare; Letterman Needlegrass, Stipa lettermanii; Orchard Grass, Dactylis glomerata; Purple Reed Grass, Calamagrostis pinpurascens or Spike Trisetum, Trisetum spicatum; Fringed Brome Grass, Bromus (Bromopsis) ciliatus; and on the far right, the very fragrant and beautiful Arctic Sage, Artemisia arctica.

These are my best guesses on the names... adding to the challenge of identifying the grasses is the fact that it was late for most of these and the flowers and seeds were already gone. Sometime I would like to find a botany book that has photos or drawings of plants post flowering. So many books focus only on the flowers and if the flowers aren’t there, you are just out of luck.

This is the last of the Colorado vacation sketches. I will be back sketching Texas and maybe some more bugs now that we are back home.

I do have some exciting news about the bug sketches and sculptures though... Bob Phillips and a crew from the Texas Country Reporter show came to visit me yesterday and the bugs and I are going to be on an upcoming episode! (Most likely in December.) The crew came up and filmed me most of the day and Bob did the interview sitting in my workshop with me, the bugs and Shorty the dog. It was really exciting and I have a whole new appreciation for people who do that kind of thing. I was wiped out at the end of the day but I am anxious to see how it all turns out.

Pen & ink on hemp paper in the nature journal

Summer madness in Winter! - Maree

“In the depths of winter I finally learned there was in me an invincible summer.”
- Albert Camus



Isn't it amazing how our palettes take on the colours of our seasons? During Autumn I was celebrating the change of seasons with bright browns, oranges and yellows. As we're experiencing the cold of Winter here in South Africa now, my palette has been consisting of browns, greys, cold blues and dry yellows, even black, depicting Mother Earth as she struggles through the short days and long nights, hoping for Spring once more.

I actually started sketching some of the grasses in a corner at my pond, they had these gorgeous feathery tufts on them, but I've been longing to use some of my favourite colours - like the Alizarin Crimson here and there was quite a bit just sitting there in my palette, so, breaking out of my "seasonal rut", I just did a quick dab of colour to brighten my day!

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.

S.A. Grasses 1 - Maree Clarkson

We need the tonic of wildness…We can never have enough of nature…We need to witness our own limits transgressed, and some life pasturing freely where we never wander.

- Henry David Thoreau

South African Grasses
"Restio - Thamnochortus sp" - watercolour in Moleskine Watercolour Notebook

The first impression is one of sombreness. But as the breeze moves, the Restio plant's colours flash through the blades - khaki, terracotta, chocolate. Gardeners world-wide are captivated.

graphite-free doodling by Vicky Williamson

graphite-free doodling
Originally uploaded by vickylw

I didn't post this earlier, not being sure whether it "counted" --- I cut this bit of grass to bring inside to sketch instead of working outside. If I'm outside for any length of time in the summer, I fight intense insect-bite allergies for 2 - 3 weeks after. (OK, I'm a wimp)

I love the gracefulness of these weedy grasses. Our small yard is more weed than grass; too bad there's no native bluestem grass. That kind of grass is gorgeous!

Roadside Grasses - Lin Frye

Roadside Grasses
Originally uploaded by linfrye

Daily Practice
Journal

I have always been fascinated by wildflowers --- in fact, my foray into botany began by wondering about the names of those flowers and weeds I saw growing along the roadsides. My curiosity lead me to take my first botany class, and I've been 'hooked' ever since.

This time of year when lawnmowers tend to leave a patch or two along the ditches, the multitude of grasses and flowers grow up in profusion in colors that announce the season - sepia, sienna, brown, gold, yellow, tapioca, yellow, green. My drives around rural North Carolina find more and more to observe and enjoy. This painting was done from memory of those drives. I was trying to capture that tangle of color and the dominence of one or two of the tallest grass varieties ... all against the fall sky. I love this time of year.

Today we rest. I didn't catch the news last night and can't tell whether the sun is trying to come out or we're in for a bit of rain. Regardless, chores are basically behind us and today will be a quiet one as we gear up for another busy week.

Happy Sunday!

Lin Frye
North Carolina

Texas Grasses

I have been trying to learn to identify the different grasses for a long time now and it is pretty slow going -- so much variety (and such teeney, tiny flowers!). I am pretty satisfied just knowing the common names so that is all I have put on these at this point. These three pages are some of the grasses that are growing in my yard.... and yes, my yard is a little bit wild (especially since all the rain we have been having in North Central Texas). But I like it that way! 

Just in case you can't read the writing, the grasses are:  

Page 1: Virginia Wild Rye and Rescue or Brome Grass

Page 2: Downy Brome, a mystery grass and my favorite Buffalo Grass

Page 3: Wild Oats and Windmillgrass

These are ink & watercolor on the hemp paper in the nature journal.