The world brightened quickly around noon when the morning fog finally burned off. As soon as it did the dogs and I set out for a much needed sunny hike. Water was still running off our high hill and down the small gully in the middle of Old Thompson Road, swirling and dancing over small waterfalls as it sought lower ground. Water droplets still on branches sparkled in the sun. It was warmer than I thought it would be and not as windy as predicted, so within the first five minutes my fleece jacket had to come off. Whew! I also headed for the pine woods to let the shady coolness counteract my decision to wear Smart Wool long underwear! The soggy needles and leaves were spongey. They made no sound as we wound our way through the trees with a Downy Woodpecker leading the way, flying from tree to tree. We crossed a swollen Meetinghouse Creek, and headed up the other side. On the highest hill I accidentally relocated an interesting old sourwood tree and was just as surprised and excited as the first time. The trunk has deep furrows broken into fat chunks of bark. The branches twist and turn and cross each other in a beautiful pattern, and seen against today's blue sky it was quite striking. And it was just what I wanted to draw. I walked all around and found a good angle. I put my waterproof pad down, folded my fleece jacket and put that down for added comfort. I settled down to work. Out came my box of pens. I carefully picked out one of the new ones and then located my reading glasses in my pocket. Then... Something was missing. My journal. There was no journal in the backpack. I'd had it out for Monday's post and didn't put it back into the backpack. Geeze. Nothing to do but admire the tree a while longer then pack up and go home. By the time we got back to the house the wind had really picked up. I retrieved my journal from the kitchen and wandered back in our woods a while. The wind kept getting stronger. It really roared! I finally decided I should NOT sit around under old trees in high wind. Sure enough, within five minutes after leaving the hill I heard a loud crack and turned in time to see a huge branch fall out of the top of one of the large oaks and land with a heavy THUD right where I'd been considering sitting. OK! Good decision. For safety's sake I sat myself down in the driveway, one of few spots around Middlewood with no trees, to draw part of a large branch that had fallen in the woods due to the jelly fungus that covered it. The fungus grows on dead branches during summer, looking like dry, mushroom-like scales. When the winter rains begin, bringing days of rain instead of just hours, the jelly funguses plump up into a slimy, jiggly, heavy mess. They grow too heavy for the dead branch to support. Crack! down they come. On closer inspection I found another fungus (Honeycomb) and various lichens on the small piece I'd picked up. I've always been fascinated with lichens and have wondered about the weird jellies I see in our woods, so this was a particularly fun day...first hiking, then drawing, and last but not least, learning.

Yesterday, at lunch, the Spring Island Landscape Ecologist, whom I share office space with, asked me if I'd like to see one of our resident's garden.... I grabbed my sketch bag before he even finished his sentence :) We were only there for 30 minutes, 20 of which I painted like a mad woman :) Once back at the office, I added the lettering and little Otto. I hope to return back to this garden in a few weeks. Autumn is a splendid time for blooming wildflowers and Ann's garden is loaded with native wildflowers. She has one small butterfly garden area that contains some non-natives... thus the Mexican Cosmos.. but otherwise it's filled with wonderful grasses and every type of wildflower you can imagine. This is one of the gardens that Spring Island's Native Plant Project features for garden club tours. Our next Native Plant Sale is October 20th. If you are in the lowcountry area of South Carolina, do stop by. The island is open to the public that day!

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Sketching my life and sharing the experience

Nature is fleeting: Flowers fade. Leaves fall. Soon snow will cover everything. But keeping a nature journal is a great […]

They're bound to give you wanderlust.

I always associate lavender with France, Italy & England. But yesterday we visited a Maine lavender farm! After a beautiful ride through green, green, green, woods, farms & fields, overlooking rivers & lakes & the Camden Hills to the east, we arrived at a 26 acre farm in Appleton, nestled in rolling meadows & filled with French & English lavender, flower gardens, bird houses, & old oak trees, not to mention happy wanderers. Glendarragh Farm is open to the public only 3 days a year, during the harvest. Young student farm workers guide you , explain the growing, harvesting & drying processes, and share some history of how the farm came to be. The gift shop, in an old barn, allowed us to bring back home a little healthy, therepeutic, aromatic, cheerful Lavender, in my case, in the form of a bouquet. The Glendarragh Farm Lavender shop on Camden's Main St. is open year round! When the front door is open, enchanting, enticing fragrance wafts out the door & lures me in, to luxuriate in the scents of dried lavender, & lotions & balms, made by Glendarragh's owner. They are interspersed with lovely treats such as blue & lavender scarves, pottery, sachets, & candles... The Fourth of July: It was a, pastoral, lavender filled summer day...

Lara Gastinger is a botanical artist and illustrator in Virginia who keeps the most inspiring sketchbook. I found her work on instagram (@laragastinger), where each week she usually posts from her “perpetual journal”, a weekly journal and sketchbook (now two books) that she’s been keeping for over

Yesterday, the pigeon orchids at our residence bloomed. They smelled so good but, too bad, the flowers withered in a day. Since I want to make botanical artworks of Indonesian orchids during my stay in Yogyakarta, I took this available specimen for a rehearsal. I made a study sketch on it. I found that I need to understand, not only how to paint, but the plant itself. I felt ashamed that as an Indonesian I know nothing about orchids whereas Indonesia is one of the world's richest country of orchids species. I hope I can manage my time between the project and my pregnancy. *fingers crossed :)

Download the watercolor drawing, set of transparent ribbons and bows in pink color. holiday decoration collection 26289144 royalty-free Vector from Vecteezy for your project and explore over a million other vectors, icons and clipart graphics!

I am not a jogger. I like the idea of it however, and have tried to go for a few runs this year. While on holiday, it was a beautiful evening, Louise went for a run, and so I went for a run... with a difference! I packed some sketching kit in a brilliant art bum bag that my neighbour gave me recently to see if I could make use of it. I took my small watercolour set, an A6 sketchbook, my new graphite stick, a water brush and some other pens and bits and pieces (just in case!). It was such a beautiful evening and the sun broke through the cloud for the most spectacular golden hour while we were out. I stopped at a wooden gate - the perfect width to balance my sketchbook and paints on.

An illustrated travel journal is a wonderful way to capture the story of your adventures in both words and pictures. Here's how.

Sometimes we don’t even know what we need until we are in the midst of a moment… That happened to me today. A slow waking from an uneasy night of sleep… my head has been full lat…

The dogs and I headed out on a hike midmorning, and while the sun was hot at times, the wind felt quite chilly when I sat in the shade to draw. I was very glad to have brought a sweat shirt along. Lots of butterflies fluttered about. I saw a Tiger Swallowtail, a Zebra Swallowtail, Spring Azures, Checkerspots, Duskywings and a Mourning Cloak. The Blue Jays and Crows were so noisy it was hard to detect other birdsongs. JAY! JAY! JAY! CAW! CAW! Two crows talked back and forth to each other for the longest time, with a sound that was nothing like a caw. Crows are amazing and very intelligent birds. They can imitate not only other birds, but also certain elements of human speech. Some of their vocalizations sound weird. I was sitting at the edge of the woods, in the shade of pines. The field in front of me was in full, hot sun and hosted many buzzy locusts, probably Carolina Locusts. I often see their black wings with yellow border when they leap away from me as I walk through the grass. Today their rhythmic buzzes reminded me of summer, which is almost here. Nearby, a clump of Carolina Jessamine grew intertwined with brambles. I couldn't get close enough to draw those beautiful blooms, but at one side of the clump, a branch of the Jessamine with two yellow flowers stuck out one side of the thorny brambles. Those would do! As I drew in my journal, Daisy and Radu, who had been cavorting about and chasing unseen but suspected wildlife, settled down for long naps on either side of me. Ahhh... Faithful dogs, wind in the pines, refreshing breeze, warm sun, noisy crows, buzzy locusts... oh, and did I mention Nekot Crackers for a snack? All in all a delightful morning!

Noodler's flex pen and watercolor... Our old cabin is surrounded by walnut trees; for years I'd watched the woodpeckers build their homes above my head, knowing that they'd hollowed out the tree beside the deck. This winter, our howling winds took out the top of this one, and I dragged it up onto the deck to sketch. This particular nest had two entries...the one near the bottom of the photo probably led to another hollow like the one between these two... Our friends were out cutting wood--another tree that had fallen near the cabin--and Joseph was fixing the broken window, so I sat on the deck and sketched.

I made a decision several months ago to give up the commission side of my art business. As my calendar had filled with teaching engagements and trips to far-flung places, it became more and more difficult to find time to squeeze in the labor-intensive custom artwork. But when my friend Mary approached me a few […]

This is my first contribution to the Sketching in Nature group and I'd like to introduce myself. The main medium I've worked in for many yea...

Original Ink and Watercolor ©Michelle Rummel

4.05

It's been lovely having mourning doves in the yard, lately...around here they're more likely to be in more suburban or rural areas. Being able to watch them so closely reminded me how similar they are to the extinct passenger pigeon. I recently found this rough sketch, left, on the back of an old bank deposit slip...I did research years ago for an article for Country Living Magazine, and drew on what I had with me!

Today was so beautiful! A front came through and dried up the humidity of the weekend and blew a steady breeze through the trees all day. The sky was deep, clear blue. Around midday I headed through the woods to the top of the hill, where Old Thompson Road meets the pipeline. This spot almost always has more than just a regular breeze, probably because the open field that stretches from east to west is like a highway for the wind. Sure enough, a cool, stead wind blew across this pine-shaded spot. I spread a beach towel out and settled down to draw. Daisy and Duke stretched out for a nap nearby. It was heavenly. It's hard to believe the end of the week highs are supposed to be near 105 degrees. I hope they are wrong. In another corner of Middlewood, we've had hungry visitors return to my flower garden after a 20 year absence. When we first moved out here we lost some day lilies for two summers, then it stopped. Perhaps our other dogs did a better job of keeping wildlife away than our present combination of Daisy and Duke. From the look of my garden, I'd say it's a whole family of white-tailed deer nibbling in the night. The only deer I've seen in person, during the day, is tiny and delicate. I call her Bambi, and I no longer care about the flowers. There are enough blooms left for us to enjoy, and the tiny fawn can have her greens. I hope to get a photo of her soon. Stay tuned... The phlox Bambi forgot to eat. The hydrangea Bambi couldn't reach.

Descrizione Elegante arte ad inchiostro e acquerello dell'anatomia del mondo marino. Quest'opera interamente realizzata a mano rappresenta lo studio anatomico dei tentacoli del polpo nei suoi dettagli. Note e linee di costruzione accompagnano il disegno conferendo carattere e originalità all'opera. Lasciati coinvolgere da un’arte unica & originale!

Aquabee sketchbook (Super Deluxe Professional Series) 9x6 in, (22.86x15.24 cm), Sakura Pigma Sepia pens, pencil, General’s Kimberly watercolor pencils. Blogged here: Sketching in Nature