2009 Sketches

I started sketching outdoors as a young kid, drawing cats, dogs, miscellaneous farm animals, wildflowers in our small woods—basically anything that didn’t move too fast. But I didn’t get serious about it until college. While I was studying wildlife biology, I was fortunate enough to take a field sketching class from another biologist/artist. I think I filled up 5 large sketchbooks in one semester. I started sketching my vacations, trips to museums, zoos and gardens; plants and flowers. I can’t remember a lot of the trees I was supposed to memorize in dendrology class but I do remember the beautiful drawings I made of each specimens’ leaves and seeds. I should probably have known something wasn’t quite right when I was having more fun drawing in the field than I was doing my research...

I always use a hardbound, spiral sketchbook, usually 9 x 12. The kind isn’t important so much as having a really stiff cover so it’s easy to work with in the field. And I always sketch with a ballpoint pen. Pens are great because they never need sharpened and they don’t smear like graphite. Best of all, you can’t erase them, so I don’t waste time trying to finesse a sketch. The only times I use a pencil are when it is really cold (because pens will freeze up, trust me) or raining (which occasionally happens in Oregon).

Here are some recent sketchbook pages. I will upload as often as I can, but my production rate has been hampered this year by being a full-time mom. Enjoy.

July 27, 2009—Forest fire clouds, northern Washington

We saw these fire clouds over the Cascades when we were driving home from North Cascades National Park. Fire clouds have a distintive columnar shape and make quite fascinating patterns in the sky. These are clouds from two different fires.

July 27, 2009—Newhalem Creek II, North Cascades National Park

This piece is also from Newhalem Creek, but upriver. I would have liked to create another piece on board, like the one below, but we were getting ready to leave the park and I only had a few moments to work. Again, this piece is water-soluble pencils in my sketchbook. It works really well as long as I am working very dry. I knew I needed to make a color sketch of this scene because the camera just would not capture the lovely colors of the river.

July 26, 2009—Newhalem Creek, pen sketch, North Cascades National Park

Near the head of the Rock Shelter Trail is a beautiful section of Newhalem Creek. I found a wonderful spot to sit on the moss and dangle my feet in the river while sketching. All very lovely except for the deadly black flies, which is one of the hazards of plein air work. I made this pen sketch first to help settle the composition in my mind.

July 26, 2009—Newhalem Creek colored pencil, North Cascades National Park

This plein air piece was created with neocolor II crayons and water-soluble colored pencils on pastelbord. I frequently work with the colored pencils in my sketchbook, but this was my first piece with these two media on a board. It was a bit of a challenge because I had forgotten paper towels so I was using my jeans and nearby moss to soak up excess water and hang on to my whites. I had forgotten my own water, so I had to dip my brush into the creek to wet the pigment. I was really surprised at how well it actually turned out. The greens are probably a bit overdone, but it captures the feel of the moment.

July 26, 2009—America dipper, North Cascades National Park

Another great birding moment at the park. We had stopped along a trail to let our daughter investigate the river. I was photographing my husband trying to keep our daughter from sitting in the glacial stream when a dipper flew into the picture behind them. Dippers are unusually nonchalant about people and this one was terribly tolerant of an excited toddler. I made this sketch after the fact to remind me of the lovely orange tones and blue shadows of the water.

July 26, 2009—Sooty Grouse, North Cascades National Park

These sketches were made after the fact because if you are fortunate enough to have a family of grouse cross your path, you end up grabbing the camera and shooting, not sketching. Which is a bad habit, really. Anyway, I had stopped at the visitor center bridge to take more pictures of the mist on the river, when I saw this brood of grouse crossing the road ahead of me. I walked (very quickly) up to them. Sooty grouse (formerly called blue grouse) are fortunately very tame birds and they allowed me to come very close and observe them while they feed and dusted and preened the rain off their feathers, before they disappeared back into the forest. The mother was riding herd on five youngsters (poor thing). The adult pair are only together long enough to breed; the female makes the nest and raises the young on her own. The young leave the nest after one day and the female guards and shepherds them along as they forage for themselves.

July 25, 2009—Skagit River, North Cascades National Park

Finally! An actual vacation, fairly similar to what we would have done pre-baby. From what I can remember. We went to visit the North Cascades National Park in northern Washington, which is such a beautiful place. Here the mountains are granite, not volcanic like in Oregon. So the streams are filled with lovely, multi-colored rocks in shades of brown, red and tan. The water is glacier-fed, very cold and blue-green. We were fortunate enough to be there when there were several days of rain and thunderstorms!! It was such a joy to feel the rain after a long, dry summer. In this sketch, I tried to capture the mists rising off the river after a rainstorm.

July 19, 2009—leopard lilies

Taking advantage of my garden again, I made these sketches of leopard lilies from my garden. Leopard lilies (Lilium pardalinum) are native to Oregon, but not normally found in the Willamette Valley where I live. I started out with one plant purchased at a native plant sale three years ago. This year I had over 30 individual stems and over 100 blooms on them! I could not believe how well they have done. Several stems ended up being cut flowers because an unseasonal rain storm weakened their hollow stems and knocked them over. The flowers are a lovely scarlet red with yellow-orange centers. They are covered with beautiful burgundy spots. When I brought them inside, the plants continued to bloom, dropping thick, burnt orange pollen everywhere. As the flowers age, the colors fade and pale out.

June 26, 2009—Seabirds, Newport Aquarium

While we were at the coast, we stopped by the Newport Aquarium. I did not have a lot of time to sketch because I was riding herd on a woddler. She had only been walking for about a month at this point, so she could get around, but was shaky at times. I spent quite a bit of time trying to convince her that aquarium water is probably not the best stuff to drink and also trying to track down where she lost her shoes. These sketches are of pigeon guillemots (top) and a common murre (bottom).

June 26, 2009—Mustard plant, Yaquina Head

At Yaquina Head, we continued our tidepool exploration. Unfortunately, it was much too windy to watch the nesting seabirds, so I settled for sketching this mustard plant instead. A month or so earlier, I drew a male yellow-headed blackbird perched on a mustard plant in the Willamette Valley and I would like to do a picture of it sometime. I do not know if this is the same species of mustard, but I figured it would be good for me to sketch the plant to help my understand of how it is put together and what it looks like in bloom.

June 26, 2009—Kelp, Boiler Bay

We went to the coast for the negative low tides: the low tides were 2 to 3 feet below what they usually were, exposing more marine life than usual. At Boiler Bay, we did get to walk up to the ship’s boiler, which the bay is named after. The tidepools were wonderful. I also enjoyed seeing all the kelp. Most of the time, you only see kelp in small pieces, or lying on the shore. It was a revelation to see it hanging off the rocks, backlit by the sunlight. The kelp came alive with beautiful translucent greens and browns. The backlit kelp sketch is shown on the left. The kelp in sun is shown on the right, appearing dull brown as usual.

June 25, 2009—My daughter

At 14 months, the best way to sketch my daughter is still while she is sleeping. Otherwise, she tries to grab my pen and sketchbook. She has no concept of sharing, but doesn’t understand why I won’t turn my things over to her. I am getting better at drawing people with practise!

June 22, 2009—Young crow

Our neighborhood is blessed with an abundance of crows. One pair nests in our cul-de-sac, and the active youngsters spent a lot of time in my backyard oaks, preening and napping while waiting for the adults to show up and feed them. Camped out on my upstairs deck, I was relatively close to them and enjoyed watching them this summer. There were three in this brood. They were able to fly at this point, but still spent most of their time perched in treetops. They climbed from branch to branch, squawking at each other and snapping at passing bugs. They looked very similar to the adults, but still had yellow and red corners to their bills and brown, fuzzy body feathers.

June 2, 2009—Cactus and Iris blooms

Here are two specimens which illustrated the importance of making your own color sketches. One the left are beautiful carmine-red cactus blooms from a specimen that my husband captured in South Dakota many years ago. One the right is a lovely lavendar Mary Francis iris. Both of these colors cannot be captured by camera. Unless maybe someone who was really good tried it. It isn’t working of the rest of us. All the subtle tones in the cactus blooms get lost in a rush of red. The iris bloom, which has a lot of blue in it, appears dull blue in photos. By sketching them, I can take notes on the tints and hints of color that actually occurs in nature.

June 2, 2009—Red Hot Pokers

More sketches from my yard flowers. I have been meaning to make a red hot poker picture for several years now, ever since I saw a crowd of finches all over a blooming stand of them. Seeing how popular they were with birds, I acquired a few of them myself. Three plants multiplied to 10 in one year. I think I am going to have a crowd on my hands!

Whenever I know I want to make a picture of a plant, especially a blooming one, I make an effort to create color sketches of it. Experience has taught me that photographs will not capture all the essence of the plant. It is especially important when the plant has a short blooming time, like this one. Red hot poker plants are really striking. The stem is green, but has a light purple haze on it. The flowers look really nice when they are backlit by the afternoon sun. We also found out that the flowers are simply leaking nectar and it is very, very tasty. Pure sugar, I think. No wonder the hummingbirds like them.

May 25, 2009—Cedar waxwings, Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge

I must say I am not sure what’s with me this month: I go to Catherine Creek, but only draw flowers in a parking lot. And now I visit Tualatin Refuge and only draw one sketch. Of course, I am tickled pink that I get to draw anything anymore but I obviously need to get focused here. Anyway, the cedar waxwings were out roaming the refuge. They can usually be found perched at the top of a tree, and flitting out to snatch bugs from the air. They are very striking looking birds.

May 23, 2009—Woodard Bay, Washington

We went up to Lacey and visited nearby Woodard Bay. The tide was just starting to come back in from a negative low tide, which are happening in May and June of this year. I sketched the vista, which included these old piers.

May 22, 2009—California Poppies

AH-HAH! I have been looking for a few years for a decent poppy composition, but with no success. Which is really odd, because I even have them in my front yard, so you wouldn’t think it would be that hard, would you? But finally, here it is. This is particularly funny because we went all the way out to Catherine Creek, which is a place I love. And I did some photography but just didn’t do any sketching, which is really silly of me. But the artistic highlight of the trip was a clump of poppies I found along the side of a parking lot in Hood River.

May 22, 2009—Baby parts

On our way to Catherine Creek in the Columbia Gorge, the baby and I were both awake at the same time (I was not driving), so I decided to sketch her for practice. I refuse to show the head shots that I did; they are that bad. But I did all right on these parts.

May 10, 2009—Red Columbine

This is the granddaddy native red columbine in my yard. A happy columbine, like this one, produces so many offspring that it almosts becomes a nuisance. But it is a beautiful plant which is a favorite of hummingbirds, so we just sigh and give away the baby plants every year. (Let me know if you want any.) It was in full bloom and I decided to sketch it to complement all my photos of it. It was a partly-cloudy day and as I was drawing, the sun came out and backlit the blooms. Gorgeous! Be looking for a picture of that one.

May 10, 2009—Black Mustard and Blackbird, Ankeny National Wildlife Refuge

Toward the end of our Ankeny hike (about the time that the baby and I were getting grouchy), we were stopped short by yellow-headed blackbirds. The flashy black and yellow bird looked so nice sitting in the yellow-blooming mustard. Now of course, he refused to hold still in the plant and actually get his picture taken. But I sketched it from memory and then photographed and sketched the plant close-up.

May 10, 2009—Tree Reflections, Ankeny National Wildlife Refuge

Here I was working on tree trunks relected in the dark water. The still water mirrored their images beautifully, except where it was dotted with fluff from the flowering willow trees. I could never get a decent photo of this and I was not set up (with supplies or time) to capture this well. We will have to see if I can make something of it.

May 10, 2009—Tree moss, Ankeny National Wildlife Refuge

On this visit to Ankeny, the woodland was still pretty flooded and I was repeatedly struck by the way light played through the forest and the water. Here I was trying to capture the sunlit moss on the side of this tree trunk.

May 10, 2009—Farm Fields, Willamette Valley

Driving down I-5 on the way to Ankeny Refuge, we watched the farm fields go by. Seeing the rolling fields, silos, and open land reminds me a lot of Indiana.

April 12, 2009—Trout Lily, Indiana

It is interesting how motherhood can change your standards about some things. For example, I have resigned myself to finding (her) food on my clothes. I have accepted that my baby will never be clean except for maybe one hour after her bath. And I get really excited when I actually get to go sketching and (Big Shock) actually update my website! Two sketching days in one month is something to get really happy about. (sigh)

On our trip back home to Indiana, I had one good sketching day, well, a few hours anyway. I love the Midwest’s spring wildflowers. We were a bit early, but I managed to find a few to draw, including this yellow trout lily, also known as lamb’s tongue. Oregon also has a similar species or two.

April 12, 2009—Mayapple, Indiana

Mayapple is another eastern species that I really miss each spring. The flower develops between the joint of the two leaves. I could only find them at the bud stage. Only a two-leaved plant will have flowers. Lots of the plants only have one leaf and I don’t know if they are just young specimens? It’s not a particularly flashy specimen, because you really have to look for the flowers, but I have always liked the way the big plants carpeted the forest floor each spring. They come up almost to my knees and I always waded carefully through them, trying hard not to step on any.

April 12, 2009—Dutchmans Breeches, Indiana

Dutchmans breeches is one flower type that is common to both the West and Midwest, although I don’t know if they are the exact same species. The fragile, paper-like blooms are accompanied by delicate fernlike leaves. They grow in small clumps and a nice surprise when you stumble across them.

April 12, 2009—Trillium, Indiana

Okay, I have been too long in Oregon. I know this is a trillium, but I cannot remember which species is in the midwest. Anyway, it is a beauty with burgundy bracts (sorta petals) and purple-splotched leaves. After searching the woods, this was the most developed one I could find. Most where still in closed buds yet.

April 10, 2009—Reanna

I figure I should commemorate her birthday with a sketch. I am wondering when she will get to the age where I can draw her when she is actually awake. Right now, whenever I sit down to make art, she makes a beeline for me. I feel little hands on my legs and then a round head slowly emerges above my drawing board. And lightning fast hands make a grab for whatever I have.

April 10, 2009—Indiana farm fields

For our daughter's birthday, we went back home to Indiana. And in our travels, as usual I was struck by the differences between the Indiana and Oregon landscapes. All the low hills of farmland, with the sky open for miles around. It is a great place to watch thunderstorms and sunsets.

April 4, 2009—Three Arches

Because my husband is watching the baby, I am able to get a few sketches in. It had been so long that I was not sure I remembered how! And I am pretty rusty. For some reason, even after a couple attempts, I could not get all three Arches onto the same page at once! Here is one anyway.

April 4, 2009—Cape Meares viewpoint

We went to the coast for the first time since I was grounded during pregnancy. I was so excited to see the ocean again. After taking our daughter into the surf (just a bit) and getting both our feet wet, we went to Cape Meares. This is the headland from one of the viewpoints. The sketch is not large enough to tell, but there is a peregrine falcon sitting in one of the trees at the top. There has been a pair nesting at the Cape for some time now. It is very fun to see them winging by.

February 22, 2009—Western red-cedar, Oregon Zoo

So motherhood is requiring some more flexibility from me. The baby falls asleep at the zoo, so I have to find something to draw within eyesight. I liked the way the light fell on this western red-cedar and the strip-able bark.

February 22, 2009—Visayan piglet, Oregon Zoo

It is hard to believe that a pig species could be endangered, because they seem to reproduce easily. But maybe it is because they are tasty? Not to be flippant. Anyway, the Visayan pigs at the zoo have already produced their first litter. The piglets are actually pretty cute, for pigs. I particularly like their thin legs and delicate hooves. They seem so refined.

February 14, 2009—View, Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge

We were able to take the baby out in the stroller around Tualatin Refuge, because of the gravel trails. Not much wildlife to see this trip, maybe because of the large number of visitors. Everyone gets out when the weather is nice in winter! At least it was good to get outside and see something. There's a nice viewpoint at the end of the trail overlooking the wetlands. Cannot say that it is as effective in pen, though.

February 8, 2009—Mallards, Happy Valley Nature Trail

We visited the Happy Valley Nature Trail at their local park, which contains extensive boardwalks through a small marsh. A small flock of mallards was curled up in a pond, floating among last year's cattails. The muted colors of the female mallards blended beautifully with the brown water and faded cattails. As we stood on the boardwalk, we were almost run over by a herd of song sparrows. Sparrows are generally not this tame, so I wonder if they are used to being fed?

January 19, 2009—Double-crested Cormorant, Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

This cormorant was standing in front of the sun, so I could not see many details. I tried to capture his head as he moved it to keep an eye on us. Double-cresteds are the only cormorant species for most of the U.S. They are mainly a freshwater species, but can also be found along the coast. They are one of three cormorant species found on the West Coast, but the other two, Brandt's and pelagic, are strictly coastal and nest on rocks with other seabirds.

January 2, 2009—American Coot, Crystal Springs

I included this page for a couple reasons. One is that I find coot feet interesting. Coots are the waterbirds, wading in the shallows and swimming in deeper water. Their toes are lobed to help their aquatic lifestyle. When they graze on dry land, the lobes kinda squish out to the side.

The other reason I included this sketch is to demonstrate that sketches are not perfect: coots do have long toes but they ain't this large. A relative of mine of mine was watching me draw a few years ago and she was surprised to see me screw up. Yes, sketches are for trying to capture ideas, and for practicing. No artist, no matter how experienced, does not mess up at least now and then. And when you are sketching wildlife, which generally refuse to hold still, mistakes can happen a lot.