I am not sure when I started to be fascinated by mushrooms and fungi, but when I go hiking I find I’m always stopping to notice them tucked away under branches, logs or leaves. Sometimes they’re right in front of you on the sides of dead or dying trees or right on the path, or they may be hiding waiting for your keen eye to catch them.
I spotted this pair right in the lawn (that needed cutting!) and what an interesting mushroom. My best guess is a “Shaggy Ink Cap”. I wondered why it was named that until I saw it a few days later.
Shaggy Ink Cap watercolor sketch
I did this little sketch with just watercolors, I wanted to avoid doing a careful pencil sketch and just kind of block in some green to form the light shapes of the mushrooms. I used a waterbrush which is handy but can be a bit limiting; it’s not as easy to mix quick pools of color in your pan and you must have a paper towel handy to clean between colors. Also I usually use just the one size waterbrush when doing a quick sketch so you use it to make wide and narrow lines or marks. The challenge on this set of fungi was the shaggy part, how to paint it without fussing too much? The “shags” were light and pointy, really their form was created by the darks around them…above and below. If I was doing a careful study I’d spend more time on that feature.
Me working on the sketch
Here’s a picture of me working to show my set up; I’m sitting on my blue foam pad because the grass is damp and chilly, it was early morning still. It’s not the best posture for someone with a ‘bad’ back, no support, but what are you going to do? That’s partly why I worked so fast, I get achy!
Looking over my shoulder
You can see my new little field kit there, I use it as a purse and carry my bare essentials for field sketching. The art supplies take presedence I have to admit…no make-up just some money, credit card and the rest is for drawing! My motto, “Be Prepared”! I’m holding the watercolor pan in my left hand, waterbrush in the other. I have regular brushes in the pan in case I want to use them or have water with me.
Shaggy Ink Cap
This is how it looked the day I painted it.
Two days later
And this is just two days later, I was shocked! I guess that’s where it gets it’s name, INK cap. It was eerie looking, dripping black goo, like it had melted.
Two days later close-up
I would like to learn more about this, and why it does that. Any of my readers know?… leave me a comment please. I didn’t have a chance to draw it at this stage, been too busy going off on hikes. I have been photographing many types of mushrooms, my favorite so far is the Fly Agaric…bright red cap with white flecks on it. I hope to do a painting of that one too.
Hi Mary,
Hi Mary,I hope you are enjoying your vacation. You are spending time not too far from my locality. Berwick is about 30 miles north and Rothbury about 15 miles west of me in Howick near Alnwick. You should visit Howick Hall and gardens. Its a lovely old stately home, that is a little worn around the edges but all the more genuine for it. It has some lovely walks through the arboretum and down to the coast at Craster too….Enjoy the rest of your stay…
Stewart.
Hi Stewart! How’s it going? I’m still in England obviously. Have been super busy going on walks with Gary. Any good nature walks or bird walks coming up? Did you see the pictures of the little hedgehog I’m caring for? I’ll visit your blog again soon.
Mary; I love to go and visit your blog when I get the time. Your sketches are delightful. I love them.
Hopefully someday we will meet in NY….would love to have lunch/meet you!
I have been eating many mushrooms that have been gathered from the forests of NY. Morels, chanterelles, and currently Hen and Chicken of the woods. Have you ever seen them in huge quantities growing on trees in the fall? They are delicious..with a texture of a cross between chicken and firm tofu. I find mushrooms magical. Loved the pictures of yours on your blog. I will ask my friend about them.
I hear a hawk screeching in my yard. I some may live in some of the woods scattered nearby in our small city.They are smart because there is plenty of road kill on these little city streets, as well as mice, rabbits, woodchucks, cats, and some even have guinea hens in the neighborhood.
Enjoy your vacation/studies, Patti
Hi Patti, great to hear from you, thanks for leaving me a comment. I don’t think I know enough about wild mushrooms to ever fancy eating them from the woods, I DO love finding them and sketching or photographing them. One day I’ll need to do a post of just photos of all the mushrooms I’ve seen in England alone! Then I can do a post on ones I found in NY state. I hope we can meet someday, closest I get to you I think, is Binghamton when visiting family. My family is from Endicott NY. What town are you in again?
I am from Kingston. Endicott is a few hours west of here I think. It could be done if you were in town for a bit and perhaps we did some exploring of the mountains here! You never know….not an impossibility!
PS I only eat the ones that my friend finds as she has been doing it for years..though there are a few varieties that are easy to distinguish from the non edibles.
[…] We told our artist friend Mary McAndrew about them and she decided to do a little watercolor sketch of them, check it out on her blog here. […]
Well thanks Tedd and Teena for linking my blog to your story. I’ll have to start telling people more about your blog and stories, I like the one about the Country Fair.
Hi
So i found this pic on Google images and i thought it was really great.
this is the kind of thing i just love to sketch. i find natural forms so inspiring. i found the most beautiful panther cap a few weeks ago, i could of sat for hours sketching it. it’s a shame you didn’t paint the ink cap when the gills matured and they get soggy with thick black ink.
hope to chat again soon, lil
Hi Lilly,
Thanks for leaving a comment. I would like to do a nicer painting someday of the Shaggy Ink Cap in both stages, take more time to paint it, maybe working from photos. It was pretty neat to see how much it changed over a few days. I never heard of a panther cap, what’s that like and what part of the world do they grow in?
Stop by anytime!
The shaggy ink cap mushroom can be eaten in the first stage before it opens. It used to be used as ink as when it decomposes your just left with the black liquid. Lovely paintings thanks for sharing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coprinus_comatus
thanks Susan for the comment and the great link!