I wrote some notes upon my return to the house, they are posted below if you’d like to read them about my day outside in nature. Both paintings were done with a dry palette of watercolors and one waterbrush. The sketch below I first drew with a permanent ink pen, brown color, then put washes of color on it while standing there in my snow shoes. This sketchbook is a mere 4.5″x5″!
"Winter Water and Shadows"
my notes
I hope you enjoyed a glimpse of my walk, I encourage everyone to get outside despite what the weather might be like to have a closer look around you.
It was bright and sunny today but winter still hangs on, the snow is over a foot deep and I wish I had my snow-shoes on! The snow is heavy, wet and deep; as I trudge through it I thought of the word ‘slogging’! Under the heavy snow is a deep, wet slaw of melted snow; I’m glad for my rubber boots.
"The Branches Reach Towards the Moon"
Ginger prances on ahead of me, begging me to hurry. Finally along the edge of the pasture I paused to catch my breath and attempt to capture a likeness of the moon with the trees reaching up towards it. At the end of this post you’ll see my small sketchbook and watercolors, and how I hold them on a clip board. Almost all my field sketches are done while standing and holding my book.
"The Field in Late February"
Well as you can read in my honest notes, Ginger surprised me and did something different; I feed her really I do! I guess you can’t stop instinct. I’m happy with how this little watercolor came out, I’m always trying to capture that color of the bushes in winter, they’re gorgeous. I was standing in deep snow and at the same time had to shrug my coat off my shoulders and take my hat off as the sun made me that warm. Maybe spring is coming?
"Paw Prints"
There are so many things to see if you take your time and look around you. The snow was quite hard on top, if you’re a lightweight animal. I noticed little tracks as I walked, then saw these little prints and had to sketch them. I brought no camera on purpose today, I wanted to really have to describe all I saw with my brush and pen. For tracks you can use your pencil or pen to measure the real size onto your sketchbook. I call this Comparative Measurements and it can be extremely accurate when you practice using it. These tracks were a bit hard to see because they were so shallow and the snow had dusted over them a bit. I drew the tracks at real size and then measured the distance between the sets, finding they were one pen length. This tells me it’s a small animal, at first I thought raccoon but when I looked on my pocket animal tracks guide I think it may be a skunk! Hey hibernation must be over! Look at this link to see a picture of my pocket track guide which, by the way, I don’t carry with me in the field.
"Snow Burrow"
Then as my eyes followed some more tracks, made by a fox I think, they led me to a small hole dug into the snow. I guessed that a fox, who used his great sense of hearing to listen for small mammals under the snow, had been by and dug down to ‘no surprise’ a burrow or tunnel of a vole. I like to think about the event that may have taken place, probably while the moon was shining on the snow at night. I wonder if he got his dinner?
"Paul's Chair"
As I said the sun was shining brightly as I returned from my day’s walk, trudging along the deep snowy lane. I looked off the lane into the woods and saw there a black metal folding chair. This chair is not there by mistake, my son Paul placed it there years ago and would disappear at times and he’d go here to sit in the woods. I think everyone should have a chair in the woods somewhere, where we can go escape or think. I felt a bit sad seeing it there by itself, perhaps it’s owner would never sit in it again as he’s off to college now. I just hope (as his mother) that he’ll always “find a chair somewhere” and sit in the woods.
Clip board with closed sketchbook
Here’s a picture of my clear clipboard with my handmade 4 1/2″ x 5″ sketchbook and watercolor palette attached. This is how it looks when I pull it from my bag, I use the rubber bands to hold the book shut and the palette. The palette is held on with blue ‘sticky tack’ or ‘blue tack’. The sketchbook is clipped on with metal clips with the front cover.
Clip board with open sketchbook
This is how it looks when open, I use the white rubberband (actually it’s a hairband thing) to hold the piece of paper towel or to help hold the book open, or you can use a metal bankers clip. You can see I’m using my waterbrush today with the watercolors, I find it easier when hiking and especially in cold weather. Though it won’t work when it’s ‘really’ cold, it turns to ice on my paper!
I hope you enjoyed coming on my walk, please leave me a comment! I’ll have classes this summer in England where you can come along and sketch while we explore the gorgeous countryside. Please sign up your email address in the “subscribe to posts” box in the right column.
I actually walked pretty far on my land today, I bundled up with lots of layers and told Ginger the magic words, “Go for a WALK?” She can’t contain herself, to the point I get a little annoyed at her insistence at leaving this very moment, regardless of how cold it is and how many layers I believe I need.
"Tree on a Winter Day"
Today I tried to walk without stopping to look at every little thing, just for the start of my walk. I wanted to get some exercise today and do some studies once I get out on the land a bit. When we reached a lane I call “White Tail Trail” I was searching for something interesting. The sky was so blue and clear and when I looked up at this tree, I think an Ash, I liked the branches, shadows and colors. Armed today with my sawed off watercolor pencils and a waterbrush I started the tree, first with a light sketch of the trunk and branches with a light grey watercolor pencil. Now remember I told you I was bundled up? Well imagine freezing cold temperatures a bulky big coat, freezing toes and BIG mittens! haha…it’s always an adventure! I like to wear mittens where the tops flips back and your fingers are then exposed; these are great for quick sketching in winter. I tried to color the drawing with my little pencils and wet them with the waterbrush, but got frustrated when the water froze in a thin layer on the paper. So subsequent color layers became impossible; when I returned home I played around with adding some more color.
1-21-10 "Tree Scars and Bullrushes"
On my way back I stopped to look at the patterns on the trees in Aspen Hall, a favorite area on Long Lane. Where old branches had been but broken off now, there are scars that made interesting marks on the bark.
Here’s the notes I wrote on the page: “Old Branch Scars on an Aspen. Cold today but pretty, Blue skies, snow crunching, Ginger whimpers, we walk on, Chickadee calls, car drones in the distance. I wish I were farther away. We walk on. I pause to study a grapevine tendril- curled still though long dead. And the beauty of the Bull Rushes, the elegant lines…”
1-21-10 "A Bit of Grapevine"
I just love the way grapevine tendrils reach out for anything and grab on…twirling and twining. With this one I was trying to sketch their forms as they twisted out into the air too, I like the way the sunlight cast a good shadow. My feet and hands were very cold at this point and it was hard to concentrate, holding my sketchbook in front of me as I stood to draw this vine clinging to my fence. But as usual I’m glad I took my sketchbook with me to stop and see things.
Today I went for a walk with my dog Ginger out through the pasture to the field beyond. As it says in my notes the morning was very cloudy and misty, I think because the temperature has warmed enough that the snow is melting. Click on any picture to see larger.
Page 1-notes from my walk
Believe me it’s still cold! There was ice crunching beneath my boots but it was all water underneath; the ground is absolutely saturated with snow and water. You can see on my first page, I was playing around with the watercolors to capture that beautiful reddish color in the field. It’s actually all the tips of the bushes, together they look like a mass of this color.
Page 2-Watercolor sketch of the field
Here’s a very small sketch I did while standing in the snowy field.
Page 3-Ink sketch on the Lane
Sometimes I like to take a shape and trace it on the page to play around with, sketching inside or outside it. I had already put this square in the sketchbook and found it when I flipped the page, so I decided to do a tiny ink sketch of my view ahead. This is out by Aspen Hall, a special place on my land, all those trees ahead on the left are “Aspen Hall”. When working with permanent ink pen I sketch by making little marks of where I want things placed, you will always see little mismarks on my ink sketches because I believe in being loose and kind of scribbly. It’d be different if this was a planned drawing done while sitting at my drawing table in the studio.
Today it was sunny and very blustery! We decided to take a hike near Clennell up the valley along the River Alwin then we looped back by walking up and along one of the huge hills. What gorgeous views we had! Of course I brought my field kit for watercolors with me hoping to find a quick sketch, as usual we pushed on without much lingering for painting or we’d never do the loop before dark. I did get some pencil sketches done that I later colored with watercolor as you’ll see.
Along the Alwin River
This is the valley we hiked along for a few miles, flat and easy except for the driving wind blowing on us at the start. It settled down as we got into the valley more. You can see on the far left a dust cloud with a huge truck in it, that’s a logging truck coming down the road we’re walking on, we’ll be headed around the base of that hill soon.
River Alwin into the Kidlandlee Dean
As we walked occasionally a Grey heron would be spooked from the river and fly upstream a bit. We had the valley all to ourselves except for the sheep and maybe one passing truck. The Kidlandlee Dean is the forest area ahead; a Dean is a small ravine, a word that comes from the Anglo Saxon’s. At the base of those pine trees we’ll turn our path up to the right and go up onto the hill we’ve been hiking along side.
RIver Alwin and "The Dodd" (hill)
Here I was able to convince Gary to stop long enough to let me catch my breath and sneak in a quick pencil sketch. This is just before we started to walk up the huge hill and I’m looking across the River Alwin and the Kidlandlee Dean is just to my left. The hill I sketched I found out later is called “The Dodd”. Later at home I painted the colors in with my waterbrush and watercolors while looking at the laptop photos. I put notes at the bottom of the colors I used.
River Alwin below
You can see we’ve been walking along the hillside, this is looking back towards the spot where I sat and sketched. We walked all along that ribbon of road down there! Along the way there are sheep that give you a look before running off into the grass, these two were right on the edge of the hill, it was pretty steep.
Hills called "The Dodd" and "Old Rookland"
Looking back again; though the hills look bleak the colors on them of the bracken, grasses and grey-blue stone are really beautiful, but most especially when the sun hits it and creates dramatic shadows!
An old Drovers road also called "Border County Ride"
This is a view looking back along the road that we picked up on top of the hill. Gary says that it probably an old Drovers road, a drover being someone who’d be hired to drive cattle to market by the farmers 200 years ago or more. So they are English Cowboys I guess! Some 400 years ago they would have been using this road and would have to defend the cattle against the Border Rievers who could steal the cattle.
View of Clennell Hill
This is a view looking across the valley (at the steep edge the sheep are on) to Clennell, we walked up that valley along the river. The wind was whipping but you can see the views were spectacular, so vast.
View over Clennell towards Rothbury
We sat here upon the top of this hill looking out over Clennell and Rothbury would be further on in the distance, Alwinton would be to our right. A farmer was burning some wood piles down below and it could be imagined that in ancient times when the Celts had their settlements there, there would be similar fires burning. Just below us to the right, on top of a smaller hill is the remains of a Celtic ring fort, at one time it would have had small fires burning in the crisp fall air.
Watercolor sketch "Views over Clennell"
We threw the waterproof picnic blanket on the ground and I sat to do a quick sketch. I just used my pencil and ‘zoomed’ in on a view that you see in the photo previous. It was so windy and cold I had a heavy wool blanket over my shoulders as I sat to help block the wind. Come to think of it, lucky I had on my rain pants too, they block the wind quite a bit. All the paint marks you see in the upper left I did on the spot as color notes. I used my big flat waterbrush and labeled colors, yes I know it is right on my watercolor sketch but it’s a ‘working sketchbook’ too and I wanted to do color notes on the spot. So when I got home I painted it in while looking at my laptop, using my big waterbrush (pictured on my equipment page).
I hope you enjoyed coming along on this hike with me, you didn’t have the feel of the wind on your face or smell the fires burning but maybe someday you can come on a real hike with me and learn how to paint in the field too. I welcome your comments below!
This hike was such an adventure that I’ll never forget! It was long and had so many great views that I have quite a few photos to share with you before you see my sketch and watercolor painting at the end.
Hike up the valley
First we parked the car near an old Medieval church that in itself is very interesting and I’d like to go back to explore it and it’s graveyard with old stones. We hiked up this valley along all those pine trees you see…past all those white dots, those are sheep!
The tough looking sheep closed in on us
I’ll be a little silly here and tell you when we walked past these sheep, they kept coming closer and closer like they were ganging up on us. It’s my silly side that thinks they look like thugs in tight wool sweaters, not very attractive sheep! The one who doesn’t have to short pig-like look is a different breed, he must be wondering what he’s doing with all those thugs! haha.
The hill we need to climb
We passed the sheep and went up a very gentle sloping hill, but it was huge so it took us awhile. It may look all sunny and pretty but it was really cold and extremely windy that day. You can see the beautiful line of Scotch pines up on the hill, that’s where we’re headed to the ring fort.
Old walls of the Celtic Ring Fort
Well we made it up, the hill seemed to never have a top to it…we walked and walked but enjoyed the views. If you look at the photo above you’ll see a mound of dirt with grass on it, looks like a dune at the ocean, and there’s a spot you can walk through. That’s the Celtic Ring Fort entrance and the mounds are the walls, they used to be much taller and had deep ditches dug all around like a moat for protection. It’s such a huge site, it’s hard to imagine the layout of the fort, but if you look at it on Google Earth it’s really cool to see the image of the rings from above.
Steep hillside defense of the ring fort
This is the view off the front of the hill fort, it’s a very steep hillside which would have given them protection from enemies. At the top of the hill you can just see several mounds of dirt, those are remains of the walls.
First stone we found
Now this is the best part, there is ancient rock art on the stones found around this site. These were carved around 3,000 – 4,000 years ago by the ancient Celtic people who made the hillfort. They are generally called ‘Cup and Ring Marks’, the ones above are ring marks. It’s so beautiful to see the symetrical designs carved into the rocks but they are so worn with age and covered with lichens that they just look so natural.
I'm measuring the rings with my sketchbook
Here I’m showing how I use the ruler I drew on the back of my homemade sketchbook to measure one of the rings circumferences.
This is the larger stone on Old Bewick
This is the second rock we found and probably very photographed by hikers. If you do an image search for “Old Bewick Rock Art” you’ll come up with a lot of interesting stuff.
Drawing rings
Here I’m sketching some of the rings of the second rock, gosh it was really cold, if you could only imagine it was hard to stand still because the wind was blowing on me so hard!
Sketch of the rings
Here’s the sketches of ring marks. I tried to hold my pencil lightly and used the side of the tip so I could sort of lightly scribble the forms and build up darks as I went.
Drawing the line of 'cup' marks
Just as we were getting ready to leave I looked back at the huge stone and noticed (with my keenly trained nature sketching eyes!!) the little ‘cup’ marks along the front of the stone.
Old Bewick field sketch
I had to go back, even though we were tired and ready to go, I sat and did a quick pen sketch with permanent ink of the outline and basic cracks.I’m just getting used to using my new homemade sketchbook and I like that I can draw across two pages instead of having a spiral in the way.
Painting of Old Bewick Rock
This is the finished painting of Old Bewick Rock. Once I get home I only have my laptop to look at for reference from photos I take. As I now had time to sit in a warm house with a hot cup of tea I could see where I was a bit ‘off’ with my cracks and added maybe two extra cups marks! But it’s a field sketch, no big deal. So I had fun painting it with watercolors and you can see I left color testing notes in the upper right corner. While I sat there I did note the direction I was facing with my compass and wrote it on my paper.
I hope you enjoyed coming on a great hike with me, I’m inspired to study more of the numerous ‘rock art’ sites all around Northumberland and do some paintings.
I thought I should add a note here about the ancient sites like this, in case you ever visit one please remember they are irreplaceable. Gary and I talked about how soft the sandstone is and crumbles very easy if you just touch it. It’s my opinion that you shouldn’t really touch it too much or especially do rubbings on paper, I think it’s too much abrasion for the stone. Please never climb on it and encourage others to consider it’s delicacy too. Thanks!
Today we visited Howdiemont Sands beach along the coast of the North Sea in Northumberland England. We walked across Sugar Sands and climbed up to a point where we could view the point at Howick Haven. I wanted to sit and try to do a small watercolor landscape so I bundled up and brought the usual field kit.
Water color painting "View of Howick Haven"
Here’s the finished painting, I did most in the field sitting on top a windy, grassy cold hill. I’ll share the photographs with you of what I saw and tell you a bit about how I did the little painting.
We walked along this beach
When you first arrive at Howdiemont Sands you can choose to walk either right or left. We chose left because it was new to us and we always wonder at what new views might be found or other discoveries.
Sugar Sands
The beach here (called Sugar Sands) is unbelievable, a pretty color of ‘sand’ shade, (hahah…) clean, soft and inviting even on a cold sunny October day. You can see many other people and their dogs found the beach irresistible today too.
Bird tracks
There were lots of interesting bird tracks too, gulls leave a track with a little web foot. This one? It was big and looked like it would drag it’s front toe in the sand when it stepped; I wish I knew what it was.
Looking back at Sugar Sands
Here’s a view looking back on the beach we crossed, sometimes you have to go up over the grassy banks to get past areas that are under water still.
The red rocks below me
This is looking down from where I decided to paint, how beautiful the patterns and colors are in these rocks. As the tide continues to go out the rocks will be more exposed.
View from my painting spot
This is the gorgeous view from where I decided to sit, light was fading fast and I had to pick a place quick. It’s really hard to pick a scene when there’s so much to see around you. It helps to hold up your hands and make a little opening like a rectangle and pretend that’s your paper. Move your hands around until you find a cropped scene that you like.
View I painted
Because I wasn’t working really big I tried to limit what I was going to paint, also I didn’t have tons of time with the sun leaving soon as it was about 4:30pm when we arrived.
my sketch
I sat on a picnic blanket with a waterproof bottom, wore my wind/rain pants over my regular pants, this helped to cut the cold and wind. I also had on my fingerless gloves as usual, sorry no picture today! I’m using a homemade sketchpad that I created so it would be extra long. It’s great for landscapes! I worked with my field pan and regular watercolor brushes, usually when in the field I use my waterbrush. I don’t like the waterbrush for larger works needing big washes of color. You can see in the picture a baggy just off the blanket, tucked into the grass. I forgot a watercup to rinse my brushes in, so I used a baggy with some water in it, it worked great!!
My watercolor field pan
This is the painting/sketch laid out at home, you can see this is how far I got with it in the field. The pan watercolors I used is an old metal kit that I popped the large pans out of and replaced with half pans of Windsor Newton brand paints. I use a bit of sticky tack or blue tack to hold each one in place and you can see the handles on my brushes are cut, so I can fit more “things” in it. I brought that one long brush with me and used only that to do all this so far.
My set up to finish from photo at home
Now I set up my laptop with a photo I took while there, and worked on details with smaller brushes while looking at it. I didn’t touch the sky, just left it the way I did it in the field. If you start to mess around with all of it, it can get stiff looking. Notice I put my coffee on the left side…if your right handed, water should go on that side and you don’t want to be dipping into your coffee by mistake! So, I worked on trees and details of that main area; I also used a razor blade to scrape fine lines for the white fence. Also, you may have noticed a funny looking cone shape that looks like a child’s’ painting of a tree? It’s a recreation of one of the oldest ‘houses’ in Britain probably from the Bronze age. Remains of one were found on this very spot! They made their homes from tree limbs in a sort of tee pee style, with turf for the roofing material. I’ll try to find a link about it to add here.
Go here to see the finished painting in the GALLERY.
The feeling of standing on top of a cliff with the wind blowing through your hair, out to the North Sea, can really clear your mind, your body and your soul.
Standing on Scottish Soil
Leave behind all worries, breath deep and let go, (just don’t let go of that nice shawl that you’re holding as the wind whips!)
Clear your mind, your body and your soul.
The beginning of any good journey should have some time to assimilate and absorb, relax into the moment and be happy.
Breath deep and let go!
Don’t just rush into it with a vengeance, you’re probably too tired from the flight anyways!
We had fun shooting these pictures on the drive down from Edinburgh to Northumberland. The day was windy, cloudy and cold, but it felt so good to be out in the fresh air and know that I was there at last. My wonderful boyfriend Gary shot these photos of me, he shares my love of nature and the countryside.
Town of St. Abbs on Scottish east coast
On our drive we stopped at some small port towns, watching the fishermen’s boats and thinking of how tough that life must be. This is in the town of St. Abbs in Berwickshire Scotland, in what they call the Scottish Borders.
St. Abbs Wildlife Reserve
Then we stopped at St. Abbs Wildlife Reserve along the coast. It’s very exposed but popular for bird watching and seeing the beautiful cliffs. We sat for awhile in the car looking out to take a break from the cold wind, while we sat I spotted a Stoat just running along the top of the bank you see in the photo. Gary said it’ll be after rabbits, it was an attractive animal, one worth doing a little painting of.
Stepping closer to the edge
We walked around and then closer to the edge, being very careful of course! The water was a gorgeous deep aqua blue color and the cliffs were a flurry of activity from the birds coming and going.
A row of Kittiwakes on the cliff face
A nice neat row of gulls. At first glance I thought these were black headed gulls in winter plumage because they have the tell tale spot behind the ear. (Ah…didn’t wash behind the ears, don’t tell mom!) But when I looked in my field guide (“The Hamlyn Guide to Birds of Britain and Europe”) I saw that they have yellow legs and a light beak. When you bird watch the fun part is deciphering the markings of birds and figuring out what kind of bird it’s NOT. Process of elimination many times is what works. See more description below.
Immature Kittiwake
Kittiwake immature + adult
At first it looks like two different species of birds, but the one in the forground is an immature and the one behind is an adult, both Kittiwakes. They have both have black feet, the immature has a partial ring around the back of it’s neck a black spot behind the ear and a black beak; the adult has a yellow beak. It’s like solving a puzzle, that’s why I like birding. Though I am NO expert by far, especially at shore birds as I don’t get to see them often. But I like to show how you can enjoy them and figure out what kind they are by looking up clues in your field guide or going online to search.
More of the northeast coastline
Well here’s one last photo of the coast.
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Have you ever gone for a walk on a beautiful day, listening to all the wonderful birds singing around you, and there’s one that seems to be singing right in front of you, but won’t show itself? Sigh. That’s what happened today at the midpoint of my hike, standing quietly listening intently, trying to ‘see’ this mystery bird. So, I think I found a new species, we’ll call it “Invisible Warbler” , perhaps with a Latin name of Invisibulus? Haha, anyone else seen signs of this bird? Well enjoy reading my pages below and the added photos, I’ll add a few notes here and there to explain.
This page from my sketchbook shows a quick watercolor sketch where I was standing. It’s a very wet area filled with these swamp type grasses or sedges and surprisingly I wasn’t bothered by mosquitoes here! As I stood painting, Ginger flushed two Woodcocks at separate times, I guess they like wet areas as they use their long beaks to probe the soil (mud) for worms. My dad said that’s why Woodcocks don’t taste good and I can attest to that! When he used to hunt we had some for dinner…very strong tasting meat. I remember he said they were also very challenging to hunt as they are a hard target; when I see one explode from the brush I can’t imagine how you could actually shoot one! ( I never would anyways!!)
Yellow Throat (2)
Now here’s one of my favorite warblers, a Yellow Throat. I still remember the first time I saw one down in Pennsylvania at Lake Sheridan.
Yellow Throat
He was so difficult to see in the brush, I’m just happy I got these two pictures though they are blurry! I really need to paint this warbler.
Burr
Did you know, the guy who invented “Velcro” got the idea from this little plant? Next time you see some prickly headed Burrs, take a closer look at it. You’ll notice the prickles have little hooked ends on them, not so nice when you go hiking and they stick all over your socks!
Hairy Woodpecker ?
I saw him on “Memory Lane”, heard his tapping before I saw him.
Flycatcher
I’m not very good at identifying Flycatchers, though I got a lot of great photos of this one if anyone wants to help me. Is it just a Phoebe? I found him by my pond.
Eyed Brown
I’m so excited about finding TWO new butterflies, for me that is! The first is this “Eyed Brown Butterfly”, a very simple and plain looking creature. Sometimes it’s looking closer at the ‘plain janes’ that you can appreciate their subtle colors and patterns. I like the combination of light brown with the dark brown spots and the rings with dots. If I was teaching children to notice this, it’d be fun to draw these dots and rings. Also notice the repeated lines of the veins on the wings, a nice pattern.
Eyed Brown (2)
Rose Breasted Grosbeak (fem. or juvenile)
This was a great capture! I was standing quietly on “Oak Lane” and saw him up on a branch at the edge of the woods adjoining a field. It looks like a gigantic sparrow if you were to compare it to something familiar, but notice the heavy beak. This is either a young Rose Breasted Grosbeak or a female, I’m not sure. I’d guess a young one because it looks so ruffled.
Rufus Sided Towhee (m)
Another favorite of mine, the Rufus Sided Towhee. I still remember the first time I saw one of these too, also at Lake Sheridan in Pa. So many great birding memories from Pennsylvania when I was a teenager! My family is originally from the Scranton area…I spent lots of time at Lake Wallenpaupak too…anyone familiar with these lakes?
Rufus Sided Towhee 2 (m)
Wasp
To get this picture, I was a lot farther away then it may seem! I used the zoom on my tiny Olympus camera to capture this one, I just love the pose…looks very elegant actually!
Common Wood Nymph (mating pair)
This is the second new butterfly discovery of the day for me, the “Wood Nymph”. This is a pair mating, I don’t know if the male of female is the larger one, but one was definitely larger and more pronounced markings. On closer look (in real life) the wings looking rather plain here were actually slightly irridescent and rather pretty.
Common Wood Nymph (mating pair) 2
Well I did not find that invisible warbler, let me know if you ever find one, maybe I can figure out a way to get a picture of him?? haha….
Please leave me your comments and if you may know any of the things I asked about…lets hear your thoughts!
Today I went for another walk on Long Lane Farm with my 4 legged companion Ginger. Below I have a page from my sketchbook journal where I show a fun technique of using a frame as a design element. If you keep a few ‘frame’ templates in your field kit you can have some fun tracing them. Some template ideas could be a post it note, an index card, maybe the lens cap from your camera (I thought of this one while sitting and drawing today) and what I used here was a simple refrigerator magnet that has the center that pops out. I think if you take more time to play with this you can really do some nice designs!
field-study-flowers
Clockwise from the top left you can see a Daisey in the grass, then the male Oriole popping his head through the oak leaves at the top of a VERY high old oak. Above that a yellow wildflower that I think is ‘King Devil’ a type of Hawkweed, then ‘Fleabane’, the little pink flower underneath the Oriole. The bottom right is a very pretty wildflower that I found in the Maze..anyone help me with this one? (I have photos of these wildflowers coming up.) In the frame are ‘Common’ or ‘Tall Buttercups’ and around the frame I listed the names of birds I saw or heard today.
field-study-grasses
On the second page I just used the micron permanent pen and drew some grasses. On the right are ‘Soft Rushes’, their pliable stems are what would be used to weave mats or baskets and next to it some type of sedge. The rushes are more closely related to lilies than grasses, my field guide says and I know the stem is round. It’s neat to follow the stem to the top with your fingers and feel how absolutely perfect a point it comes to. The sketch next to it is of some type of sedge, honestly I can’t find it in my guide. They had a most interesting design in their growth, three leaves jutting out from the top in different directions and the clustered seed pods looking like spikey critters! It had a triangular stem which reminds me of the saying…”Sedges have edges”.
tree-swallow-youngster
I snapped this shot as I was leaving the yard, just after his mom or dad had visited the hole. What a face! haha!
fleabane
And here’s the pretty pink ‘Daisy Fleabane’, people used to hang it in their houses to keep away the fleas…not sure if it worked! I have a big clump of these sprouted up in my front flower bed and they are really pretty. Many people would have yanked it thinking ‘weed’, but well, it has lots of company with all the other weeds!
white-flower
This is the mystery flower, can anyone help me identify it? I love the fine fuzz on it, as I look at a close up picture, it catches the sun. They were growing together in a patch in the middle of the Maze.
King Devil-Hawkweed
I think this is called King Devil a type of Hawkweed; I found it growing at ‘Aspen Hall’ a shady area along the lane just before the Maze. It has fine bristly hairs all over it and the flowers were all confined to just the top of one long stem. I had to move grasses to find the leaves, which were tucked low at ground level.
white-moth
This white moth was interesting to study. I spotted him when Ginger and I were returning along ‘Oak Lane’, it was flitting eratically along the path, as butterflies do. I kept following it to try and get a picture and I’m sure it knew it was being followed. I thought about how strange it is for a WHITE butterfly to be amonst so much green! It stands out like a sore thumb, well I have a feeling this photo will teach you something. When it landed instead of staying on top of the leaf and closing it’s wings, it very quickly flipped under the leaf and laid it’s wings out. Now you’d think oh I’ll still see the white, but no, the green leaf reflected on it’s wings and it now looked green! How cool is that? If you ask questions as you stand and watch the bugs and critters around you, you’ll start to notice details you never thought of before.
oriole-male
Here is the gloriously beautiful male Baltimore Oriole! I love seeing them, such an intense orange and yellow breast set off by deep black like velvet! He’s way up in an oak tree looking down at me, can you tell? I love this picture of him. This was along Oak Lane and I ended up standing still here for quite a long time. I kept hearing several different birds give their warning chirp like they had babies near.
oriole-nest
I’m glad I stood as long as I did, I caught sight of what I guessed was a female Oriole and studied where she disappeared to. Aha! They have a nest way up in the oak tree, hanging out over the path! It’s amazing that birds can actually weave a basket nest like this in the tree and it supports the eggs and adult, later all growing into heavier fledglings. If you look close you can just see the female through the leaves, leaning down into the nest to feed the babies.
green-bug
I think this little green guy who came to visit me while I was eating and painting was really neat! I haven’t found him yet in my field guide, I think I need another bug guide to cross reference.
black-beetle
And last we have a very black, very shiney beetle…no I don’t think it’s this beetle but I’d love to hear some suggestions? Closest I’ve come is either a ‘Ground Beetle’, or ‘Red Legged Ham Beetle’ or a ‘Blue Milkweed Beetle’.
I hope you enjoyed the walk with me today, so much was seen and discovered in what looks just like an ordinary field and woodland edge. Take time to stand or sit still and just watch what the creatures around you do. And you’ll see so much more if you look a bit closer at the ground, grasses or flowers as there is always something living there.
Please post a comment if you like and if you may know what my bugs or flowers are, please lets have a stab at it!
Here’s the books I referenced after my hike today:
Reader's Digest Wildflowers Guide
Nat.Wildlife Fed. Field Guide to Insects and Spiders of N. America
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