2008 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. Enjoy.

December 18, 2008—Reanna, 8 months old

I was drawing a series of sketches of our daughter for my husband's birthday present. As it turns out, drawing a small child is just as tricky as drawing any other animal. They keep changing positions and do not cooperate. Unless you want to draw endless pictures of her sleeping...

November 11, 2008—Steller Jay, Crystal Springs Garden

Another trip to Crystal Springs. It is a good place to sketch and draw birds and the baby enjoys staring at the ducks at her feet. The geese are larger than she is. I focused on a steller jay that I found. I am sketching and drawing them in prep for a couple different pictures I want to do. I love their cocky posture, which is highlighted by their jaunty crest. Oh, and that is a dogwood tree of unknown species in the upper corner.

September 1, 2008—Punchbowl Falls, Eagle Creek Trail

Another party of relatives came out to meet the baby and we went for the obligatory hike in the Gorge. This time we visited the Punchbowl Falls along the Eagle Creek Trail. This was my first real hike since having the baby and I was huffing and puffing. But the view was well worth it.

August 28, 2008—River Otter, Oregon Zoo

Usually the river otters at the zoo are out and about. And I am grumbling under my breath as I try to sketch and photograph them underwater. (There is a picture I have in mind and someday an animal will cooperate, I know it.) This time, the otter was sacked out. Napping is a good time to practice capturing the body.

August 28, 2008—Beaver, Oregon Zoo

The zoo beavers were very cooperative this day. It is a treat, and very good practice, to sketch them while they are swimming in the viewing pond. I was able to see details of their tails and feet, things that are usually difficult to spot in the field.

August 28, 2008—Northern Spotted Owl, Oregon Zoo

One thing I really appreciated about the Oregon Zoo is the large number of native species on exhibit. It is a special pleasure to be able to draw an endangered species, and such a lovely one. I find all owls beautiful but the spotted owl is especially handsome. The enormous dark eyes seem to hold many secrets.

August 24, 2008—Himalayan Blackberry, St. Louis Ponds

We packed up the dogs and the baby and took off for a run at the St. Louis ponds. There are many blackberry patches on the property and everyone, including the dogs, likes to eat them. The blackberries were already starting to dry up, except for the ones at the very tops of the vines, of course. The Himalayan blackberry is a very invasive species, but it does provide food and nesting habitat for wildlife. We have not seen towhees on our property much since we got rid of the blackberries in our little woodland.

July 19, 2008—A River Runs, Columbia Gorge

Okay, so you caught me out. Here we went for a hike in the Gorge on the way back from Hood River and I cannot tell you where we were. Somewhere with a waterfall, but that does not help much. I do know really liked the way the water tumbles over the rocks there. And we probably saw a dipper as well, if I had to guess.

July 19, 2008—Reanna on a road trip

Reanna on her first trip and she slept through it, thank goodness. She is only three months and growing like a weed.

July 19, 2008—Columbia Gorge View

Our first road trip with the baby. We drove out Hood River way to get some cherries. In town, we are closed in by trees and houses, so it is wonderful to get away and stretch my eyes with views of the Gorge.

June 16, 2008—Twinberry, Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge

A trip to Tualatin River with the whole family. I am excited because it is the farthest I have been away from the house since February, when my doctor put a halt to my jaunts. The baby slept through it all again. This is twinberry plant. It was really cool to see all fruiting stages on one plant like this. The plant produces two black berries, nestled side-by-side. The sepals(?) of the flowers are a lovely maroon red. Overall a very cool plant. I think I might try to find some for my little natural area.

June 8, 2008—rocks, Camassia Natural Area

Our first big trip outdoors as a family. The baby slept through most of it in her sling. My attention was drawn to this Missoula flood rocks on the top of the plateau at Camassia. The dry grasses make a nice contrast to the lichen-covered rocks.

May 22, 2008—Reanna

Because our baby is so small and medically a bit fragile, we are not getting out much. So she is the main item I have to draw for right now. It is interesting drawing a baby, who does not hold still any better than any other animal I have drawn. Mostly I try to catch her while she is sleeping, which is a lot of the time, right now.

May 15, 2008—Reanna

Here is my latest masterpiece: our daughter, Reanna Fulkerson Dillon. Reanna arrived very unexpectedly 10 weeks before her due date. Literally in just 4 days, I became dangerously ill with pre-eclampsia, had to be rushed from the doctor's office by ambulance, etc. Reanna was born April 10th, 3lb and 1 oz total. She was in the NICU for four weeks. She is a beautiful baby, so they tell me, but still very small. She is growing like a weed but not even 5 lbs yet.

April 6, 2008—Rough-skinned newt

This rough-skinned newt dove under the boardwalk just as I stopped to sketch him. He has a rough-textured brown body and a bright orange belly. The orange belly is probably a warning sign to predators: this newt secretes a toxin from his skin. It can make predators sick. Generally, people are fine picking them up and handling them, but be sure to wash your hands afterwards just in case.

April 6, 2008—Wildflowers, Camassia Natural Area

Another visit to sketch wildflowers at Camassia. On the left is a trillium species. It is not the typical Trillium erectum that we usually see in our northwest woods. The two flowers on the right are native lilies, trout lilies, I think. The clump in the middle is a single flower. The clump on the far right is more mature and has multiple flowers on the stalks. The flowers are a lovely yellow.

March 30, 2008—Wildflowers, Camassia Natural Area

Camassia is a Nature Conservancy property in West Linn. The trail starts out at a low wet forest and climbs up to the rocky plateau overlooking the interstate. It is one of the few wild areas that is open to me now because of my high-risk pregnancy. We are scouting out wildflowers, but spring is late this year because of the cool, wet weather. But I did find some yellow wood violets and trilliums blooming.

March 24, 2008—Bloodroot

Spring has arrived and the wildflowers are making an appearance. This bloodroot is an eastern import living in my tiny woodlot. I usually try to emphasize native plants when I am gardening, especially in my woodlot but this plant has a lot of sentimental value for me. They are very common back in the midwest deciduous forests where I grew up and one of the first flowers each spring. They are called bloodroot because the thick leaf stems ooze red sap if you break them off.

March 24, 2008—Trilliums

I am very proud of this clump of native trilliums in my woodlot. The lot was covered in ivy and blackberry when we bought the house. Not much could grow there because of the infestation. We spent a lotta, lotta time pulling and cutting those non-natives out to free the woods, which had a really bare understory. These trilliums were one of the few native wildflowers that survived the takeover. The first year we found two plants, the next year there were three or four. This year I was tickled pink to find nine plants growing so far and at least 5 of them will bloom this year.

February 29, 2008—Red-winged blackbird, Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

This male red-winged blackbird was posed helpfully on a close stand of cattails. Which is one of my favorite classic poses for this species. He was not feeling relaxed enough to sing for us, but did hold still long enough to be photographed and sketches.

February 29, 2008—Great blue herons courting, Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

While my husband was chatting with a colleague at Ridgefield, I was watching a pair of herons. They caught my eye because they were standing close to each other, which is bit unusual. And then I watched with delight as they started to parade across the mown field together. I have seen this courtship behavior in grebes and other waterfowl, but never before in herons. They walked together, with that stiff-legged heron strut and bobbed their heads simultaneously. When they reached the edge of the field, they stood still for a little while and then they both flew off, and not with each other, as if nothing had happened. Unfortunately, we were too far away for me to get photographs, so I had to settle for this sketch from memory.

February 24, 2008—Canada geese, WestMoreland Park

After visiting Crystal Springs, we stopped off at WestMoreland Park on our way home. While my husband was obsessed with capturing photos of the different gull species and their crosses and their plumage stages, I sat on a bench and watched the waterfowl go by. I became interested in the different poses of the Canada geese. They have long, very expressive necks. The goose on the left is showing a typical threat posture, snaking its neck up to warn off an intruder.

February 24, 2008—Yellow flags, Crystal Springs

Crystal Spring Garden is infested with yellow flag plants. These are non-native, yellow-flowering iris plants. But they are lovely during blooming time. At the edge of a patch, there were a lot of fallen plants and I was able to the study the roots (tubers?). These are very large and old plants, old-growth iris, if you will. They have very large and thick tubers with lots of roots coming off them. A plant that is fallen over will eventually grow new young, upright, plants off the sides of the tuber.

February 24, 2008—Waterfowl feet, Crystal Springs

Here are sketches of different waterfowl species fee for comparison. All where drawn while the bird was on water, so it is an underwater view. On the left is an American coot foot. Coot feet are pale colored, yellow to white, and have lobed toes. Coots do spend a bit of time out of the water on dry land or in mucky habitat and have long legs and toes. I am currently working on a coot picture and needed to get the foot details right. The two middle sketches are two different female mallard feet. Mallards have bright orange feet which are short and stocky. On the right is a Canada goose foot. Notice how much larger and more powerful looking this foot is.

February 24, 2008—woodducks in trees, Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden

Back to Crystal Springs Gardens. With my current medical restrictions, I will probably be going there a lot during the last months of the pregnancy. Everyone better get used to it, especially me. Anyway, this was a fun sight to see. Woodducks are tree ducks during the nesting season, but you do not necessarily see them up there. Here we saw a whole pile of woodies hanging out in a tall tree, just like so many turkeys at roost. At this time, the ducks are in the process of pairing up but have not settled on mates yet. This was a mixed group of males and females. Later the ducks will find a high tree hollow or nest box to make their nest in. The young ducklings will have to plummet to the water below to follow their parents out.

February 10, 2008—Cloud formations, along I-5

I saw these unusual cloud formations on the drive back from the coast, along the interstate near Woodburn. Clouds are one of the few situations where I wish I did not sketch in pen and ink. Ink is not the best medium for capturing the soft feel of clouds, or the depths of the layers.

February 2, 2008—California sea lions, Newport Bay

On what turned out to be my last trip to the coast until after the baby comes, we went to a couple of my favorite places: Yaquina Head and Newport Bay. At Newport Bay, we tried out the new camera on the sea lions. The sea lions have taken over one of the docks in the historic center and keep everyone at bay with their large teeth and impressive size. Besides they are fun for tourist types to gawk at. The sea lions lounge around in large piles, lazily barking at each other. The males are larger and more bulky than the females and also have a more blocky head.

January 13, 2008—mallard sketches, Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden

We went to test our new camera out at Crystal Springs. Crystal Springs is very lovely around Mother’s Day, when the rhodies are blooming. But all year round, Crystal Springs is a good place to photograph and draw waterfowl. They are fed on a daily basis by all the young children of Portland and follow the kids around in large hordes. When they aren’t gulping down cracked corn, they are usually willing to let people approach them fairly closely while they are loafing around the Garden.

Here I have several sketches of different female mallards. They were perched together on a fallen log and going about their business of resting, preening and scratching. I especially like the way they balance on one leg and how they adjust their body to counterbalance out.

January 1, 2008—Bighorn ram sketches, Cabelas’ store

While up at Olympia, we went to the new Cabelas’s store. These stores are known for having mounted and stuffed wildlife specimens all over the store. I was primarily interested in sketching and photographing bighorn ram examples to use as references for a bighorn sheep commission I was working on at the time. If you are interested in drawing wildlife, mounted specimens can be helpful. They certainly know how to hold still for you! Just keep in mind that the accuracy of the animal’s anatomy is dictated by the skill of the taxidermist. The eyes in particular can be tricky.

When I use mounted specimens as references, I use them to help me work on details of horn, fur, and feathers of sketches I am already working on. I am careful never to copy the animal’s pose. I am not sure, but there may be copyright issues if you copy the pose, especially if it is very unique.

The commission I was working on was based on photos that I took of (live) rams in Montana. The pictures were a bit fuzzy on the details because of the distance I took them at. The basic pose was easy to draw but I needed other photos (and these specimens) to figure out the details. If you look at this sketch, you can see small arrows I drew on the face, showing the direction the hair is falling. I was also looking very carefully at the texture and structure of the horns to help me shape my picture more accurately.

January 1, 2008—Reflections, Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge

What a great start to the New Year: we went up to Olympia to visit a friend and hike at Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge. This was our first visit to this refuge. And we were certainly not the only ones. The refuge is right outside the city limits and gets a lot of traffic from birders, hikers and others during nice weather.

Here I sketched a large pale,wolf tree that reflected beautifully in the water below. After taking a class last November with Pat Averill, the color pencil landscape artist, I have really been noticing the subtle colors in our Northwest landscapes: pale pinks and purples in the grasses and trees.

Along with some marvelous scenery, we were also treated to views of northern harriers (probably my favorite raptor species), a young and very cooperative Cooper’s hawk, and a peregrine falcon, which was a real treat. And of course, numerous waterfowl species.