2006 Sketches

December 26, 2006—American sycamore
We spent the holidays back in Indiana with our families. It was cold but there wasn’t any snow, unfortunately. I was determined to draw a sycamore tree while I was in the Midwest. American sycamores are always lovely, but absolutely shine in the cold Indiana winters when their exposed, ghostly pale limbs catch the eye. Only when the leaves are gone can you truely appreciate the lovely curves and turns of their limbs and the way the bark changes from green patches and flakes to shining white. This old beauty graces my in-laws’ fencerow. I’ve drawn and photographed him several times already. In addition to being aesthetically pleasing, old specimens like this one are wildlife havens. Old sycamores are usually riddled with cavities and hollows, just waiting for an occupant.

December 25, 2006—Christmas possum
Late Christmas night, we spied this possum visiting my in-laws’ bird feeder. We turned on the outside light to watch him; he ignored us and continued enjoying his holiday feast. Possums have strange pink paws and a bare pink tail. And if your dog corners one in the barn, it will make the most awful shrieking noise. (No, my dog didn’t kill it. But I think they both scared each other.)

December 19, 2006—Indiana rootscape
Here a small stream wanders under the fallen leaves, eroding the soil away from these treeroots. I’ve always found exposed roots fascinating.

December 4, 2006—Sonora with toy
Since I have been working on a lot of deadlines lately, I haven’t been able to get out in the field to sketch. So I have to settle for what I can see inside and outside the house. This is my rottie, Sonora. She’s nine years old, which is rather elderly for a big dog, but she hasn’t figured that out yet. When she can’t be outside chasing after toys and sticks, she likes to lounge around my studio chewing on one of her numerous toys and generally getting underfoot.

December 4, 2006—Teague sketches
This is Teague, my husband’s hunting partner. He’s a wire-haired pointing griffon, which is similar to a German wire-haired or short-haired pointer. Teague isn’t a shining example of the breed: he’s got way too much hair and most of it is long and soft, instead of wirey. However, he is a very good hunting dog and a pleasant companion, which is more important.

December 4, 2006—Fox Squirrels
Finally some wildlife! The fox squirrels have invaded my front yard again, pillaging the sunflower seeds. They like to scoop it up with their front paws and hold it cupped up to their mouths. The squirrels nested in our backyard this year. I had to rescue one of their young from the neighbors’ cats this summer. I had never handled a squirrel before but I knew from other biologist friends that they can be very fierce, so I put on leather gloves before I tried to pick him up. I soon realized how he had held off the cats for so long! The little guy’s body wasn’t any longer than the palm of my hand but he went into attack mode when I got close. He leaped at me hissing, with his teeth bared. (Any Monty Python fans out there? Shades of the killer rabbit!) Fortunately, I was able to scoop him up into a box and set him free in the back of our property back among the oak trees where he could climb to safety.

November 19, 2006—Deschutes River Canyon study
While my husband took the dogs off hunting, I sat near the Deschutes River and made this color sketch. The canyon was full of brown rock and trees, yellow grasses all over the hills, and small touches of green sage.

Click here to return to the Deschutes River Canyon scratchboard page.

October 22, 2006—Canada geese
I’ve never been a big Canada geese fan per se, probably because they are so common across the country and they are really, really messy. Given the choice, I’m much rather sketch a snow or white-fronted goose. But I thought I would challenge myself to capture some action sketches while these geese waddled around Westmoreland Park. I do like the interesting bends and curves in their necks as they forage and spar with one another.

October 22, 2006—kingfisher
This was a nice find because the kingfisher has become something of a nemesis bird for us. The problem isn’t finding one, so much as persuading him to hold still long enough for sketching and photographing. This funky little guy was hanging out at Westmoreland Park among the beautiful fall foliage.

October 9, 2006—Dungeness Spit
We took a break after a recent art show in Port Townsend to do some hiking. One of our stops was Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge to look for brant geese. Well, the geese hadn’t arrived yet for the winter, but we had lots of good bird watching anyway. This sketch shows the view from Dungeness Spit. This is one of the longest natural spits in the world. Looking back toward the coast, you can see the tree-covered cliffs and, in the distance, the cloud-shrouded Olympic Mountains. Just an hour before, we were treated to the sight of two mule deer taking a walk on the beach.

October 9, 2006—marbled murrelets
What a fun sighting! The marbled murrelet is on the Federal Endangered Species List. Roughly the size of a city pigeon, the murrelet is a rarity in the seabird world because it nests in old growth trees in the coastal forests. The male and female, both with mottled brown breeding plumage, take turns sitting on the nest and caring for their chick. They are rarely seen at their nest because they are well-camouflaged and nest high up in the tree canopy. To avoid predators, they only fly to and from the nest at sunrise and sunset. At top speed, they are just a quick blur in the dim light.

October 9, 2006—surf scoters
One very abundant winter resident of Dungeness Refuge is the surf scoter. They nest inland in Alaska and Canada, but spend their winters in ocean waters, diving for mollusks. While the female (shown at bottom) is tones of brown, the male is striking in black plumage with large white patches on his head. He also has very distinctive white eyes and a large, multi-colored bill.

September 10, 2006—cicada shell
One of my strongest memories from growing up in Indiana is hearing the cicada chorus on hot, muggy summer afternoons. In prime hatch years, the noise was deafening. Here is a cicada shell which a young relative described as both “really icky” and also “really cool.”

September 10, 2006—moth
This is a top and side view of an interesting moth I found while searching for pawpaws in the woods. From the side, you can see the triangle shape its body makes and his long pointed snout. His dark body shows up too well against the pale tree trunk, making him vulnerable to predators. It reminded me of beginning wildlife biology classes where they explained natural selection and evolution using moths in London. Before London had pollution control (way back when) dark moths survived better than light ones because they blended in with the soot that covered everything. After pollution control, the population of light colored moths increased because they were no longer as obvious when the soot decreased. Funny how some things stick with you.

September 10, 2006—bloodroot leaves
Bloodroot is an eastern wildflower that blooms in early spring. The lovely white flowers don’t last for very long but the leathery leaves are still here in the fall. The plant’s name comes from the red colored sap in its stem.

September 10, 2006—monarch butterfly
Here I am trying to capture the patterns of a monarch butterfly as he rests above my head on a dogwood leaf. My father likes to leave lots of native milkweed plants around for the monarch caterpillars to feed on. This gives them a nasty taste which predators avoid.

August 27, 2006—great egret
I have a confession to make: I am a spotting scope moocher. My husband and I specifically bought a second scope so that we could both use one at the same time. He loves to take very nice digital pictures with them; I use them to sketch and take really, really awful pictures. However, I am a bit lazy and hate carrying a scope with the tripod on lengthy hikes. So frequently I end up mooching off my husband, who isn’t always wanting to share. And there isn’t much I can say against it because, well, he did carry the scope around. So on this trip to Fernhill Reservoir, I ended up sketching a lot of one egret because he was big enough that I didn’t need the scope to watch him. Actually it’s pretty amusing trying to capture all the convoluted positions his neck takes up. You can tell how intent he is about the hunt by the angle and stretch of his neck.

August 15, 2006—white sturgeon
There are a lot of cool fish out there, but the sturgeon really take the cake. A big river fish, sturgeon are found in the Columbia River in the Northwest. These specimens, at the Oregon Zoo, are only babies, maybe 3 feet long. Large adults can grow to over 15 feet! Like sharks, these fish have a cartilaginous skeleton and are millions of years old. Unlike sharks, they are bottom feeders; check out the barbels on the bottom jaw. At first glance, they seem rather plain but then you start noticing the subtle color variations on their bodies of browns, blues and grays. They are quite strange and very lovely.

August 15, 2006—ruddy duck pair
Another sketching trip at the zoo. The Northwest aviary has finally been reopened after a long construction period. I am really fond of ruddy ducks because they just have that look: little round body and stiff perky tails. The male is, of course, the bright colored one. I couldn’t resist drawing his glowing chestnut plumage.

August 3, 2006—Comanche waterlily
This sketch was drawn at the Hughes Water Garden during their annual waterlily festival. I became really enthralled with the organic shapes of the lilypads and the light passing through the delicate flower petals. And they are impressively tricky to create on paper. I finished a miniature lily picture and am working on a larger piece now.

July 24, 2006—Oregon Coast Aquarium seabirds
I treated myself to a coast trip with plans to sketch seabirds at Yaquina Head (my annual pilgrimage, so to speak). But it was one of those days on the coast, where the wind blows so hard you can’t look through the spotting scope without your eyes tearing up. It was pretty tricky trying to hold the scope steady with one hand while trying to hold my sketchbook pages down and draw at the same time. Could have used another hand! After a couple hours, I gave up and went to the Oregon Coast Aquarium to sketch instead. They have several of the same seabird species on display in an open aviary and it proved to be a much better spot, that day, for both sketching and photography. Here a sample sketches of an oystercatcher (top left), common murre (top right) and tufted puffin (bottom). The puffin sketch in particular seemed to capture the bird, with his large bill, head tufts and stocky body.

July 3, 2006—peregrine falcon
We recently took off for a week and went to Idaho. Part of our trip included a visit to the World Birds of Prey Center. These are sketches of Jess, a 12 year old male. Jess was hatched in captivity as part of the breeding program to rebuild wild peregrine populations decimated by DDT. However, they quickly discovered that Jess was incredibly nearsighted and couldn’t survive in the wild or even be part of the breeding program. Jess is now an education bird, helping teach people about raptors and our impact on environment.

July 3, 2006—chukar
We also saw this chukar at the Birds of Prey Center, but he was a wild bird roaming freely around the grounds and being very appreciative of the fresh green lawn there. Chukar are native to Eurasia but have been widely introduced to the western states for hunting purposes. They are usually found in small groups wandering around rocky steep canyons. We were fortunate enough to see and photograph a group of chukar later in the trip at Hell’s Canyon, in a much more natural setting.

July 2, 2006—white pelican
I got a sunburn sketching these pelicans in the hot Idaho sun, but it was worth it. Can there be a stranger, more prehistoric looking bird? Although I have to admit that of the pelicans, I am more fond of the brown because they are more colorful—and have you seen them dive for fish? Plunging straight down into the water from high up in the air. That is bird that knows how to have a good time! The white pelican is the more sedate species.— But I digress. These pelicans have already inspired a “mini” work and I’m also planning a larger group portrait so I can have fun with subtle color and texture (Pack of Pelicans, created March 2007).

Click here to return to the Pack of Pelicans page

July 1, 2006—common nighthawk
I’ve been fond of common nighthawks since a summer of fieldwork in Louisiana, where I got to watch and HEAR their courtship dives every evening. The male does a steep long dive; the wind ripping through his wings makes a roaring noise, like an diving plane. Nighthawks are mostly seen in the air while feeding and courting, so it was a treat to find this male snoozing away the hot hours at Craters of the Moon National Monument. Better yet, I found him sleeping only a feet above my oblivious husband’s head. Since Jeff is a hard core birder, my discovery really tickled me pink. Included in this sketch are details of the eye and bill. The nighthawk grabs insects in midflight. The long plumes around his bill help him to locate his prey. His mouth looks small but most of it is hidden under his feathers. It is actually a huge maw designed for snapping up food.

July 1, 2006—Craters of the Moon color sketch
This is our second visit to Craters. The monument is a volcanic area in Idaho. It seems like a barren landscape at first, but a closer look shows signs of abundant life. I’m always intrigued by the persistence of life in harsh landscapes. In this sketch, a desert buckwheat flowers and flourishes amid volcanic rubble. Colorful lichens dapple the stones. I haven’t decided yet whether the final artwork will include one of the ground squirrels or chipmunks that were hiding everywhere amid the rocks or some of the butterflies that visited the plants.

June 30, 2006—syringa in bloom
Syringa was in bloom all over Craters of the Moon and the rest of Idaho. A small shrub with white flowers and a sweet fruity smell, this plant is the state flower of Idaho. It must be a very tough plant to survive and thrive in volcanic rocks. Apparently, it sends it’s roots down into cracks and crevices in the rock, where the temperatures are cooler and the soil more moist.

June 28, 2006—Copper Creek from Hell’s Canyon
This is a sketch made while boating on the Snake River. We took an all-day jet boat tour up the river, which was so much fun, as well as very informative. We saw lots of wildlife: bighorns, mule deer, golden eagles, osprey, sandpipers, etc. The only problem was that it is very difficult to sketch the landscape when it is so close AND going by at 30-40 mph! I made this sketch at one of our stops.

May 21, 2006—Oregon iris (Iris tenax)
A 5 minute sketch done at Camassia Nature Preserve, a Nature Conservancy property in our area. The mature flower is on the left, a seed pod on the right. Oregon iris vary in color from dark purple to white. They are especially lovely in dappled sunlight, with light passing through their petals.

May 9, 2006—bitterroot flower in the rocks
This year, I finally fulfilled my ambition to see the succession of wildflowers in the Columbia Gorge. It’s something I’ve been promising myself to do for years. I waited weeks to see the bitterroot plants finally flower. The plant itself first appears with green, succulent looking leaves, reminiscent of an anemone. It stays like this for weeks while the buds begin to develop. But I was truly surprised to see the plant in bloom. During flowering, all you see are the flowers and buds. The leaves completely disappear! And what a beautiful flower. Huge white blooms and pink coated buds popping out of the turf all over the Gorge, looking like a snow shower amid the rocks and lichens.

This sketch was made in graphite with watercolor pencils.

Return to the Bitterroot Blossoms page.

April 9, 2006—view from Catherine Creek
Catherine Creek is a Forest Service property in Washington along the Gorge near Bingen. It’s a great place for wildflower watching. From up on the cliffs, you have wonderful views of the Gorge; the terraced cliffs, river islands and distant hills. Down river you can see the city and orchards of Hood River, Oregon.

March 24, 2006—dwarf caiman at the Oregon Zoo
When the winter rains hit, the zoo is a great place to practice sketching. This dwarf caiman was holding so still, she had a lot of children convinced she was stuffed. I really loved the contours of her head and the eerie color of her eyes. (Personally, I don’t know how to tell male and female caimans apart. You’ll have to ask her keeper that.)