Sometime ago I planned on writing a post about my dad because I consider him the greatest influence on my artistic and nature loving life. I told him I was going to do this because I knew he’d like it. It’s [...]]]>

Me (6th grade) and my Dad at Frost Valley Camp in the Catskills, NY

Sometime ago I planned on writing a post about my dad because I consider him the greatest influence on my artistic and nature loving life. I told him I was going to do this because I knew he’d like it. It’s just last week that I lost my dad as his body gave into the battle of his ailments. I’m so very sad to think about it at all, but thought I couldn’t go forward without an acknowledgement here and now.

My dad and mom loved to go camping and it was when my mom, God love her, was pregnant with me that they went for the first time.  Already having four children under their belt maybe she wasn’t worried about going to the Adirondack Mountains while being seven or more months pregnant! Yikes! So it started early for me, being in nature. Every summer vacation we would go to Lewey Lake in the Adirondack State Park and what wonderful memories it holds for my family. All kinds of wildlife to discover, from Black Bears, Chipmunks and Racoons in your campsite to Mergansers on the lake.

Chipmunks would come up to your hand to eat peanut butter on bread!

Then there was Easter vacation where we would usually head south in that big black station wagon you see in the photo, to the beach in Virginia or South Carolina. It was always camping and always close to nature. The coast held a whole new set of discoveries; I loved hearing the sound of the waves just over the sand dunes where we camped.

Somewhere along the way I got hooked on bird watching and my dad was always there to ask questions of. He knew so much about nature! One day when sitting on the back stone patio with him, I pointed to a bird and told him what it was. I was shocked when he told me I had finally passed him in knowledge of the birds. This just wasn’t possible, this was my dad who in my eyes knew everything. It still feels weird. A bird we both thought was beautiful is the Rose Breasted Grosbeak, painted below in watercolor and ink.

Rose Breasted Grosbeak - watercolor + ink

Then there’s the art, the most important thing in my life. My dad was one of the most creative people I’ve ever met. He told us stories of growing up with no money and how he’d carve wooden guns for himself then every kid wanted one too. Anything he needed fixed or created he’d figure out how and do it himself. We had an eagle hanging in the dining room, complete with shield and arrows in it’s claws. Dad carved it from an old wooden chair seat! He dabbled in painting and I remember still when I was around 1st or 2nd grade, watching him paint a scene in oils of a watermill. It wasn’t until just a few years ago I realized it was signed on my birthday! Fate!

Viking Dragon I carved in college, inspired by my dad's carving

I was always at his elbow in his shop, I can remember still the smell of fresh cut wood and our private talks about things going on in our lives. I also remember when very young, watching him create the prettiest little church out of simple mat board. He cut it, built it, put sparkly glitter on it to look like snow, colored acetate to look like stained glass windows, carved bushes out of Styrofoam and then put a little light in it. It was the most gorgeous church I’ve ever seen, and it was for Christmas of course. He created so many things like that and I loved watching him.

The "Purple Coneflower Bench" I built for my garden

When I went to college it’s no surprise I ended up taking a lot of furniture design classes too, I guess wood runs in our blood. Above is a bench I designed and built for my garden for me and my boys to sit on.  My dad was the best wood carver and I hope to share some photos of his carvings with you someday, probably on my flickr page. College was also where I took my first Drawing classes that involved studying nudes of course. When I brought my big huge sketchpad home to share dad didn’t blink an eye when we discussed the form of the female body and he did a little sketch to show me. I thought it’d be embarrassing since we were raised as strict Catholics, but dad had studied art too in college and it was great, he showed me how ‘normal’ it was to do what I was doing. He’s the first one to teach me how to draw a profile, and though it’s cartoon style, I can still remember how he taught me to draw eyes! Below is a drawing I did while studying in Toronto at the Michael John Angel Academy.

Charles Bargue Figure - done in Toronto at the Michael John Angel Academy

He was also a very talented writer and it’s where I must have gotten my love of turning a poem or writing a story. He used to tell us and his students, stories that would keep you on the edge of your seat. Usually it was ghost stories that of course were all true, around Halloween time. We’d hear about the Banshees that Great Grampa McAndrew chased away, the white glove that my aunt saw crawling, how Aunt Aggie saw her sister’s ghost the night she died and then dad’s best loved story called “The White Porcelain Hand”. Below is a still life I did in college using graphite, just so happens to have a white glove in it!

"The White Glove" - graphite still life I did in college

Whenever I’d call dad and tell him about my creative ideas he’d be so good at giving me his honest opinion and feedback. We’d talk until both of us had to switch ‘ears’ twice!  He knows about my ideas for children’s books and nature sketching and I’m determined now to work on them in his memory. It’s the best way I can think of to stay close to him.

He was well loved by a big family of 8 children and 33 grandchildren and countless students he taught in the Endicott, NY area. I’m not sure how I’ll do without him to talk to now, I’ll just work on one thing at a time.

Dad and me at a family reunion

I love you Dad!

My sketch page with finished paintings of Stink [...]]]> Yes I know, what a name! This bug is a type of “Shield Bug”, so named because when viewed from above it looks like a shield. I don’t have a definitive identification on it but closest I could come was a type of Stink Bug.

My sketch page with finished paintings of Stink Bug

This one I found was much smaller than others I’ve seen in the garden, you can see from the picture below.  I put my subject into the “Crisco” container that I like to use for bug study and photographing. It crawled around constantly and was a real challenge to draw!

Stink Bug and sketch book

Below you can see an experiment I tried, I colored swatches of watercolor pencil on a heavy piece of watercolor paper. I used it with a waterbrush to paint the Stink Bug studies. I wanted to try it because it’d be great to take along right in my sketchbook into the field. It worked pretty good for small studies and I’m going to try it out some more.  It helped to mix the colors on a small metal palette to the side to keep this color palette clean.

Watercolor pencil palette and waterbrush

Another tip, if you need to show some white highlights you can carefully scrape off layers of paint using a very sharp blade. This was just a small penknife I sometimes have in my field bag. Scrape sideways, gently and repeatedly to remove layers; sometimes scrape the opposite direction to remove it.

Scraping with a sharp blade

Here’s a bunch of pictures of the interesting little bug. If bugs aren’t your ‘thing’ I want you to just take notice of a few things.  You can appreciate some things in insects that you may also appreciate in birds. What catches me about birds is how you identify them by checking their shape, patterns, colors and behavior. Well the same is true of insects; you can identify species by their special shape, patterns, colors and behavior!

Stink Bug 5

This guy has an interesting shape from every angle you look at him. Just check out those red antennae!

Stink Bug 4

And the spotted legs! Looks like he needs a shave! But isn’t it fascinating that it has such pattern?

Stink Bug 3

This angle is very interesting, his head seems to streamline right into his body, and the eyes are right along the edge.

Stink Bug 2

Stink Bug 1

Here we see his pointy shoulders, like he’s wearing football shoulder pads! And I love the pattern along the edges of his back. Can you see the fine veins patterns in that little section at the bottom of his back, that’s part of his wings folded up. His underside was a gorgeous light green that reminded me of marble, but it was hard for me to capture as he kept running around! After I took all these photos in the garden, he flew away, I think just to show off!

Hope you enjoyed my insect study, I’ve been on a real bug kick this summer! More coming!

PS. I have a Flickr page that I’m trying to add to when I can. Check it out here.

Sketch of Edlingham Castle, Northumberland

(Forgive if my [...]]]> I wanted to share some work in progress with you on a little painting I’m doing of Edlingham castle. It was built in the early 12th C by the Normans, it’s in Northumberland and I can walk to it everyday from where I’m staying!

Sketch of Edlingham Castle, Northumberland

(Forgive if my pictures aren’t perfect as I’m using my camera to upload images) I brought my field kit with me and walked not on the typical path that tourists take right up to it, but one that goes behind an old Abbey that sits next to the castle grounds. I don’t like to be painting around lots of other curious people so I decided to view from afar. I found a big wooden gate with nice heavy posts that I sat on top of, I sometimes have a pad I can sit on to keep away the dampness, lucky I had it today. I decided to do a detailed drawing of it, not knowing if I’d get time to watercolor it on the spot, I took several reference photos before I left. The weather got really drab, cold, windy, actually chilled me through! So…the detailed sketch is as far as I went! Pretty clear for being drawn while sitting on a fence post!

Edlingham castle work in progress

Back in a cozy house, with a pot of tea, I pulled the picture up on my laptop and worked on it from that. The color is NEVER the same but it’s not a bad way to work, especially good if you can take color notes while in the field. I figure I may get back down there on a nice day and finish it up, or just work from the photo, we’ll see.

“Edlingham Castle (2)” by MaryMcandrew

Here’s a link to a website where you can search for castles, this page is about Edlingham castle.

Here’s another link, this is by a ‘local’ man who puts where you can go on walks on his website, great pics here!: http://www.northofthetyne.co.uk/Edlingham.html

]]> http://marymcandrew.com/edlingham-castle-work-in-progress/feed/ 0 http://marymcandrew.com/winter-sketches-new-years-eve/ http://marymcandrew.com/winter-sketches-new-years-eve/#comments Thu, 31 Dec 2009 21:30:13 +0000 Mary McAndrew http://marymcandrew.com/?p=3717 Winter Wasp

I have a few sketches to share that came before New Years Eve day, I’ve been getting behind on my updates here! So just a few sketches, the above one is a wasp that paid a visit to my bathroom windowsill. I wasn’t even sure what it was at first because [...]]]>

Winter Wasp

I have a few sketches to share that came before New Years Eve day, I’ve been getting behind on my updates here! So just a few sketches, the above one is a wasp that paid a visit to my bathroom windowsill. I wasn’t even sure what it was at first because it was so small. But I’m pretty sure it’s a wasp, I helped him find his way outside! What was really neat is that I held a magnifying glass up to study him, I was able to see so much more!

Thistle and Chickens in Winter

Then just the other day I realized it had been forever since I went outside and did some sketching in my field sketchbook. So, though it was in the Teens I ventured out with small sketchbook and simple ink pens in hand. I also brought my camera and had fun taking black and white photos till my fingers absolutely froze. I drew these sketches wearing big fat mittens, it was really hard!

December 29, 2009 journal

These are notes from the back  of my journal from that day. It’s  a small sketchbook that I made myself and in the back are pages made from cheap computer paper just for note taking freely.

Ink sketches of weeds in the snow

“Dead weeds…seeds awaiting Spring..so is it really ever dead? Awaiting a warmer time in a warmer clime.”

New Years Eve watercolor sketch

I hope my writing is readable, I wrote it after dropping my sketchbook into the snow and the paper was damp! It really may look simple but looking back at this little sketch reminds me exactly of the day and standing there to paint it.

New Years Eve 2009 journal

Though I’ve scanned my pages above I’ll type them out so you can read them better. This is what I wrote in the back section of my sketchbook where I just write my thoughts.

“December 31, 2009-New Years Eve, I walked across the yard, the ice crunching under my boots, and reaching the side of the yard with bushes, weeds + trees. I stopped as a Mourning dove flew from a distant tree. I stood still and just waited, listened + watched. Then I noticed a group of house sparrows in the treeline, clustered together like a friendly band of cheerful friends. I remained still. Then I saw a sparrow closer this time, oh it’s a Chipping Sparrow! With a red cap! He’s looking for seeds on the weed heads, I remained still. Two Blue Jays silently flew from one tree to the next and then a tiny Chickadee…followed by another…then a woodpecker (Downy) made it’s appearance followed by the whirring sound of doves wings. Overhead now I hear a flock of Canadian Geese coming..one, two, three….23! Just standing silent at the yards edge in Winter, so much life if you stop and watch and listen. Now they seem to all have moved on…time for me to move on.”

Looking forward to the New Year!

Mary McAndrew

]]> http://marymcandrew.com/winter-sketches-new-years-eve/feed/ 0 http://marymcandrew.com/the-journey-to-england-begins-8-3-09/ http://marymcandrew.com/the-journey-to-england-begins-8-3-09/#comments Fri, 18 Sep 2009 10:32:43 +0000 Mary McAndrew http://marymcandrew.com/?p=3363 Hello Folks! Well as they say it’s been a “dog’s age” since I’ve updated my blog. I left you with a study of the Groundhog or Woodchuck in August just before I left for my trip to England. Well I’ve made the journey and have been staying in Northumberland for a few months [...]]]> Hello Folks! Well as they say it’s been a “dog’s age” since I’ve updated my blog. I left you with a study of the Groundhog or Woodchuck in August just before I left for my trip to England. Well I’ve made the journey and have been staying in Northumberland for a few months time. I’ve been hiking all over this beautiful region and taking tons of photos for painting references, but as you can see got way behind on my blog. Well, my focus has been off sketching and on absorbing the local views and country life. I also don’t have easy access to a scanner, so what I’ve finally figured out is how to photograph my sketchbook pages and edit them to brighten the contrast so you can see them better. With that said, I’ll have lots of posts coming up now with my sketches and lots of photography of the scenes and nature.  Please add your email address to the little box in the right column to be notified of new posts.

Buffalo Airport

The little watercolor above was done while waiting for my flight at the Buffalo International Airport. I used a waterbrush and my favorite pan of colors that I put together myself. The little color notes at the bottom are for the Mourning Cloak Butterfly, I was looking for the right colors to do his wings. Just before I left Buffalo I got some great pictures of one that I wanted to do a sketch of.

On the Mark

Here you can see the ground crew guiding the jet in.

Jet Sketch

This is a very quick sketch in ink of the jet once it pulled up, they drove a box like cart up to it and this is what it hitched to. It was really hard to get the gentle swell of the outline of this jet, as always I did it for practice. It isn’t symetrical because the jet was at a tiny angle to me, not straight on. Then it started to move, so I scribbled faster!!

Window Views

When we were over Newark NJ the sun was setting, I had to do the sketch very quickly as we were preparing to land soon. When I departed for Scotland it was an all night flight, I landed in Edinburgh then was driven down to England. The little ink sketch is the window and it’s view. The pencil of the butterfly is what I did while we were flying from my photo of the Mourning Cloak.

This morning while eating my oatmeal and sipping my coffee, I heard a strange rustling sound behind the curtain of my sliding door.  Hmmm…..dare I look? Could it be a mouse? Err…um…ok, I’m not squeemish about mice so I pulled the curtain aside and a large brown moth came flying out!  He [...]]]>

Large Yellow Underwing

This morning while eating my oatmeal and sipping my coffee, I heard a strange rustling sound behind the curtain of my sliding door.  Hmmm…..dare I look? Could it be a mouse? Err…um…ok, I’m not squeemish about mice so I pulled the curtain aside and a large brown moth came flying out!  He was looking for a way out and followed the light, no pun intended. I had no idea what kind it was and in the “old days” I would have said, “yuch a moth!” But now I find it’s much more interesting to take a closer look and study things, understand them. I went to the barn to retrieve my butterfly net, despite the very wet grass and chilly fog.

Once I caught the little guy I put it carefully under my “Britta Waterfilter Jug”, probably first it’s been used in a long time! haha. It’s nice and clear.  I grabbed my sketchbook and did some basic outline sketches, and looked at it with the magnifying glass and identified it as a “Large Yellow Underwing”. Then I took pictures with my tiny Olympus camera because it has a nice closeup feature. I started some of the basic patterns while looking at him, but really was able to add the real detail after printing out some pictures. By the way, at first I thought it was a “False Underwing”, as you can see from my crossed out note, but looking closer at his underwing you can see the extra orangy yellow band at the bottom, or in Butterfly wing language “the Margin”. It was interesting to study his legs as they had slender needle like ‘thorns’ on them.

He was at first a dull brown looking moth, but as you can see here, so beautiful when you study the patterns on his wings. After I had some pictures I let him go outside right away, don’t want to stress him. He flew around in my screen porch a bit and that’s when I got the best pictures, no plastic between us!

Here’s a link to an online bug guide that’ll show you lots of pictures of this moth.  http://bugguide.net/index.php?q=search&keys=Large+Yellow+Underwing&search=Search Take notice of how the wings of adults have slightly different patterns from each other. Some of the catapillars shown are NOT this moth’s though.

Rambur's Forktail Damselfly

I’m adding this little sketch that I did yesterday. While looking over my parsley plants, checking for signs of Black Swallowtails, I noticed a tiny Damselfly flying around. It was only one inch long and though it was orangy colored, it was hard to notice at first. I tried to study its color, pattern and size and when I went back inside drew a small pencil sketch.  Damselflies hold thier wings together and Dragonflies hold them out, so I knew it was a Damselfly. As soon as I opened my bug field guide to the Damselflies, there it was! A “Rambur’s Forktail”, the adults are a pale blue color. Here’s a link for photos: http://bugguide.net/index.php?q=search&keys=Rambur%27s+Forktail&search=Search

Here’s the bug field guide I referenced:

NWF Field Guide to Insects and Spiders N.America