This is a continuation of my weekend at the Allegany Nature Pilgrimage at the end of May. This post I have some pictures of fungus, lichens and moss from the non flowering plants hike I took led by Alice Brown.
This is a fungus I’ve seen growing on my land in Clarence Center NY, in the Adirondack mtns. and at Allegany. It’s a fungus I identified as Trametes Versicolor, the common name is Turkey Tail, so named because of the variable bands of color. I’ve seen it in all seasons which makes it kind of fun to look for, check dead trees and branches on the ground etc. I read on a website that a tea can be made from it and that it’s used to fight cancer and hiv. Don’t quote me on that but it’s what I read, I do know that mushrooms can be very good for you. I wouldn’t recommed going out and eating these though…my mushroom book (Simon and Schuster’s Guide to Mushrooms- Excellent Book!) says that it’s inedible because of texture.
This is a flat fern type of moss, I don’t know my mosses yet so if someone can help me out here. I have to look for a good field guide, you know…tall, dark, handsome! haha…no really, the kind with pages is fine!
This is a picture of mosses on the side (type?) and in the center is a type of lichen, foliose type I think. I’ve always liked the cool color of lichens..like the green patina copper gets when it’s out in the elements.
Then there was the night I was headed to bed, enhausted from all the hikes and early mornings, but saw this show-stopping Luna Moth! Wayne Gall had a simple white sheet up each night with a really bright light to attract all kinds of bugs. I never imagined I’d ever see a Luna Moth and there it was! Wow! It caused quite a bit of excitment. I definitley have to do a painting with one of those in it. Notice the antennae…so large.
This is a page from my sketchbook, just some quick sketches of the dragonfly talk led by Jeremy Martin. Below is a picture of a dragonfly that just came out of the ‘Exuvia’, or shed skin. That’s what I did the small sketch of above. I have written in my sketchbook that I took a picture of a Springtime Darner…maybe that’s the type below.
Well as I said, not too many drawings on this Nature Pilgrimage…I needed the whole following week to stay there and digest all that I learned, and go back and sketch things. Be sure to check my post about Thunder Rocks coming up!
|
|
||
|
Check out the pictures I added, the Red Spider Mite was crawling over my white watercolor block, I photographed it through my magnifying glass! The other picture shows my field bag and it’s contents…also my palette. I kept the little binoculars handing so I could keep checking out the bluebirds.
Well as my title alludes…I was in a car crash a few weeks ago, that’s why I haven’t posted. I was rolling right along preparing for my classes, going out hiking, getting ready to do plein air oil landscapes again when I got hit by someone who ran a stop sign! Sigh…well, thank God I wasn’t hurt worse, my car was totaled and I got out myself but I did take a ride in the ambulance to the hospital. I joked with the EMT’s that I guess you need to experience everything in your lifetime. I thought I’d be back to normal again right away but just as friends warned me, the pains and problems might show up later. Yup…they came! I won’t go into detail about all the pain and suffering, I’m trying to focus on the positive. The killer is the weather turned absolutely gorgeous in my area of the world, and I just didn’t feel like going out to draw. What I did do was carry my sketchbook with me to the doctors offices, I’ve never ever been one to ‘waste’ time sitting around waiting. This last sketchbook page is from a butterfly field guide, it’s an Eastern Tailed Blue. I did do more work on it since this was scanned, I’ll upload it soon.
I do like to write, sometimes things pop into my head and I have to write them down, such as the quotes you see. I especially like the two last ones, I think I should have a tee shirt that says “I paint, therefore I live” The last painting is for ‘camulus’, who’s left some nice comments on my blog and today said that there was a Red Admiral Butterfly in their kitchen! Awake too early for Spring, just like my ladybugs. (Camulus lives in Northumberland England, the comments are on the last post).
I hope you enjoyed the sketches.
Today I found a green caterpillar when I picked up some bricks that were piled by my driveway, it was tucked in some rotting leaves and snow. I can’t imagine how caterpillars survive the winter like this. But he looked as fresh as springtime! Umm…so if you knew me, you’d already know I took him inside to draw and study! The picture shows him lying on my sketchbook page. 1st I did a pencil sketch with the ‘outliner’ pencil that comes with the Inktense color pencils. I drew it at actual size then made an enlarged drawing that looks like he’s under a magnifying glass. The shadow and the magnifying glass make it look more real. Then I drew him again (small) and tried to add a cast shadow. This didn’t work out too well at this tiny size so I pulled the ink black color all around it to ‘fix’ it. I also show a picture of the sanding block I use to sharpen my colorpencils. I don’t keep a very long point on them because they are more prone to breaking then graphite. Click on the pictures to see enlarged views and read my notes on my sketchbook. Yesterday I had fun playing around with my watercolors, “can we say Avoidance Behavior?!” haha…well I should have been working on a painting but I wanted to test out some colors and tried an experiment with my field kit.  It might seem silly, but I think I can write a book for a hundred and one uses for ‘sticky tack’ or ‘blue tack’! I wanted to add more colors to my field kit but there are no more places, so I made some! Where the brush should go, I put three little blobs of sticky tack and smooshed them down. I then put just a bit of wet paint into the divided areas and let it dry. Then the little removable water pan (I mean LITTLE!) I’ve been using for black paint, so I added a little wall to that and added Naples yellow, I thought it would be good for grasses, people etc. I will let you know if it works, the stuff is amazing, really!  This is a page from a little sketchbook where I tested the colors out. I was comparing reds as you can see, which ones were similar so I didn’t have to order new paints. (it’s not cheap you know!) The colors at the bottom are tube colors I put into a plastic travel palette, (see it at the bottom of the photo of my ‘mess’) they’re like a repeat of the colors in my large studio palette. I want to see if they’ll stay put or will they flake off all over the place? The drawing of the beetle I did from a field guide. I always try to grab something to draw when I know I’ll be sitting, wasting time in a waiting room. I have a vinyl ‘bible’ cover that I picked up at Barnes and Noble that fits a 6″x8″ sketchbook and across from it a field guide or other book. I’ll post pictures of that sometime, it makes a great little travel kit when outfitted with my ‘travel art supplies’.
Today I went for a hike with my dog Ginger, the weather was so warm I couldn’t resist! I think the temperature today reached 66 degrees! It’s very breezy, clouds and patches of sun. So we wandered and I pretty much descibed things on my journal pages. Just click on the pics of my sketchbook to read my notes and see the small sketches. This first page I did a very quick sketch (7 minutes), click on it. 
 This is a photo of me and Ginger, I set my tiny Olympus FE 230 digital camera on top of the fence post and did an auto timer shot. I have my mud boots on, my small three legged stool over my shoulder, and an over-size fanny pack from LL Bean.
I wasn’t sure about wearing the fanny pack in front,because I thought it’d make my back hurt, but actually it was ok. It was nice to have it right in front of me to keep tucking my sketchpad and pens into as I walked. My cell phone is clipped to my belt loop.
Page 2 of the journal…I found this great moss…so green for such a dreary time of year. It was growing all over the bottoms of the trees, it’s very wet on my land.
 Page 3…I was picking up some dried oak leaves to take back home with me and saw a small spider on one leaf. It was so cool, looked like a little seed if you look quick. I did three little quick studies of it. It keeps raining off and on and I don’t have my rain coat.
Golden Field…  This is my three legged stool I bought at Walmart in the hunting/fishing dept. This stool is great but when the ground is wet…um, well you kind of sink in when you sit on it!
This is the back side of a fern stem, the tiny leaves are actually curled up and look like seeds. I think it’s a ‘Sensitive Fern’.
|
||
|
Copyright © 2024 Mary McAndrew - All Rights Reserved Powered by WordPress & Atahualpa |
||
