It was a very hot day when I decided to scoot outside to do a quick little painting. I used my a square sketchpad because it’s a fun change. The painting is only 5″x5″ big. I first sketched with a micron pen then I used my tiny watercolor kit. Because the day was so hot, it dried very quickly as I worked. I like the stroked look of the sky, it gives it movement. 
Of course Ginger had to be right next to me! She was smart and hide from the hot sun under the table! I stood at the picnic table and put one foot up on the seat, resting my sketchbook and arm on my knee.
This little painting is of Birds Foot Trefoil, it grows wild here and there in my, ahem…kind of wild yard! It has lovely little yellow flowers and it’s called ‘bird’s foot’ because the pod cluster that grows looks like a bird foot. This flower grows in Europe and that’s where it came from, now quite common here. The painting is a bit pale because I painted it in full sun, it got hard to look at the white paper after awhile. I used a little trick to make it go faster, I held the flower so the shadow fell onto my paper and then drew the stem lightly with a pencil. Then I was able to just look at the flower and work on my drawing, fixing the details and proportions.
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Well here I am the last day, the last hours of my time at the Allegany Nature Pilgrimage, spending it at the most beautiful place I found all weekend, Thunderocks. Before I left the park I drove up by myself to visit this wonder I kept hearing about, wow! it was well worth it. You drive up the hill, make a left turn at the four corners and just ahead, very easy parking and you are right there. It’s quite accessable for everyone.
 The whole area is a bit unique as it was untouched by the glaciers so I’ve been told. The rocks are enormous, some as big as houses, and what a great place to bring your kids to let them marvel at this natural sight! (and climb a little!) You can see I’m wearing my binoculars and my sketchbag, I also had a video camera with me and took some nice videos. The little clip at the end is just with my tiny digital camera.
Here you can see a family climbing up, which helps to show the immense size of the rocks.
 I just love the dapple effect of the sun on the rocks. It’d either be a painters dream or nightmare. The views are gorgeous, but the sun dapples ever moving and disappearing.
 Another beautiful view, showing mosses, ferns and trees. I’d love to sit up on one of those big rocks in the middle of the night and just listen to everything around me. I wonder what the Indians thought of these rocks? Did they use them as landmarks? Climb around on them as children too? Who knows.
 This one reminds me of a green waterfall~ so lush!
 I took the time to do a really quick little sketch before I left. You can see I put notes about a bird and bird song on the page. Below a short, corny video clip for you…but what can I say? I loved being there and didn’t want to leave!
Page one of my sketchbook I talk about wearing my dad’s old hunting coat, oh I love that coat but mostly because it makes me think of him! When we were kids he’d dress up in the red plaid overalls and coat and chuckle like Santa! We’d all laugh!
The sketch shows a little deer path across my field that the foxes have been using. Then I used ‘comparative measurements’ to draw an exact size of the track. This is something I teach in my Nature Sketching classes. The branches were rubbing in the wind and they sounded like frogs calling!
 The picture of me I took myself! I experiment all the time with my camera, this time using my trusty Olympus FE230. I hung it in a tree, on a branch, by it’s little strap. I turned it on, and checked to see if it was pointed in the right general direction and then set the auto timer. Once you set it RUN!! and get in the picture. Then you can check to see if it came out. I was lucky and this one came out first try! haha…
Page two of my sketchbook (click to enlarge) shows a drawing of Ginger’s footprint. I did this to compare to the other print I drew, and to show that a dog will have claw marks. The other print I couldn’t see any. The other drawings on the page were done with a Graphitint water soluble pencil (cocoa). I like the color of this a lot! The clouds were high and puffy, I tried to draw them, but it was hard! Then I sketched a flock of geese going over, at first they sounded like yipping coyotes in the distance. 
Page three I switched back to my rapidograph pen and non perm. ink. I found a tiny nest and on the page I indicated it’s actual size by measuring with my pen. Then using my sketchbook, starting at the ground and going up I counted how many sketchbooks tall it was. Knowing the size of my sketchbook I was able to very closely estimate how far off the ground it is. 21″. This is using comparative measurements in another way. The oak leaves are still hanging on, still pretty in their dry form.  The two photos (click to enlarge) are from my return walk home. The one shows a view of what it looks like when you hug a tree and look up! It’s pretty cool!! TRY IT! The other is a view of Long Lane on my way back home. Ginger is actually up ahead in the bushes on the left, can you spot her?
On Wednesday, Feb. 13, I asked my friend Sue if she wanted to come exploring Como Lake Park with me. Yes, it was cold but we both have a love of the outdoors and Sue isn’t afraid of a little snow! I even brought my snowshoes hoping to give her a lesson and get in a little snowshoe time myself, but the trail was too uneven with huge slabs of ice from Cayuga Creek. We drove through the whole
This is a watercolor sketch I did just before the sun came up over the horizon. It took me about 30 minutes…I laid on the background sky, trees and field, then the forground trees. It’s on the pale side, I was working on sketch paper, not heavy enough to mess around on. My objective was to practice with my small kit for field work. Once the sun came up, I couldn’t work on it because it was just too bright to look at.
I painted this 4″ x 6″ oil painting on an early November day, sunny, cold and gorgeous. I have updated this post with photos of the day out in the field, please see below.  "Oak Tree" The great thing about painting or drawing outside, en plein air is what you observe…hear, see, feel, smell. This day it was the visit of the bees and teeny tiny spiders. It sounds creepy but when you’re used to treking around in nature you learn to just observe the critters for what they are and do, and not get ‘creeped out’!
 Burnt Umber sketch with bee So as a wasp kept landing on my painting and easel, I figured it was interesting. I took pictures of him of course.This shows the first stage of my painting, I used a ‘wipe off’ method here; you paint Burnt Umber on the masonite board and brush it out so it’s a medium value. Then you ‘wipe off’ with a rag and your finger or a brush, the areas that are lighter. It’s like sketching with value, it’s very freeing as you won’t try to catch details you just look for the big shapes and wipe them out. If you don’t like it you brush it back on, easy! Then you lay in darks and bring out shadow shapes with more burnt umber. I have my board attached to a piece of cardboard that has clear tape covering it. There is another small canvas ready to go next to it and they are both attached temporarily with ‘sticky tack’ or ‘blue tack’.
 spider on easel Then every time I started to paint, a tiny spider would appear hanging from the brim of my baseball cap, I’d lift him off with his thread of silk and put him in the grass, then another would appear on my easel. My guess was they were ‘sailing’ on their threads down from the beautiful oak tree.
This is an oil painting I did in early November. We’ve been having a mild fall, pretty dry, so I didn’t have to wear mud boots in my field! The painting is 6″x 8″. Before I did this one I completed the small oil sketch of an oak tree (4″ x 6″).
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Today I felt like I just had to get out of the house! There was a bit of snow on the ground so before winter weather leaves us completley I decided to go snowshoeing with my dog Ginger. I decided to leave all the colors behind (watercolors, color pencils etc.) and just bring some non permanent ink, micron permanent pens and my waterbrush. I really like sketching with a NON permanent pen because you can create some nice effects with a little water and a brush after. You can rework or redraw on top of it after to add details or more value. The ink I’m using is called Brilliant Brown by Pellican. I put it into an expensive little Rapidograph pen, it has a very fine tip for details. The ink is nice though it gets a bit ‘pinkish’ when you wet it, but I still like it. 
