Saturday, January 22, 2011

SketchCrawl pages


Cabbage palms, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

Today was our second participation in the 30th Worldwide SketchCrawl! We went to Freedom Park again, and along the boardwalk I noted the changes from the last SketchCrawl in October.



The water levels are much lower, and the alligator flag is brown and brittle, with some plants sporting new growth from the bases. The sky is tinted a bit cooler in hue, and there are many more bare branches emerging from the evergreen foliage; grasses and sedges have turned ochre and brown.  I watched a lone great egret wade the shallows, feathery breeding plumes dancing in the wind.

Near the lake, a nearly barren firebush offers abundant sprays of berries to darting songbirds.  Further along the boardwalk, and into the older wetlands dominated by cypress, laurel oak, red maple, and pond apple trees, I spotted a single raccoon digging in the mud.  As I started to sketch, it spotted me and ambled off behind the ferns.

A few more quick sketches, and then back to my warm car.  Not cold compared to my northern friend's and family's climates, but 60 degrees F (and dropping) combined with a drizzly rain and a steady wind signaled a good time to end the day of sketching!



We received some wonderful publicity from our local paper, the Naples Daily News; you can see the photo gallery here.  You can also view the Flickr SketchCrawl group of sketches from all over the world here. 

5 comments:

  1. Thank you for making the effort to write this kind of valuable blogs, it's already been worthwhile.

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  2. Beautiful sketches. The first one especially looks like a park that is near my house. I've never sketcheed there, but I have taken some photos.

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  3. These are wonderful, Elizabeth! I love how you sketch again and again in favorite places. You get a real sense of place this way. My favorite page is the last.

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  4. Nice colors, nice composition, nice work.

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  5. Thanks so much, everyone! The interesting parts of sketching the same places over and over are the changes I notice -- colors, patterns, water levels, light -- all are different from season to season. One discovers new dimensions or facets...a more intimate connection.

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