Florida Softshell

I had the opportunity to sketch from a live model last week.... a female Florida Softshell turtle.

An amazing critter.  The females can grow to 24 3/4 inches long!!  This gal was in a dishpan while I sketched.  Every now and then she'd stretch her neck and look over the side.  I'd gently tap the dishpan with my foot and she'd tuck her neck back in.

My Peterson Field Guide says that the Softshell is the heaviest and bulkiest of all the North American Softshells, but the species with the smallest range.  Here in Beaufort County South Carolina, we are at the top of it's range.  It continues south to include all of Florida and stretches west to Alabama.  Its range is kind of triangle in shape.

I saw my first Softshell about a year ago. A delivery man had stopped his truck to aid one across the street.  Upon seeing the turtle, I had to pull over, too.  Never before had I seen such a large, strange looking turtle!  He kept trying to pick it up.  The turtle would gather its legs from underneath and lunge into the air!  Feisty one!  Well, when I reached down and gently stroke my model's shell, the same thing happened..... Okay.  I get it.... Do Not Touch the Carapace of a Softshell :)

Wood Storks, Anhinga and Ibis.... Oh my!

Back view of a Wood Stork tending eggs in its nest.

I treated myself and spent the good part of last Saturday at the rookery on Spring Island.  I arrived at 11 a.m. and didn't leave until 4 p.m.!

I toted my birding scope and camp stool to a wonderfully shady spot and set up my portable studio.

The scope is pointed at Wood Storks that are on the ground.   You can see the rookery area in the upper left of the image.  Those tiny white specs are storks.

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When I first arrived I made quick sketches of several different rookery birds in my 8.5 x 11 Stillman and Birn Alpha Series Journal.  The Anhinga was sketched using the 'snap shot' method and I used the blind contour technique for the White Ibis and the juvi Wood Stork.  It was quite warm and most of the birds either had their mouths open, or wings held high and wide to cool off.

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I noticed an adult Wood Stork near the top of the rookery tending eggs in its nest, its back to me. He/she would carefully nudge and rotate the eggs.  I started the above sketch using blind contour, then finished up with my favorite modified contour (you get to peek and adjust).  I so love having a birding scope.  Upon close study of this Stork, I noted the black of its wings had a wonderful dark green color mixed in with the black. I loaded the waterbrush with Holbein Royal Blue and laid it in the darkest areas of the wings, then added hookers green and burnt sienna to mix and mingle with the blue.  I love mixing colors directly on the Alpha paper.

In between sketching and painting I did a lot of observing.  I even attempted digi-scoping with my iPhone and am quite pleased with the results!  There is enough detail for me to use these photos to sketch from - please feel free to do the same!

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The storks are so odd looking that they are cute! Their feathers look down like at this stage of life.  Love their white legs, too :)  Note the closeness of the nests. And, all the while the juvi's are callling... "Wha, Wha, Wha!"

A lot of the adults kept their wings up and open like this to shield their chicks and eggs from the sun. You can see a bit of this adult's wing in teh previous photo.

The male Anhinga's breeding plumage is stunning.  What really caught my eye were the wispy golden feathers that were on its head and neck.  Of course when I settled in to sketch this beauty, he felt the need to go hunting for his charges...  I wasn't able to get a proper look at his wing patterning or his feet, so I went from memory... don't look real close :)

The Anhinga and Great Egrets all had their mouths open and their cheeks were fluttering.  I learned later that the part of their head/cheek area is call a gular and what they were doing to keep cool is gular fluttering.  Love learning new things!

Sparkleberry in Spring

 Yes, just because a sketch is made in the spring doesn't mean the page gets finished then :)  I got caught up in some research about May Day.

There was a lot of room left on the paper when I finished my plein air pen and watercolor sketch. And, since it was May Day and the sketch of Sparlkeberry... Well you know, just that tree's name on my tongue makes calligraphic notes sing in my head! I decided to settle into a more controlled environment to finish the dressing on this May Day page.

A tissue paper overlay is a great way to experiment with the placement of other elements you want to add to your page. It keeps the paper from being compromised from too much erasing.

The trick is matching the same placement that you like on the overlay. There are transfer papers you can use, or you can flip over the overlay and trace what's on the front side using a very soft pencil. Once finished, flip it back to the original side,lay it over your journal page and retrace your original lines with a sharp pencil. Lift the overlay tissue off of your journal page and your lettering will/should be on the paper beneath.


But, I know from experience that I lose total spontaneity when I use these methods. My lines become stiff as I get caught up in left brain control. I honor my free flowing plein air sketch too much to let that happen. I want all the elements to compliment that freedom. So I guess-ti-mate :)

My version of cooking without a recipe :)

Click on images to enlarge :)

Rookery Visit - Pam Johnson Brickell

Ever since I saw my first Wood Stork I've wanted to observe, sketch and photograph them throughout their nesting cycle.

This year I got my wish :)

For the first time ever recorded, Wood Storks chose to nest on Spring Island! Yeah! They're relatively close by and I have access!

My first trip to check out the rookery was back in June. I saw a few hatchlings and some Storks were still sitting on eggs.

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I had just purchased a Platinum brush pen from JetPens and tried it out in my Aqua Bee sketchbook.

Yesterday, Rob and I arrived at the rookery around 8:30 a.m. The day promised to be steamy. We walked past black vultures that were standing on the ground.  We were ho hums to them. That's what I love about Spring Island. Wildlife is revered there and everything/one lives in harmony. The rookery was teaming with activity. Snowy egrets, Black-crowned Night Herons, Great Egrets, Little Blue Herons, Anhinga and Wood Storks were in the trees. Most of the sounds, or should I say the loudest, came from the juvi Wood Storks. Music to my ears :)

During my June visit, I sat close to a sand trap and suffered many a red ant bite. This time I set up my chair and scope well away from from the sand. I dowsed my self in sunscreen proir to leaving the house and now bug spray. Yuck, but necessary.

Here are my on-location sketches. The ants found me anyway and they paid no attention to bug spray! I was so warm I kept fogging up the eyepiece of my scope. I managed to get a few good digi-scope images early on.
Not real sharp but good enough for my reference purposes. I used the begging juvi to fill a spot on the right side of the journal page.

If you look real close at the photo you will notice a juvi with it's beak
pointed straight up to the adult's head. The beak blends with the dead tree.

Early Morning Sketching

©2011 Carolyn A. Pappas, 7-17-11 Nature Sketching (Wooded Area). Ink and watercolor in large watercolor moleskine.

We are in the middle of a heatwave here in New England. This makes life very uncomfortable, especially since a lot of homes don't have central air conditioning. I have been holed up indoors with the window a/c running or even going to the mall or the library to take advantage of their a/c. I am not particularly interested in going outside at all and nature sketching feels like an extreme sport, but I did manage to get outdoors early in the morning last weekend. At 6:30 am it was getting hot already, and the dew had even dried from the grass!

I normally don't sketch so early in the morning, but I must say that I liked it. There were no cars on the highway to make extra noise in the distance and all I could hear were the birds and the flies buzzing around. The birds were so loud I thought I was in an aviary, but unfortunately I didn't spot any. I set up my little stool near a section of woods where a sort of path has been cleared. The light created a nice dappling effect. I didn't set out to draw a scene exactly like what I was viewing, but I wanted to pick up on some of the details and try to capture the shapes and textures. Some things I noticed were the pine and maple saplings, lots of old leaves from last fall, broken twigs and small pieces of rotten wood. Little bits of blue sky were peeking out from behind the trees in the distance. Thankfully the mosquitoes weren't bothersome even though it was almost completely windless.

Garden Companions - Pam Johnson Brickell

Enjoying a day on Conesus Lake in western NY. Hostas abound in a shade garden. Mother Nature sprinkled in the perfect aster to compliment the purple of the hosta.