Slash pine cone

Slash pine cone, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

Bah, humbug! Because of a bad cold, the flu, or maybe even allergies I haven’t been sketching as much, and missed my weekend trip to paint outdoors. Since I was confined inside and resting, I thought I’d tackle the intricacies of this pine cone. This cone is from a slash pine tree in our yard, probably left there when the house was built.

I believe that the existing habitat in our immediate area was a mixture of pine flatwoods and palmetto, with the beginnings of live oak encroachment on the edges and a few scrubby regions. You can see the pattern of mature trees in the surrounding residential neighborhood and a nearby golf course.

An interesting thing about pine cones is the pattern the scales make as they spiral around the core. Needless to say, this pleasing pattern is a pain to draw! I ended up scanning the actual pine cone and mapping out the spirals in Photoshop to get them right (see photo below).  I knew that many spiral patterns in nature are related to the Fibonacci sequence of numbers, but had to do a bit of research to investigate why. In my pine cone, there is one set of 5 spirals (the white lines) and one set of 8 spirals (the green lines); both are sequential numbers in the Fibonacci series (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8…).

I found this interesting web site about pine cones and the Fibonnaci numbers. They show the same spiral overlays to count that I resorted to using – with an interactive twist. They mention an insight as to why cones and other structures may develop this way: since Fibonnaci numbers are a close approximation to irrational numbers, the scales (which cover the seeds inside) will not line up with one another, thus making the cone stronger.

You can click on the top image to view it larger on my Flickr photostream!

Wood storks!

During my Saturday afternoon sketching trip to Freedom Park I happened on two wood storks feeding in one of the middle lakes. Their industrious feeding activity allowed me to get some quick sketches done as they moved past. The storks ignored me while a nearby great egret kept its eye on me, certain I was up to no good.

The wood storks are large, almost as large as the great egret, but more solidly built. I read that they are monogamous, and I wondered how long this pair had been together. My bird book tells me that these are North America's only storks.

They moved through the water, stirring up the mud with one foot and then stabbing their beak into likely underwater spots. From a distance the heads looked evenly brown, but then I realized that some of that was from the muddy water. Although I simplified the heads in my direct observation drawing, I did a more careful drawing (the second sketch) from a photo I took in order to understand better how the head and bill looked.

You can click on either image above to view them larger on my Flickr photostream.

Great egret

Great egret, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

I had a chance to observe and sketch this great egret in action yesterday. Luckily, it would hold a pose while searching for food!

The hunter became the hunted when a small alligator came gliding up to within 3 feet of the bird. A great flapping of wings (and what a wingspan it was!) ensued.

I held my breath as egret and alligator froze...after a very long minute, the egret majestically waded away. The small alligator seemed to consider his bad luck, and then turned and swam in the opposite direction.

I sketched as quickly as possible with the sepia pens, adding the watercolor washes later. The egret was quite tall, over 3 feet, almost four. I think the alligator was not even four feet long. I felt fortunate to witness the endless drama of nature playing out, and glad I could share it with you .

You can click on the image above to view it larger on my Flickr photostream.

More things from my yard!

More things from my yard!, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

The previous drawing was so much fun that I did another!  The squirrels have been busy with the slash pine cones as well as the live oak acorns.  This cone is fairly small, and just starting to open up.  The faded and battered Tillandsia bloom spike hung on all year until I snipped it off to draw, it must have some tough fibers in it.  It is already sporting new bloom spikes, they'll provide me with a bit of bright red color soon.

The marlberry fruit is ripening unevenly, with some wonderful color variations from green to rose to violet to purple-black.  They're eaten by various birds and other wildlife.  I've read that they are edible for humans, but have never tried it out; maybe a little research is in order!  The dried flowers of the golden dewdrop were probably damaged by our frosts.  They are a lovely purplish-brown in this state, but I'm not sure I captured it very well.


You can click on the image above to view it larger on my Flickr photostream.