One of the things I love to do is document the seasons. I find my sketchbooks are great records of weather patterns, plant and flower bloom times and animal behaviors like nesting, and migrating.
The sketchbook helps me stay in tune with, and aware of natures rhythms. Like tending a garden it helps me stay in touch with the land and the environment that I inhabit. By observing and recording natural events, big and small I feel part of nature, as I surely am, but I am always in danger of forgetting and becoming isolated from nature in our modern, industrial and technology filled world.
This is the first year I've seen these wonderful hooded
mergansers in our pond. It was a very exciting moment when I
made the positive identification!
They join the wood ducks and mallards that we've had in the pond for several years now.
This year I've also had the good fortune to see pileated
woodpeckers several times in the past few weeks.
They are large and my friend Roxanne thinks they have a per-historic look about them and I agree. Their large created head and long powerful bill always remind me of pterodactyls, though I don't think pterodactyls are proper dinosaurs. I think they are simply flying reptiles.
2014 is the year of the Salamander in Connecticut and a NY Times article and on line slide show filled with colorful salamanders caught my eye. This page was a fun experiment with materials. The Stillman & Birn A4 Zeta I'm working in took the Faber-Castell Artists Brush Tip Pens so beautifully! These pens, filled with pigmented ink, work very much like watercolors because they are transparent and can be layered and blended with ease. a Green micron 05, and Iles de Cafe ink in a fountain pen, along with a white Uni-ball Signo and watercolors for the big heading.
All in all I happy with the way these
sketches are documenting the unique
signs of the season. I'm looking forward to daffodils and trees that bloom!
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