A Nature Art Journal in Southwest Florida

Sketching and painting at Fakahatchee Strand

2012-01-23T14:40:00.003-05:00

Fakahatchee grassy marsh, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

“There are still remnants of the old wild Florida. There is always something. Anytime. Day or night, cold or warm, in the rain or shining sun you can find bits of the old wild left around, if you can only get away from your fellow man for a spell.” ~ Archie Carr

One way to rediscover the old wild Florida is to visit Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park, which I did as part of the En Plein Art – Arts in the Fakahatchee event last Saturday, which also happened to correspond with the 34th Worldwide SketchCrawl. Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park has many different types of habitats: strand swamp, marl prairies, cypress strands, tropical hardwood hammocks where one can find royal palm groves, pine rocklands, and even an estuarine system. A group of us met on the south side of US 41, just across from the Big Cypress Bend Boardwalk, where an old remnant of the highway bordered a vast sea of gold and green grasses.

There were remnants of charred cabbage palms along the roadside, with interesting textures. I found myself sketching one of the palm trunks near the ground because of the dried palms fronds and grasses arranged around it. We are in South Florida’s dry season, and one can find this reflected in the plants and grasses. Things aren’t the crunchy dryness of late spring quite yet, when fire danger is high, but the ground beneath the sea of grasses is only damp, not wet or marshy.

As I painted, I found myself thinking of what it was like when men and women first encountered these habitats, and how their environment shaped their days and nights. Another artist and I walked out into grasses, which was hard going. They were taller than they looked, head height and higher in some places, the ground so low that we couldn’t get to a vantage point for painting. I settled for coming back to the road and painting along the edge, while she remained, creating a lovely intimate watercolor of grasses framing a clear blue sky.

Off in the distance I observed wood storks flying in low over the grasses. Along the edge of the road, orange, white, and yellow butterflies nectared on the Spanish needles and rattlebox wildflowers in bloom. Overhead flew two large groups of tree swallows in seemingly random patterns. Later a trio of black vultures circled the sky. The sun was out all morning, with clear skies and occasional puffy clouds that soon vanished. Our high was 79 degrees (F)! What a beautiful day! Thank you to Amy, Anita, Cathy, Cyril, Karen, Kerri, Linda, Mary, Rose, and Stephanee for coming! A special thanks to Cyril for making the signs, and to Karen for creating the event!

Everglades Conservation Atlas

2012-01-17T16:58:00.003-05:00

Last Saturday I went for a walk on the Conservancy’s Brigg’s boardwalk at Rookery Bay. I made a new friend there, Joe Davenport of Manship Films. He interviewed me for a project called the Greater Everglades Conservation Atlas, which will allow online visitors to explore the greater Everglades of Florida in a virtual format.

The project was conceived and created by the Legacy Institute for Nature and Culture (LINC), and I feel quite honored to be a part of it. Ten artists are creating artwork in different spots throughout Florida: my area is the Rookery Bay National Estuarine Reserve.

Saturday was an overcast and cold day. There were cool breezes that lingered with a kind of softness that hinted at moisture in the air. The sun was visible here and there through the tattered blanket of clouds – reflecting the kind of light that mutes colors but also makes them a bit luminous. We heard songbirds, but only saw a few. In the distance across the lake were great egrets, and perhaps some ibis, flocking in to the shoreline around noon.

The path to the pavilion winds through pines and palmettos...and poison ivy!

The boardwalk winds through several habitats: scrub, hammock, wetlands, and pine flatwoods. At a raised open pavilion I made a small watercolor sketch of the surrounding slash pines and palmettos. Above me was a gnarled old pine silhouetted against the grey skies. Later we walked through mangrove and buttonwood stands, and I sketched some of the leaves and branches I saw along the boardwalk.

(You can click on the image to view it larger)

I’m not sure what my subject will be yet for the Atlas, there are so many possibilities and I want to do them all! Alas, like most projects, there are deadlines. Limitations are good, though, because they keep us moving and open us to creative solutions.

Another facet of the Everglades Conservation Atlas is the Florida Wildlife CorridorExpedition, which started today (January 17th)! Starting at the southern tip of peninsular Florida, a team will hike, bike, and paddle 1,000 miles along the Florida Wildlife Corridor, ending 100 days later in northern Florida. You can see their route here; you can also click here to follow their progress on Facebook.

I wish them all the best!

Shining sumac

2012-01-08T16:25:00.039-05:00

Shining sumac, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

Rhus copallina

This is one of my favorite woodland shrubs. I usually see shining sumac on the edges of habitats, in the ecotone or transition zone. Shining sumac is also called winged sumac or red sumac. You may not be able to tell from my quick sketch, but there are little “wings” along the leaf stem (rachis). This one has very small wings, but in some specimens they are more pronounced. Shining sumac has pinnately compound leaves that alternately spiral along the main stem. The individual leaves (or leaflets) are about 2 to 3 inches in length, but you can see that they're variable in size. This sumac caught my eye because of the gorgeous colors.

Shining sumac has quite a range in the eastern United States, throughout Florida and as far north as the south of Maine. In the south it reaches into Texas. Although the berries are favorites of many birds, this specimen had none to show. It's situated along a trail, so it may have been trimmed back while in flower or fruit. In the past, the fruits have been used by humans to make a cooling, tart lemonade-like beverage, and as a dye. The roots are reported to have been used to treat dysentery.

Sumac is deciduous, so next time I visit this trail the leaves may have dropped. Another species of Rhus is poisonous, aptly named poison sumac. The leaves, stems, and roots contain the same irritating allergen as poison ivy, urushiol. Luckily, this species grows a bit further north of southwest Florida in damp or wet locations, while shining sumac prefers drier conditions. This is good news for me, since I seem to attract poison ivy just by setting foot outside my car! Sumac belongs to the Cashew family, Anacardiaceae.

The genus name Rhus is thought to come from the old French, meaning red, or from the Greek reo, meaning “to flow,” thought to refer to its spreading habit. Another source claims that Rhus is a derivation of rhous, an ancient Greek name for sumac. I found only one source that states that copallina means gummy or resinous, but doesn’t list the language or country of origin. I believe that the common name of shining sumac refers to the shiny leaves of this species. The leaves I sketched were somewhat shiny, depending on the age of the leaf. The new leaves were glossy in spite of the recent cold snap, a beautiful light red with almost a bronzy overtone.

I spotted this shining sumac along the trail at Rookery Bay that leads to the Conservancy’s boardwalk. I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing my sketch and reading a bit more about this common but often overlooked native shrub or small tree.

Ibis at Rookery Bay

2012-01-02T11:27:00.002-05:00

White ibis along the Conservancy boardwalk at Rookery Bay

All adventures start with that one first step!

A Happy New Year to all my online friends!
happy painting and sketching,

~ Elizabeth

American alligator

2011-12-27T22:26:00.046-05:00

Alligator scutes, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

Can you recognize which part of the alligator this is? They are bony plates with a ridge extending from the center, and pocked with indented irregular spaces. These bony plates are scutes, or osteoderms, and lie in multiple rows along an alligator’s back, forming a formidable armor. These scutes are from a legally harvested alligator. Florida has a Statewide Alligator Harvest Program that allows annual hunting and trapping to manage populations, as well as permitting year-round captures of nuisance alligators.

At one time, alligator numbers in Florida had so dramatically declined due to over-hunting and habitat loss that biologists weren’t certain the species would recover. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service placed them on the endangered species list in 1967, and 20 years later populations rebounded enough to have the alligator reclassified. Besides Florida, alligators can also be found in Louisiana, southern Texas, and parts of Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

Alligators are the largest reptiles in North America and live in freshwater environments: rivers, lakes, ponds, swamps, bayous, and marshes. They will tolerate a certain amount of brackish water, and can be found near estuaries and bays as well. Their bulk and short legs make them appear clumsy on land, but they can actually run quite fast for short distances and had even been reported to climb chain link fences! Alligators are excellent swimmers; their strength, webbed feet, and sleek body design enable them to dive and move swiftly underwater. One of the ways alligators subdue larger prey is to snatch them from the shoreline and dive for deeper water, holding the hapless meal-to-be underwater until drowned.

The average male American alligator is 10 to 15 feet long, and weighs between 500 and 600 pounds. Females tend to be smaller and lighter than males. A female alligator lays eggs in a shoreline nest of tangled sticks, vegetation, and mud. She guards her eggs until they're ready to hatch, and will often assist the baby alligators to the water’s edge. One of the few reptiles to care for its young, mother alligators have been known to aggressively defend their young for more than a year.

Baby alligators have charming black and yellow stripes that will transform over time to the adult’s slate gray/black coloring. In the wild, an American alligator generally lives to be 35 to 50 years old, but may survive 60 to 80 years in captivity. They are “cold-blooded,” or ectothermic, and cannot regulate their body temperature like warm-blooded mammals. When it turns cold in Florida, I often see alligators basking in the sun along the edges of canals and lakes. During the summer months, they enjoy the cooler temperatures offered by shade or water and are seldom seen. Sometimes all I see are the bony ridges and protruding eyes just above the water’s surface – easy to mistake for a floating log. So far this winter our temperatures have been warm and I haven’t seen the alligators sunning themselves as often as last year.

It amazes me to think that these primordial reptiles are one of our last links to the dinosaurs. There is only one species of alligator in North America, the American alligator, Alligator mississippiensis. The common name is corrupted from el lagarto, (the lizard), the name given to it by early Spanish explorers. There is only one other alligator species in the world, which resides in China. Crocodiles are a near relative to alligators, with several different species found in tropical habitats throughout the Americas, Asia, Africa , and Australia. The American crocodile lives in Florida, but in small numbers, and prefers salt water to fresh. Crocodiles have thinner, longer, and more pointed snouts than the alligator’s more rounded nose and jaw.

It’s important to remember that alligators are basically primitive eating machines, and should be treated with care and caution. Humans have no business feeding alligators, and the babies do not make good pets.

Alligators have a place and a purpose within the complex and interwoven ecosystems of Florida, and many species depend on alligator water holes in times of drought. They are astounding creatures, but a terrible force of nature, and not to be treated lightly.

For more reading:

National Geographic
Defenders of Wildlife

Savannah River Ecology Laboratory

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T07:22:00.001-05:00

Magnolia seed burr

A warm Merry Christmas to my online friends! I've been a bit out of commission, but will be back on track soon. If I haven't stopped by recently, please know that my thoughts are with all of you.

~ Elizabeth

Live and laurel oak leaves

2011-12-13T19:24:00.004-05:00

Live and laurel oak leaves, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

"There is always something

to make you wonder

in the shape of a tree,

the trembling of a leaf."

~ Albert Schweitzer

Gaillardia

2011-12-03T17:49:00.003-05:00

Gaillardia, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

I love to see our native wildflowers used in landscaping. While driving past this medical center the other day, I spotted bright yellow and red gaillardias in the late afternoon sun and stopped to take a photo to sketch later. It was one of those afternoons when the air is clear, and the golden light makes colors glow. How could I not stop?

One of the many aster family members, the gaillardia’s bloom is the typical “daisy” design, with bright yellow and red rays around a red/yellow/purple center. The common name of blanket flower refers to its similarity to the bright striped blankets woven by Native Americans in the West. There are several species of blanket flower found throughout North America, in different variations of red and yellow.

Our blanket flower (Gaillardia pulchella), also known as firewheel, is found throughout Florida and ranges north into Virginia, and west to Colorado and New Mexico. It’s a plant that tolerates neglect, doesn’t mind salt or drought, and will grow in most any well-drained soil. It grows 12 to 18 inches tall in a spreading habit, with hairy stems and alternate, mostly basal leaves with smooth to toothed or lobed margins.

The flowers attract pollinators such as butterflies, bees and wasps, and bloom throughout the year in Southwest Florida, but elsewhere in the summer and early fall. The genus name Gaillardia refers to M. Gaillard de Charentonneau, who was an 18th-century French magistrate and botany patron. The species name pulchella is from the Latin base pulcher, meaning beautiful.

I think it’s interesting that the French word gaillard means strong, sprightly, or lively – since these sturdy little plants are tough but full of life and color! In my research, I read that gaillardias have importance in Native American culture; the Kiowa peoples thought the flower brought good luck and used it for decoration. One legend tells the story about a gift given to a blanket maker from the spirits – a blanket of ever-blooming flowers upon their grave.

You can read more about this beautiful wildflower here, at the website of the Florida Native Plant Society.

You can click on the image above to see it on my Flickr photostream, which gives details on the paper and media used.

Gopher tortoise

2011-11-27T21:12:00.005-05:00

Gopher tortoise, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith. This tortoise was about 12 inches long.

Last week when I visited the Naples Preserve, I sketched a gopher tortoise burrow as part of my nature journal entry about the coastal plain honeycomb head wildflower. It’s funny how a drawing can start trains of thought and exploration. Although I didn’t see any tortoises that day, the burrow opening itself led me to wonder about the gopher tortoise: what they eat and how they live.

Gopher tortoises are found throughout Florida, and range into Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and the southernmost tip of South Carolina. Although once common, their numbers have dwindled because of habitat destruction. In Florida, they're the Endangered Species List as a Threatened Species.

Gopher tortoises are a keystone species. A keystone is the wedge-shaped piece at the top of an arch that supports the other parts. If a keystone is removed, the arch collapses. A keystone species has a disproportionately large effect on its environment relative to its quantity.

For example, it’s been estimated that gopher tortoise burrows (both active and abandoned) provide support for over 300 types of animals, birds, and insects – which use them for shelter, hiding places, or protection from the elements. These are commensal relationships, relationships in which one organism benefits while the other is neither harmed nor helped.

Gopher tortoise burrows average 15 ft. in length and may be as deep as 6 feet. The longest estimate is up to 48 ft. in length! The burrows have one entrance/exit, and eventually open up into a larger “bedroom.” Species found using these burrows range from burrowing owls and scrub jays to Florida mice, gopher frogs, opossums, scorpions, and indigo snakes.

Some other interesting things I learned about gopher tortoises:

•They first appeared during the Pleistocene Epoch, and are one of our oldest living species.

•Gopher tortoises are land reptiles – they do not live in or near the water! In fact, they rarely drink water, getting fluids from the plants they eat.

•They live in areas with easy to dig sand, such as pine flatwoods and scrub habitats.

•The size of the burrow opening corresponds to the size of the tortoise using it.

•They are herbivore scavengers, eating grasses, legumes, mushrooms, fruits, berries, and even flowers.

•Biologists believe that they have a 40 to 60 year life span in the wild, they live much longer in captivity.

Some websites on gopher tortoises for further exploration:

Ginny Stibolt's account of finding a gopher tortoise in her Florida backyard, with in-depth facts.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission page

Gopher Tortoise Council

An interesting page by Rebecca Bolt, Wildlife Ecologist, in the Titusville, FL area

Students, parents and teachers: you can click here to download a free gopher tortoise coloring page in PDF format.

Coastal plain honeycomb head

2011-11-20T19:37:00.005-05:00

Coastal plain honeycomb head, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

I visited the Naples Preserve recently and saw these wonderful, lacy wildflowers glowing in the late afternoon sun. They were scattered along the boardwalk in different locations, and as I neared the end, I spotted an identification tag: coastal plain honeycomb head. This is the longest common name I’ve ever come across! Not only is it long, but it has a unique flavor as it rolls off the tongue. I gathered that it grows along the coastal plain, and that the flower or seed heads reminded someone of a honeycomb.

That name (as well as its beauty) led me to take photos and do some sketching. Naples Preserve is a scrub habitat, and the ground you see in my journal entry is pure white sand. Living in soil that is dry, well-drained, nutrient-poor, and heat- and light-reflective takes some adaptation! Many plant species have deep tap roots to reach moister regions and to serve as anchor.

Coastal plain honeycomb head (Balduina angustifolia) is also known as yellow buttons, a more practical name if not quite as whimsical. This native wildflower is an annual, growing up to 3 feet high, and is commonly found in scrub and pinelands. A member of the huge Aster family, it has small linear leaves that lend the stems a feathery appearance.

It’s found throughout Florida, and into the neighboring states of Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. The genus name of Balduina honors William Baldwin, an American physician and botanist. The species name of angustifolia comes from the Latin for “narrow leaves.”

You can see that I've been experimenting with combinations of loose watercolor washes and tighter details. For this page I also played with a dip pen, using watercolor instead of ink to create the delicate tracery of grasses and vines. My new favorite toy!

You can click on the top image to see it larger on my Flickr photostream, then select the Actions down-arrow in the upper left, and click on view all sizes (6th choice down from the top).

Beach sunflower

2011-11-13T13:36:00.009-05:00

Beach sunflower, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

A few months ago, I collected some beach sunflower seedheads and scattered the seed in a flowerpot. So much time went by that I thought surely the seed wasn’t viable, so I set another pot on top of the dirt. Not long after that, I noticed seedlings with distinctive triangular shaped leaves. Finally! They’re a foot high now and growing vigorously, topped off with the bright yellow blooms typical of the sunflower family.

Beach sunflower is Helianthus debilis, a smaller relative of the large and beloved domesticated sunflower we cultivate for seed and beauty. Sunflowers are a member of the huge Aster family, with typical composite flowers – two types of flower structures, ray and disk. Think of the rays of the sun and you’ll know immediately which are which. The disks are tiny flowers that make up the center “button.”

The leaves are an attractive deltoid-to-heart shape, but the plant has rough and prickly stems. The foliage is usually a bright green, but does have a period in late summer when it tends to get weedy and needs some grooming if you are a particular gardener. Although many sources mention beach sunflower as a butterfly attractor, my experience is that it’s especially enjoyed by many types of bees and the occasional skipper.

Because beach sunflower will tolerate a wide range of light and soils, and scoffs at drought, it’s a favorite of mine. I have a partially green thumb and a full-time job, so plants in my care need to be low maintenance! Besides, I also like those cheerful daisy-like blooms and splashes of vivid yellow.

You may have guessed that this species is often found near the beach; in fact, another common name is dune sunflower. It has a high salt tolerance and can be seen growing right out of white sand – it’s roots busy stabilizing shifting dunes. Beach sunflower blooms year-round in South Florida, flowering in the warmer months along the Gulf Coast and into Texas.

I painted this directly in watercolor, first putting in a yellow background wash. After the wash dried, I added the leaves right on top, sketching the outline of the petals with my brush tip. Then I added my pen sketches of the flower and leaf to record a bit more detail. Next, a little more color and some text, and I felt I had a nice balance of science and art. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

You can click on the image above to see it on my Flickr photostream, and you can also see an earlier journal entry on beach sunflower here.

Sketchcrawl at Naples Preserve

2011-10-16T15:58:00.048-04:00

Sketchcrawl at Naples Preserve, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

Yesterday eight of us met at the Naples Preserve to participate in the 33^rd Worldwide SketchCrawl! The sky was overcast, and the air was that soft, satiny texture that comes before a rain. Thankfully the rain held off and we enjoyed exploring the boardwalk that winds through scrub habitat, and sketching the wonderful inhabitants.

Young gopher tortoise ambling to its burrow. Length was about 12 inches.

Lavender, violet, yellow and blue were the colors of blooming flowers: moss verbena, Florida paintbrush, liatris (violet colors), black-eyed Susan, coreopsis, beach sunflowers (bright yellow) and dayflower (vivid, clear blue). These were punctuated by the brilliant magenta-purple berries of American beautyberry.

Gopher tortoise burrows dotted the sandy soil, and we spotted one partially hidden in its underground hideaway, and another smaller tortoise digging in the sugar sand. Cicada and bird song accompanied our ambles, and we spotted red-bellied woodpeckers and mockingbirds flitting in and out of the scrub oaks.

My watercolor of a wonderfully twisted sand live oak toward the beginning of the boardwalk.

In progress!

It was an enjoyable day: an opportunity to paint plein air and to make detailed studies of unusual plants. Thank you to those who helped organize our event, and to those who attended!

Sycamore leaf

2011-10-08T17:14:00.005-04:00

Sycamore leaf, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

This leaf is from my recent trip to Copeland, Florida to draw and paint the Bula Baptist Mission Church. There was a small stand of trees nearby, and I picked up some of the fallen leaves to paint later. Most of the fallen leaves were monotonously brown in color, but this particular one still had some green turning to a warm reddish brown (later it faded to an even medium brown color).

I used two pigments to create a brown and to liven up and exaggerate the colors I saw: Daniel Smith Sap Green and Cadmium Red. I added the veins later with a dark-brown watercolor pencil. I’m still testing the Strathmore Windpower Watercolor sketchbook, which is the paper I used for this study. The spiral bound 6x9 book is loaded with 15 sheets of 140 lb. cold-press paper and is a good value for the cost (under $10.00).

Sycamore trees are not common in Southwest Florida – they’re almost always planted as part of a landscaped home or institution. They are more common in the wild in north Florida, and are trees that prefer floodplains, although they adapt well to other habitats.

Their distinctive features: out-sized, broad palmate leaves; thin plate-like bark in mottled cream and brown colors, and a large height and spreading leaf crown. I’ve found the leaves to be great subjects for study because of the strong veins and interesting shapes they take when drying.

Interesting facts about sycamores in Florida:

•We have two co-champion trees, one in Orange County and one in Alachua County. Champion trees are documented as the largest representative tree of their species. If you’re a fan of big trees, you may want to visit these sites online:
American Forests.
Native Tree Society (scroll down to BigTree/Tall Tree listings in the left navigation pane).

•We have sycamores growing here that traveled to the moon! Well, the seeds did, anyway. Hundreds of various species of tree seeds traveled on the Apollo 14 mission to the moon on January 31, 1971 as part of a joint NASA/USFS project. The seeds were germinated upon return to earth, and seedlings ended up at the University of Gainesville, The Kennedy Space Center, and Cascades Park in Tallahassee.

You can see more sycamore leaves on my Flickr photostream, especially in the set labeled Color Charts and Mixes, where I was trying out various triad color combinations.

Thanks for visiting!

American sycamore ~ how many ways to draw a leaf?

2011-10-03T13:09:00.005-04:00

On the left, a leaf drawn with pen scribbles; on the right, the same leaf drawn with a mechanical pencil

I like sycamore leaves because they're quite large, and as they dry they create interesting shapes that are a challenge to sketch or paint. Sometimes I like to experiment with different ways of drawing the same subject, and a sycamore leaf is the perfect subject. This practice helps my future sketching because it gives me ways to compare ease of media as well as the mood and texture they create. You can see from the examples that each leaf has a different character, depending on the technique I used.

The leaf at the top left has a free and casual feeling; I used random, rather large scribbles to build up the planes and masses. The leaf sketched in pencil (top right) has a much softer feeling - this particular pencil allows for fine lines and a gradation of grays. Notice how the pencil lines follow the curve of the leaf between the veins, and how each line has continuity in direction, totally unlike the scribble texture.

The leaf in the bottom example (left) has an ink outline with stippled dots describing the shadows and masses. This lends a more formal feeling to the drawing, and is often used for botanical illustrations because the dots reproduce well and can indicate a lot of detail. This particular drawing doesn’t contain much detail, because of the size of the dots relative to the size of the subject. Imagine if you were to make a large drawing with many dots, and how descriptive it could be! Needless to say, this method is time-consuming and not a good choice for sketching in the field, although it can have its purposes.

The next leaf is also in ink, but with hatching and cross-hatching to show form and value. This technique can mimic old ink engravings if the lines are very parallel and evenly spaced, or be more free if the lines are more haphazard (like mine). Each technique is unique, and can be combined to create even more interesting lines.

Left, an inked outline with stippling in pen; right, the same pen but with cross-hatching.

I hope this exercise has been helpful, or spurred some new thoughts about alternate ways of making lines. You might want to think about using them with unconventional media as well as the traditional standbys I used. Next post: more about sycamore leaves!

You can click on the images to view larger. Thanks for visiting!

Things from an estuary

2011-09-24T21:57:00.001-04:00

Things from a Florida estuary: driftwood, nicker bean pod, cat's claw seedpods,
oyster shells, buttonwood leaves and "buttons," and a rattle-box seedpod.

Today was National Estuary Day! I find estuary systems fascinating; they are the sheltered nutrient-rich birthplace and nursery environment for many species of life. Estuary ecosystems occur when fresh and salt water meet and mingle, the best of both worlds.

I painted this last year after a visit to Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve just south of Naples, and thought it would be appropriate to share today. These were just some of the small treasures I observed as I explored the trails through the mangroves around the bay.

To read more about National Estuary Day and the importance of our estuaries, please visit NOAA's website on estuaries.

Bula Baptist Mission, A Farewell

2011-09-21T09:12:00.001-04:00


The front of the church.

Last Saturday a small group of us met at the old Bula Baptist Mission Church in Copeland, Florida to sketch this historical structure before it meets the demolition crew. Bula Mission was built in the 1940’s of the cypress wood that was being logged out of the nearby cypress domes and strands. You may remember that an earlier post reported my visit to a different church in Copeland last March, which is still standing over on Church Street.

Bula Baptist Mission was built at a time when racial segregation was the norm in the South; it was a church for Black services, while the Whites attended the church down the road. When segregation ended, Bula Baptist Mission closed, and all races attended the Baptist Church on Church Street. Reverend Gilmore, the pastor of the Baptist Church, told us during our visit in March that their church was one of the first fully integrated churches in the county during the early 1960’s, with a congregation of Blacks, Whites, Native Americans, and Hispanics.

Our sketching group was kept small, out of respect for the surrounding residential neighborhood, and we met early to avoid the Florida heat and humidity. I had a chance to do two small plein air paintings, one in my new Strathmore watercolor sketchbook, and one in my Pentalic Nature Sketch pad. Both worked well with the Daniel Smith travel set I created. The Strathmore paper has great lifting properties, so I could clean up a few mis-strokes later.

Bula Baptist Mission, as seen from the road.

The church itself used to be a one-room structure, with small bathrooms added later just off the front entryway. At one time, it was hoped that the building could be restored and used for community events, but the cost is too great. I believe the current plan is to salvage as much as possible, then demolish it. If anyone has any information to add, please comment below, or email me and I’ll update this post. I love old structures, and feel sad that this one won’t be around for much longer.

It was a lovely summer's day, although quite hot as the sun crept up to its zenith. The church is overgrown with lush vegetation and there were butterflies everywhere: swallowtails, sulphurs, and gulf fritillaries. Two red-shouldered hawks patrolled the sky overhead. Painting bliss!

It was an honor to be able to spend a few hours painting the Bula Baptist Mission, and I thank Karen Relish and Marya Repko for making it possible. Thank you too, for visiting!

A bit of news

2011-09-20T07:19:00.000-04:00

I am flattered by a fellow blogger’s review of my blog and website! Shauna Lee Lange, of Port Charlotte, Florida posted a wonderful piece about me here.

As I browsed Shauna’s website, I was energized just reading about her ventures. I was especially taken by her new enterprise, The Center For Lovingly Used Art Supplies (CLUAS), a re-gifting and art donation effort.

Thank you, Shauna, and all the best in your art adventures!

Is is fall yet?

2011-09-15T06:24:00.003-04:00

Laurel oak leaf, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

With temperatures still in the low to mid-nineties here in south Florida, this is the question on my mind almost every day during the last half of September. I found this laurel oak leaf on the ground the other day, and it reminded me that fall is lurking around the corner.

Just in the last few days, the mornings have been a tiny bit cooler, and the air has been drier. The sky has taken on a tinge of cooler blue as the earth tilts away from the sun. Fall in Florida doesn’t have the drama and glory it does further up the northern hemisphere, but it does have a subtle splendor.

This tattered, beaten-up leaf still glowed with color, inspiring me to try to capture them in watercolor. I painted this in a new watercolor sketchbook by Strathmore, purchased at Michaels with a 40% off coupon! And since it was a low price to start, I felt I couldn’t go too wrong.

It is the Strathmore Windpower Watercolor pad, spiral bound, with 15 sheets of cold press 140 lb. acid-free paper. I bought the small size (6 x 9 inches) for field and small study painting and sketching. I like the clear white color of the paper and the way it takes initial washes. I also like the heavier paper in this book; I used a fairly wet wash on the leaf and had no buckling at all.

What I didn’t like was the way my watercolor lifted when I attempted to add another glaze layer, but I think that is partly my choice of paint color. Still, I’m used to the Pentalic sketchbook that seems to “grab” all of my watercolors. I think I need to experiment more with getting my initial washes right, and fuss less with detail.

I sketched this first in pencil, and then painted with Daniel Smith watercolors: Quinacridone Gold, Sap Green, Raw Sienna, Burnt and Raw Umber, and Cadmium Red. Darker vein accents were a mixture of Raw Umber and Indanthrone Blue; the shadow is a mix of Shadow Violet plus Indanthrone Blue.

It’s been a lot, hot summer for many of us, but I know some of you in the upper parts of the northern hemisphere are enjoying autumn already, with cooler temperatures and even frost!

Real natural Florida

2011-09-05T12:54:00.004-04:00

Spent Florida butterfly
orchid blooms.

Florida is a constantly changing state. It seems as is many if the people you meet are transplants from another location, although the rare natives (those born here) can be met. I’m related to an old Naples family by marriage, and believe me, they’ve seen a LOT of change in our little section of Florida.

To many people, Florida reflects back a kind of kitsch – fantasy theme parks, giant papier-mâché oranges atop roadside stands, cypress-knee lamps, and hot pink plastic flamingos on wire legs. Those with a passing interest in our flora and fauna marvel at palm trees and alligators, crystal-clear springs and giant ferns.

I’d like to invite you to slow down even more, and take a closer look at the real natural Florida.

Leopard frog.

Florida is a long state, surrounded on three sides by salt water. In the interior are numerous fresh-water lakes, springs, creeks, rivers, and marshes that mostly flow gently southwards. Underneath it all is a limestone base called karst. Karst is characterized by cracks, caves, and flowing underground water – and the reason for our famous sinkholes.

The center peninsular part of the state has higher ridges that were once coastal dunes, and much of south Florida was once part of the ocean floor. What lies beneath also determines what lies above. For example, a typical pine flatwoods habitat occurs on low, flat, and sandy soils. South Florida rocklands feature outcroppings of pockmarked limestone, creating tropical hammock islands of vegetation amid lower marshy areas.

Florida tree snail.

Cypress domes are shaped by the ground below. A depression or sinkhole forms in the limestone, and fills with water and organic material. Taller cypresses grow toward the center, while shorter trees grow around the rim. Sometimes the center is open where the water is too deep for even cypress trees. The “dome” shape mirrors what is happening below.

Red maple,
a wetland tree.

Underneath the glamour of big city life in Miami, the Mickey Mouse ears in Orlando, and the beaches all along the 1,350 miles of coastline, beats the heart of natural Florida. We have upland forests next to Alabama and Georgia, and subtropical and tropical swamps, hammocks, flatwoods, scrub, prairies, and estuaries. There is a remarkable diversity of plant, animal, and insect species throughout our state.

Start with your own backyard, can you tell what was once there before your home was built? Look at your neighborhood; are there remnants of a pine flatwoods (like mine), or a scrub oak community? What small wonders do you see living in your area that have adapted to what is present now? A snail, songbirds, anoles, butterflies…perhaps a stray opossum or black snake?

The drawings are in mechanical pencil on Bristol board, done years ago for an article in The Palmetto, for the Florida Native Plant Society.

I rediscovered them while looking through some old artwork for another project. The drawings and article reminded me that many people who live here don’t get a chance to connect to Florida’s unique landscape and history.

Barred owl.

Longwing butterflies

2011-08-31T07:54:00.015-04:00

Longwing butterflies, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

This month I've noticed many small passionvines thriving: climbing up shrubs and sprawling over the ground. These passionvines have an undistinguished small flower, and bear small purple fruits. I'm sure that some are the native corky-stemmed passionvine because of the mottled brown and corky base of the vine. Others I'm not so sure of – partly because the leaves are so variable, and the corky-stemmed version doesn't always have a corky stem when it’s young.

I see some with three-lobed skinny leaves, some with fat lobes, and then there are the plants suddenly sporting “mitten” leaves. One plant has no lobes at all, just a pleasant oval leaf shape. They all attract these three butterflies, the Julia, Gulf Fritillary, and Zebra longwing. The attraction is a chemical that renders the caterpillar (and butterfly) distasteful to predators. So the butterflies identify this helpful plant (through sensors in their feet), and lay their eggs.

All three of these butterflies have elongated upper wings, hence the common name of longwing. The caterpillars are different colors, but each species has wicked-looking spines in rows along their bodies. They are for looks, though; the spines are harmless.

The Julia butterfly is often a bright orange on top, but can also range to a soft ochre color. One year it seemed to be the summer of the Julia butterfly – there were Julias everywhere. Other times they seem scarce and are hard to find. They fly quickly, often zigzagging all over the place.

The Zebra Longwing is the Florida state butterfly. Its easy to identify, with its long black wings with yellow stripes and spots. Zebras like to fly more slowly, almost lazily. They also have an interesting bedtime habit – at night they fold their wings and roost communally on a branch or tree. One year a small community chose a nearby firebush as their night roosting spot, and I could get quite close to them at dusk. What an experience to creep up on thirty or forty butterflies all hanging down from a dead branch!

I've sketched the Gulf Fritillary before in this journal. They've been plentiful the last two summers, even though the butterflies in general seem to be fewer in number. This butterfly is bright orange with black markings on top, but oh so different below. Underneath, the wings are spotted with patches of silvery iridescence. Where Zebras prefer more shade, these butterflies seem to enjoy open sunny areas with a bit of cover.

Thanks for visiting! You can read a bit more about these butterflies at the links below.

Teachers, students, and parents:
Please click here for a free down-loadable PDF coloring page of these butterflies.

You can also visit my Flickr photostream for more of my visual nature journal entries.

Zebra Longwing in Wikipedia
Gulf Fritillary in Wikipedia
Julia at Floridata

Cicada

2011-08-20T15:31:00.003-04:00

Cicada, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

Always heard but seldom seen, cicadas are one of my favorite summer insects. As a child, I loved finding cast off cicada nymphal casings, marveling at the translucent brown replicas. I found this dead cicada on the ground, still whole before scavenging ants and beetles feasted on the soft parts.

My Florida insect book must be old, as it lists the order as Homoptera, but Wikipedia tells me that it’s been changed to Hemiptera. The state of Florida is home to 19 different species of cicadas, out of the 2,500 species living throughout the world.

I thought all cicadas had a life cycle enveloping a 13 to 17 year cycle, but apparently that belongs to a particular genus in North America, the Magicicada. The so-called annual cicadas have a life span of 2 to 5 years.

The life cycle starts when a female lays eggs in a slit she cuts into a living twig. When the eggs hatch, the nymphs drop to the ground and burrow in to the soil, emerging later to shed their final skin (like the ones I found as a child), and become an adult cicada, ready to start the process all over again.

Interesting tidbits I learned about cicadas include:
•Their diet – they sip the juices of plants and trees above ground, and the roots when below ground.
•Adult cicadas are edible, and eaten in several countries.
•The name cicada means “tree cricket” (from the Latin).
•Only the males make noise.
•Cicada species can be identified by the particular noise they make. That means there are over 2,000 variations of cicada music! The noise has been referred to as thrumming, buzzing, clicking, or zithering (my favorite).
•They exist on all continents but Antarctica.
•They have an additional three small simple eyes (ocelli) between their two larger eyes.
•They love the heat of summer, and make the most noise during the hottest parts of the day.
•They are part of folklore (17 year locusts), poetry (signifying summer), and symbolism (reincarnation).

I enjoyed the opportunity to do some close-up studies of this insect, using my Pitt artist’s pen in dark sepia in a Pentalic Nature Sketch sketchbook. I added a few watercolor washes (Daniel Smith) as well, since there some interesting variations of browns on the body and wings.

For everything you’ve always wanted to know about Florida cicadas, visit the University of Florida’s website.

For cicadas in general, including audio clips of cicada music and a video clip of a molting cicada, visit Wikipedia’s entry.

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

More nature sketching at Grace Place

2011-08-14T21:03:00.000-04:00

A nature journal entry from our first field trip to Freedom Park.

In early August I worked with the summer campers at Grace Place a second time. We met at Freedom Park, so I could share with them one of my outdoor “studios.” After a short show-and-tell of my past nature journals, we took a short stroll down the boardwalk towards the wetland area.

Using our five senses to experience nature - our second field trip (Freedom Park).

I spoke to the kids briefly about my process, and how I become a nature detective in order to sharpen my observation skills for my drawings. Then I created a journal page with their input about the different things we saw, heard, and felt.

On our first field trip, we were enthralled at the sight of a large black snake climbing and sliding through a low shrub. On the second, we observed squirrels scampering up and down a laurel oak. Both times, we saw several types of plants, insects, berries, and nuts. The kids had sharp eyes!

Drawing and painting nature objects.

The following week I visited Grace Place with various nature objects and plant cuttings, and the kids had their opportunity to spend time creating their own nature art! The following day, each group shared their artwork in a group critique.

Busy at the art table testing our materials.

If you’d like to see photos and read a more detailed description of what we did, please visit my July post for a report on the process.

If you’d like to give your kids or students a simple way to create a nature journal page, I’ve created a free template that you can download and print. It has questions to spark observations and a space to draw. Use it to learn about the natural areas in nearby parks, schoolyards, and even your own backyard!

Making a study of a sea grape leaf with watercolor pencils.

Sometimes it's fun to research!

Thanks for visiting!

More car sketching

2011-08-06T20:24:00.003-04:00

Some of you know that I often take advantage of long car trips to get a bit of drawing in. Usually the time before, during, and after a trip has strings attached: endless to-do lists, people to call or see, and time to rest (we are not spring chickens!).

On the way out, we enjoyed good weather and I sketched with my Pitt pen directly onto the sketchbook pages, in the mood for black and white ink drawings. You can read about these and see what I drew at this post for the Sketching in Nature blog.

On the way back, however, I felt the need for color! The top painting is a quick and loose impression of the Alabama countryside as it flashed by. I find that the practice of being forced to focus on images and commit details to memory has helped me. I have a good color memory, but I don’t remember unfamiliar shapes well. The more I do, though, the better my observation powers.

We ran into a massive rainstorm later, which eliminated my outdoor subjects. There weren’t even any interesting clouds, just uniform grayness obscuring most everything. I had picked up some leaves at a rest stop, so I settled in for some ink and watercolor work. The road was a bit bumpy, but I just went with it…it added a little more character and a further connection to the moment in time.

If you'd like to visit my my past post on car sketching, click here, and visit this link to my Flickr photostream if you'd like to see my old travel set-up, which shows my Sennelier travel watercolor set (I used my Daniel Smith travel palette on this tip).

You can click on the images to view larger. Thanks for visiting!

Portable art kit revisited

2011-07-29T18:24:00.001-04:00

This is my third incarnation of a portable sketching/painting kit for plein air. When I was showing the kids at summer camp my art kit, I realized that a lot of the art supplies I take for granted are a novelty to others. I also tend to let it grow a bit, but it hasn't gotten so heavy that it's a pain, and I like having extra supplies for myself or others. So let me share what's inside my art bag!

Main access is through the top,
which is convenient.

An old camera bag converted
into my portable art kit.

First, the bag: an old camera bag sent to me by my father. The cube shape works wells for my rectangular sketchpads and containers. The main access is through the top, but there is also a little zippered side compartment which is handy for smaller items that might get lost in the bottom of the bag.

Inside the bag I keep:
• Two spiral bound sketchbooks, the current books are an Aquabee Super Deluxe (9 by 6 inches), and a Pentalic Nature Sketch (6 by 12 inches).

My current portable art bag and contents (not including kitten!)

My pencil box.

• A pencil box with an assortment of mechanical pencils, artist drawing pencils, charcoal pencils, erasers, and pencil sharpener. I prefer the white vinyl erasers, since they seem to work best for me.

• A brush box with four Niji Aquabrushes. These are waterbrushes that have a hollow barrel in the handle that can be filled with water. One is a flat, and the others are rounds in three sizes. I carry a small ruler and some Q-tips.

My brush box, an inexpensive
plastic container from Walmart.

• A miscellaneous box. A bit of everything: emery boards for pointing pencils, toothpicks, a cut credit card for scraping, and GUM brand teeth cleaners for lifting. Derwent Blue-gray watercolor pencil, Albrecht Durer watercolor pencils in Black, White, and Payne’s Gray, and a #11 Xacto knife (blade protected by an eraser). A Signo Uni-ball white gel pen, and a Prismacolor white colored pencil. Oh, and a white birthday candle for watercolor resist.

• A magnifying glass, an all-purpose multi-tool, and an assortment of binder clips (good for windy days).

Some of the tidbits from my miscellaneous box.

• Extra paper towels, zip-lock bags (different sizes), and a travel spray bottle with water. Extra batteries for my digital camera.
• Pens. Sepia Micron Pigma and Faber Castell Pitt artist pens in black and dark sepia, in assorted sizes.

• Water soluble pencils. Derwent watercolor pencils and Derwent Inktense pencils, each 12 piece sets, and a set of 24 Kimberly watercolor pencils.

• A travel set of Daniel Smith watercolor paints I put together myself. You can read about the palette and paint choices here.

Watercolor travel set.

If you'd like to see the previous incarnations, visit my Flickr photostream here for the first art kit, and this blog post for my second art kit.

I've learned a lot from what other artists carry, and am willing to try new things, so please feel free to share your tips!

SketchCrawl on the museum grounds

2011-07-24T11:54:00.003-04:00

One of the brick pathways that wind through the outdoor displays.

What a nice group of sketchers we had! Our outing on Saturday was planned as part of the 32nd Worldwide SketchCrawl, an event that spans the world and joins artists and drawing enthusiasts for a day of creative sketching fun. We met at the Collier County Museum from 9 am to 12 noon, and sketched and painted the lovely grounds in the back.

Our sign, so visitors could find us.

It was a hot day, just right for a rest in the shade!

Being able to peek over other artist's shoulders while they're creating is very inspiring. I came away with new ideas and increased enthusiasm to make art. I felt lucky to be around these wonderfully creative people! Check the SketchCrawl page (the tabs at the top under the banner) here on the blog soon for upcoming photos of our group, and for the next SketchCrawl location. There is also an online photo gallery at our local paper - Naples News - that you can visit now to see some of the participants and their work.

Detail of a shell mound recreation.

You can click on the images to view them larger, and you can also see them larger on my Flickr photostream.

Thanks for stopping by!

Nature art fun at Grace Place

2011-07-17T07:52:00.000-04:00

A serene spot at Grace Place.

Recently I had the opportunity to participate in a visiting artist program at Grace Place, a local community center. Right now they are having summer camp, but they serve children and families throughout the year. My participation was solicited and assisted by Kerri Meehan, president of Expression of Art, LLC, and it turned out to be a wonderful experience!

During the previous week the kids came to visit me at Freedom Park, one of my "outdoor studios." I showed them my nature sketchbooks and sketching kit, and talked to them a bit about what I did and why. I gave them a quick demonstration of how simple art can be, using watercolor and just a few quick strokes of the aquabrush. They also received a quick introduction to watercolor pencils, which were a great hit!

When I visited Grace Place, I set up a specimen table with various plants, cones, seedpods, shells, fossil shells, and a piece of an opposum jawbone (complete with teeth!). A magnifying glass was provided for those who wanted to take a closer view. I made sure that the plants I selected were benign, in case of skin reactions. Once upon a time I broke out into full body hives after weeding a flower bed - yikes! We didn't want anyone to have a similar reaction. I also tried to choose things that they might find in nearby woods, parks, or even in theirown back yard.

Selecting a specimen to draw.

Sharing my thoughts.

To start, I shared my approach to nature journaling. I discussed drawing as a process - where we enjoy the drawing part and try not to worry about the end result. Next we talked about observation, and how to be a nature detective. Using the words who, what, where, when, and how, we explored ways these questions could direct our observations and our drawing process. Then we added information we could get from our five senses: sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell.

The next step was to select a subject - either a specimen from the table, or something from memory or the imagination. Then, the best part: drawing and painting! In addition to the pencils and watercolor paints provided by Grace Place staff, Kerri contributed colored pencils, and I offered my Kimberly watercolor pencils. All of the media were popular, and the kids mixed them for some really interesting results.

I was impressed with the process as well as the results! I saw thoughtful drawing and writing; I saw young artists taking care of their supplies and sharing the popular colors. Some artists drew habitats after asking questions about their subject; some artists emphasized the colors they saw in the stems and shells which made for wonderful interpretations. One girl drew various views of the oppossum jawbone, and journalled interesting facts from the field guide I brought along.

Drawing an apple snail and its habitat.

The next day, we shared our drawings and participated in a group critique. At the beginning of the session, I explained how artists often share and comment on each others work, and we set some guidelines: be respectful, be positive, and be thoughtful. Each sudent took the artist's chair at the head of a semicircle and introduced themselves, then told us why they drew that particular picture. The artist-of-the-moment then selected from the hands raised to either answer a question or to hear a comment. We structured comments in this format: What I like is ______, because _______. They were encouraged to use art words such as color, shape, line, and value.

There were four groups of students that day, and each group came up with insightful comments and interesting questions. I could tell that getting this immediate feedback from staff and peers made our child artists feel supported and valued. I could also see some of them reconsidering the way they initally viewed their own work. They certainly made me think, and expanded my own boundaries where art and observation are concerned!

I'd like to say thank you to Kerri and to the staff and kids at Grace Place for contributing to a wonderful experience!

A proud artist!

Ferns along the boardwalk

2011-07-14T09:53:00.001-04:00

Only spread a fern-frond over a man's head

and worldly cares are cast out,

and freedom and beauty and peace come in.

~ John Muir

Patterns in nature have always intrigued me. I focus my camera on a rock or tree bark while others are taking photos of landscapes! While walking on the boardwalk at Freedom Park the other day I was captivated by the fronds of swamp ferns and the patterns the shapes and shadows made. The ferns were lush and a gorgeous shade of green in the late afternoon sun. A sense of wonder and peace fell over me as I mused on its beauty. The quote above by John Muir (the founder of the Sierra Club) captures those feelings in a few succinct words.

I tried to capture the scene in watercolor, but I’m not sure any painting could illustrate the moment. I had to stop my painting to go to work, and when I came back to it, I decided that I liked the unfinished look of it. Somehow I felt that the light area at the bottom reflected a sense of the luminous radiance of light on leaf. Last week I participated as a visiting artist for a local summer camp, and while looking through my sketchbook, one of the children asked if I was going to finish my cormorant pencil sketch. I explained that I had decided that it WAS finished, and that it was okay to leave things a bit wanting.

That interaction started me thinking about the artist’s role as an editor. Sometimes I am so wrapped up in the details (you know me!), that I forget to let the viewer participate. I like the idea of inviting someone into a drawing or painting and letting him (or her) finish the story, so to speak. Having the outside world intrude and limit my painting made me think of other limitations as well. Limitations from the inside (as we edit the things in our drawings), as well as limitations from the outside (not having time or the right paint or color or paper) pushes us into the realm of creative problem solving.

Limitations can be our opportunity. When money and time for art are scarce, we learn to use the materials at hand or invent new ways to create. We learn that a quick drawing from the car can be as rewarding as a hour at the drawing table. Sometimes the limits come from my own expectations – when I’m disappointed in how a sketch turns out or I’ve overlooked a glaring error in perspective.

I’ve found that once I’ve reached that point, a shift in my thinking takes place. Since the art is not what I visualized and therefore “wrong”, I feel much freer to experiment since I can’t possibly make it worse! I open up creatively; the limitations have vanished. And another shift happens...many times (not always!) my willingness to experiment results in a piece that works and has more meaning.

Do you have experiences like this? How do you problem solve in life or as an artist?

Lubber grasshoppers

2011-07-04T16:55:00.004-04:00

Southeastern lubber grasshoppers, click to view larger.

This year these grasshoppers seem to be popping up everywhere. Lubbers are beautifully patterned and colored tropical grasshoppers that enjoy moist areas such as marshes, swamps, ditches, and damp pine flatwoods. They live throughout Florida and range throughout the southeast United States. Stocky and sturdy, lubbers have rudimentary wings that don’t support their bodies, so they hop or walk instead of flying.

This spring I witnessed hundreds of young grasshoppers walking across a gravel road in the Fakahatchee; the small nymphs (about ¾ to 1inch long) were jet black with a yellow lateral stripe. As adults, they sport variable patterns and colors of yellow, red, and black. The bright colors can be considered nature’s warning sign; lubbers have toxins in their blood to discourage predators, and often spit digestive contents laden with the same toxins at attackers.

I read that adult lubbers in northern Florida are mostly black with yellow markings, but in southern Florida they’re mostly yellow with black and red markings. Interesting! I captured these with my camera along the boardwalk at Freedom Park so I could sketch the details without having my subject move around a lot. Even so, the closer I got, the more the wary grasshoppers moved away from me.

As I sketched these fascinating insects, I marveled at the delicate shadings of golden yellow, rose, and black on the wings and body, and how they contrasted with the armor-like exoskeleton. I drew these in my Pentalic Nature Sketch sketchbook (6 x 12 inch size) with a black Pitt Artist Pen in the XS size, and painted them with Daniel Smith watercolors.

If you’d like to read more about our lubber grasshoppers, please visit the links below.

From the University of Florida Entomology Department

And this site has everything you’ve always wanted to know about lubber grasshoppers!

If you’d like to look at more nature sketches from southwestern Florida, please visit my Flickr photostream.

An unlikely visitor – a wayward cormorant

2011-06-26T15:33:00.004-04:00

Sketching with a brush and watercolor paint directly onto the paper. From my photo reference. The cormorant was tired at this point, and bunched its neck up close to its body, huddling near the floor.

Last week a cormorant walked into our cabinet shop. It padded in with an air of determination, and headed for a dark enclosed area in the rear. Cormorants are water birds, and happy, healthy water birds do not like dry concrete and sawdust. Suspecting that the bird may be ill, we gently tried to herd it outside with a handy broom. It would NOT leave.

Naturally, I felt the need to grab the camera and take some photos for future reference. Cormorants have glossy brown feathers that follow the contours of their duck-like body, and a sinuous snake-like neck. They look very much like another water bird, the anhinga. Both are diving and fish-eating birds, but the cormorant has a hooked tip at the end of its long, slender bill, while the cormorant has a pointed tip.

A pencil sketch from my reference photo .

After a phone call to the injured wildlife extension of our local Conservancy Nature Center, they recommended that we bring the bird to them for observation. Luckily, we had a large cardboard box, and we cut ventilation holes in the top for air flow. Well, even sick birds don’t want to be put into a large cardboard box! It had no energy for flight, but was an energetic walker and dodger.

The nature center had warned us to wear safety glasses or sunglasses when we handled it, and minutes later I found out those cormorants have VERY sharp bills, and was glad I was wearing my glasses. When I put the lid onto the box, my left hand wasn’t as nimble as my right and I now have two shallow slashes near the nail bed of my middle finger. Ouch!

I drove to the Conservancy without further mishap and dropped the cormorant off to more capable people. I called to check up on it the next day, and they told me that the poor bird was dehydrated and underweight, and that they were giving fluids and keeping it in the incubator for warmth. I think the poor bird was on its last legs when it came to us; they said it might be 24 to 48 hours before they knew if the bird would pull through. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

You can also visit my Flickr photostream to see other nature sketchbook images.

Florida Butterfly Orchid

2011-06-21T08:21:00.002-04:00

A delicate and sweet-scented herald of summer, the Florida butterfly orchid is blooming now. A friend gave this particular orchid to me after it fell from her cypress tree, and every June it flowers prolifically, even though it now resides on a live oak tree. I took some time to draw it this weekend, both the blooms and the pseudobulbs.

Although today is the first day of summer, it seems like it has been here in Southwest Florida for ages. Our temperatures have been in the middle to high nineties (Fahrenheit) every day, with very little rain (in our area) to cool us off. Despite the high heat, humidity, and scarce rain, green things are growing and thriving and blooming.

I love this little orchid. The blooms are small but vibrantly colored and have a light sweet fragrance. The prominent white lip with its bright magenta-to-violet smudge serves as a landing platform for pollinators.

Although butterflies will visit the flowers, pollination is mainly performed by bees. It’s speculated that the common name comes from the similarity of the dancing flowers on their long stems to as cloud of small butterflies fluttering in the tree branches.

I sketched the orchid bulbs and leaves on site with my sepia Micron Pigma pen and added watercolor later, in the comfort of a mosquito-free environment! If you look at the spent flowers, you can see the swelling seed capsules forming. I sketched and painted the flower studies inside, so I could take a little longer and look at the flower structures from different angles.

The Florida butterfly orchid is one of our most common orchids. It grows on tree branches as an epiphyte, gathering its nutrients and moisture from the air. They’ve become more rare as people have collected them and their natural habitat of cypress and slash pine trees have fallen to development. Native orchids are now protected by law, and should never be collected from the wild.

If you’d like to see my drawings and blog entry from last year (6-28-10), please click here.

Teachers, students and parents!
Click here for a free PDF file of a Florida butterfly orchid that you can save and print.

And you can always visit my Flickr photostream to see all of my nature journal images.

Thank you for stopping by!

Raccoon

2011-06-14T07:32:00.006-04:00

Raccoon at Freedom Park, under the boardwalk, from my photo reference.

Although raccoons tend to be nocturnal mammals, I see them occasionally in the late afternoon at Freedom Park foraging for food in the cypress wetland on the eastern side. I caught this one on my digital camera looking up at me just as it passed under the boardwalk.

Raccoons are extremely adaptable; originally native to the Americas, they range from Canada into Central America, but are found throughout the world. They like to live near wetland areas: rivers, streams, swamps, and marshes – but also adjust to urban life, sometimes causing problems when they interact with humans in their search for food by raiding garbage cans and gardens.

With such distinctive features as a black “bandit’s mask” across the eyes and a bushy, ringed tail, raccoons are easy to identify. Their somewhat ungainly-looking bodies are a contrast to the small and delicately shaped feet and hands. These hands are sensitive and used to explore, manipulate, and clean foods such as crayfish and nuts. Raccoons are omnivores and eat a wide variety of fish and amphibians, small mammals and birds (including eggs), berries, insects, worms, and seeds.

I’ve learned some interesting facts about raccoons in my explorations:

• Scientists can’t seem to agree on the reason why raccoons wash or douse their food in water before eating.

• They prefer environments with vertical support, so they like woodlands with easy to climb trees.

• Raccoons make an appearance in Native American mythologies – as having spirit powers or a as an intelligent trickster.

• Raccoon pelts were used as currency as late as the early 1900’s. They are still trapped and hunted for their fur and meat.

• According to Wikipedia, raccoon was a traditional dish on American farms.

• Raccoons are adept at learning and have a good memory.

• Besides large predators like bobcats and panthers, their worst enemies are humans and automobiles.

• They leave unique tracks – the larger hind feet eclipse the smaller and daintier front feet, which resemble human hands.

And there is so much more to the common raccoon! Start your own explorations by visiting these informative links:

University of Florida IFAS Extension
Wikipedia
National Geographic

Teachers, students, and parents:

Please click here for a free downloadable PDF coloring page of this raccoon.

You can also visit my Flickr photostream for more of my visual nature journal entries.

Buttonbush

2011-06-06T08:43:00.002-04:00

A curiously flowered shrub, the buttonbush takes its name from the round button-like fruits. The flowers are described as looking like pincushions, puffballs, or ping-pong balls, and are about 1 to 1-1/2 inches in diameter. Buttonbush enjoys damp areas and thrives in swamps, marshes, and along water edges throughout most of the eastern United States. It ventures into the Midwest just past the Mississippi River and grows in selected moist pockets in Arizona and California.

The creamy white flower balls have a sweet scent and attract bees, hummingbirds, and butterflies. The fruit ball is composed of small nutlets, which serve as a food source for ducks and other birds. The bushy growth provides cover for birds and other small animals. The leaves on this buttonbush are whorled in groups of three, but they also grow in opposite pairs. buttonbush is deciduous, which means that it drops its leaves in the fall or winter. The new growth on this shrub is tinged with red on the petioles (leaf stems) and the tips of the leaves.

Although considered inedible for humans and horses, deer are reported to enjoy the foliage and young twigs. Buttonbush leaves, bark, and roots had wide uses as a decoction, a gargle, and poultice and were used by Native Americans and European settlers to cure ailments from dysentery to toothache. However, the plant contains toxins that often had worse effects than the illness it treated, and eventually fell out of favor.
If you’d like to read more about buttonbush, please visit the following links:

Wikipedia
Floridata
Florida’s Nature

Teachers, students, and parents!
Please click here for a free downloadable PDF coloring page of a buttonbush.

You can also visit my Flickr photostream for more of my visual nature journal entries.

Thanks for visiting!

Strangler fig

2011-05-28T21:52:00.032-04:00

Strangler fig, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

A fascinating tree found in the tropical hammock areas of south Florida is the strangler fig. It is a member of the fig genus, which in turn belongs to the mulberry family (Moraceae). The common name comes from its frequent habit of germinating in the tops of trees, sending encircling roots down along the trunk of its “host,” which usually results in the death of the original tree.

Strangler fig is not a true parasite as many people think. It starts life when a bird eats the fruit and then eliminates the seeds, usually from a perch high above the ground. The seed lodges in a crevice of rough bark, the crotch of a tree, or in the base of the fronds of a palm tree. After germination, the seedling lives on nutrients and water from the air while it sends aerial roots to the forest floor; it does not take any sustenance from the host tree.

Once the roots can take up water and minerals from the soil below, it grows further, competing with the host tree for sunlight and nutrients. The roots enlarge and often encircle the host tree, preventing it from growing. The host tree often dies later, shaded out by the fig’s canopy of leaves, and weakened by the growth of its roots. Strangler figs will also germinate in the soil, developing a conventional trunk, and can grow to 50 feet high.

The shade of its broad crown is welcome on our hot Florida summer days, its canopy composed of distinctive deep green leaves with a pale midrib. The color of the fruit inspired the scientific name of Ficus aurea (Golden Fig). The yellow to sometimes reddish-purple fruit is valuable to birds and other wildlife, and are reportedly edible for humans as well. The milky sap contains latex, which was used historically as a chewing gum – but is also a skin irritant for many people. The elliptical to oblong leaves are the larval food of the ruddy daggerwing butterfly.

The pointed tip on the end of the leaves is sometimes referred to as a “drip tip,” a tropical leaf design that allows for quick water drainage. It channels rainfall to the end of the leaf where it drips off. It’s thought that it helps protect the canopy from getting too top heavy with water, and protects the leaves from fungus. Another theory is that the dripping (instead of sheeting) action also protects the roots from too much soil erosion.

The fruits of the fig family are unusual: the inflorescence is turned inwards inside of the “berry.” In other words, the inside of the fruit contains tiny flowers that grow on the inside, toward the center. This presents a problem for normal pollinators, but a tiny wasp has developed a relationship with the fig family. You can read more about this relationship here.

The different forms that the roots of the strangler fig take are amazing and often quite artistic. The pale gray smoothness of the trunks reminds me of intertwining elephant trunks, and it amazes me the ways the aerial roots grow together and meld, sometimes creating intricate patterns.

To learn more about the strangler fig:

Wikipedia

Floridata

You can view these on my Flickr photostream, just click the caption on the top image.

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-08T20:15:00.000-04:00

For Mother's Day: a watercolor of a White M Hairstreak butterfly. Can you find the "M"?

I painted this for the North American Butterfly Association's Count Report; they solicit volunteer artwork each year for the annual report that they can reproduce in black and white. I'd like to thank Sharon Wander for giving me permission to use her wonderful photo as a reference.

Happy Mother's Day, and thank you Mom, for making a difference.

Painting water in landscapes

2011-05-03T21:49:00.007-04:00

Marl pond waters reflecting sunny blue skies (painted from my photo reference).

On our sketching trip to Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park recently, my friend Karen asked me how she could represent water realistically. Like so many of us, she discovered that water is challenging to draw or paint. Along with the challenges of textures, reflections, and transparency, there is also movement – either from the surface being broken by wind, fish, or birds or by the currents below the surface.

There are a number of good books and online resources that address ways to represent water. I am by no means an expert, but I’d like to share some of the techniques I’ve found that work for me, especially when sketching in the field and trying to get a quick capture.

Water changes colors: blue where it reflects the sky,
brown where we can see the mud flats below the shallow water.
White sparkles added with a craft knife (painted in the field).

First, I observe the water and what’s happening with wind and reflections, because sometimes it’s hard to separate out the different shapes and colors present.

My motto is to simplify; I look for the broadest colors and shapes, and for a direction of flow. If I’m painting in watercolor, I start with the most gestural of lines in the lightest color, leaving some white areas. There are almost always white (or very light) bits of sparkling color where the sun’s rays bounce off of the surface. If you leave too much white at the beginnning you can always add a glaze of color over it.

I like to add flowing lines that indicate movement.
I take the subtle ripples and flow that I see and
exaggerate and simplify them (painted in the field).

Next, I look for the darker colors, which may be reflections or shadows. Many times a body of water is darker near the foreground, becoming lighter as it nears the horizon. There are often many colors in water: it may contain minerals or tannin that color and cloud the water itself, there may be submerged rocks or logs that can be seen through the water, and the surface of the water often reflects the surrounding countryside. Picking up even just a few of these colors adds dimension and depth.

Ripples are circular in shape, spreading outward in broader and broader rings from the point of disturbance. The angle these ripples are viewed from will determine how elliptical they will be. Sometimes it's good to practice sketching and painting ellipses or ovals so we can feel more confident when we start depicting water.

You also might find it easier to practice illustrating water from a photo reference - at least nothing is moving! I hope seeing one way that one artist approaches a tricky subject like water is helpful.

Notice reflections: they are like a mirror image
of the object they reflect, broken by
horizontal layers of water
(painted in the field).

The water in this canal has dissolved
limestone in it, making it less reflective
and a bit murkier. I kept the reflections of the
limestone rocks in the water simple -
they are mere suggestions (painted in the field).

Earth Day 2011

2011-04-22T12:03:00.003-04:00

Earth is Square, Heaven is Round
Wooden cigar box, plastic, leather, found objects, roots, acrylic paint, and beeswax.
4 x 4 ¾ x 5½”

Today I felt inspired to share a piece I made several years ago that was part of a body of work created for an exhibition.

I started with the concept in Chinese mythology that the earth is square, and that heaven is round. In this piece, the square earth is enclosing the heavens, an inversion of the general perspective that heaven surrounds the world.

The exterior of the box contains a gold and jeweled tortoise, meandering across a painted representation of the swirling matter of the cosmos. The tortoise is an ancient symbol for originator, and a vehicle for supporting the world. I won’t say much more, because I prefer that each viewer create their own meanings.

Throughout history our relationship to nature and the earth has been one of discovery, exploration, and domination. In our effort to understand the natural world, we collect and name plants, insects, rocks, and animals – displaying them in museums and organizing them in cabinets. This is a way to control both the things we fear and those we don’t understand.

Yet even in our attempts to dominate, we still have a connection to the natural world that we value, an ancient link grounded in mystery that has endured despite our increasing technology. This piece is about the unsolved mysteries of natural things, and how we relate to them.

So this weekend in your travels, think about your personal connections to nature and the earth, and the deeper meanings they have for you. What are the things that strum your heartstrings?

Sketching at Fakahatchee

2011-04-19T17:36:00.006-04:00

Fakahatchee field trip

This past Saturday, I had the opportunity to visit the Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park again as part of the En Plein Air event for April. This trip, we visited a disused remnant of Old U.S. 41 (also known as the Tamiami Trail), just north of the newer road. The remnant of road borders a canal and looks out over a marsh prairie habitat. As we traveled down the old road, a swallow-tailed kite swooped overhead, diving low enough for me to glimpse bright eyes and feather details.

We stopped at an old concrete bridge where the vista opened up. This part of the park has a different feeling from the cypress strands I visited before; the sky seems to extend infinitely above a vast expanse of grasses. It was a sunny day, and warm, with a breeze that kept the mosquitoes and some of the deerflies away.

Two of us settled down to draw and paint our surroundings, after our Park Ranger guide showed us some potential spots. Our choices included a buttonwood forest at the end of the road, an open canal lined with cattails, a variety of roadside shrubs and trees, and the prairie marsh. Our guide joined us to sketch after conducting more participants to our location. One of them included a flautist, and we enjoyed her music as it mingled with the wind rustling the grasses and dry palm fronds. What a wonderful experience!

Our explorations yielded some interesting discoveries: an empty Florida apple snail shell, black vulture feathers scattered along the roadside, a water snake shedding its skin, and a wooden framework under the concrete bridge, which may have been the original structure. We saw green buttonwoods, wax myrtles, red mangroves, airplants (Tillandsia utriculata), a snowy egret, great blue heron, turkey and black vultures, and a raccoon ambling across the mud flats under the cattails.

It was a beautiful day, and a happy accident that our planned plein air sketching coincided with the 31st Worldwide SketchCrawl. If you’d like to see photos from the past art events at Fakahatchee, please click on the events tab just under the top banner. A warm thank you to everyone who joined us!

You can click on the caption of the top image to view it on my Flickr photostream.

Apple snail studies

2011-04-11T07:42:00.003-04:00

Apple snail studies, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

This empty snail shell was found in a ditch near some woods in town, and although I know it’s an apple snail, I’m not sure which one it is. Florida has one native species of apple snail, and several invasive species –causing concern among biologists and farmers. The invasive species are probably released from home aquariums. Apple snails are popular in the aquarium trade because they’re attractive and are effective tank cleaners.

Apple snails are the largest freshwater snails on earth; the snail shell I sketched is about 3 inches long! The fact I find most interesting about these snails is their breathing structures. Some snails have gills, and some have lungs, while some (like the apple snail) have both gills AND lungs. Having both breathing arrangements allows them to successfully weather our wet and dry seasons. The Florida apple snail is the main food for the limpkin and the Florida snail kite, an endangered species. No wonder biologists are concerned over the nonnative invaders.

I sketched this shell from several different angles with a Sakura Micron Pigma sepia color pen with an 01 point. Lately, I’ve found myself sketching directly with ink more often, bypassing the preliminary pencil lines. It’s very freeing (once you get over the initial *yikes* factor), and I find that with a fine point and hatch lines, my false starts fade into the rest of the drawing. Anyway, I hope you get a more immediate connection to my subject with this method – unfortunately, I find that the more detail I add, the tighter my drawing gets. Some days I find it very difficult to loosen up my drawing style. There's always next time!

If you’re interested in reading more about these snails, please visit these additional links:

Technical Bulletin on Apple Snails from the Commissioner of Agriculture (PDF)

USGS (United States Geologic Survey), about the Florida apple snail (PDF).

You can click on the caption of the top image to visit it on my Flickr photostream.

Nursery log

2011-04-03T11:20:00.004-04:00

Nursery log, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

On our swamp walk after our art get-together at Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park, we came across this nursery log. Nursery logs (or nurse logs) are fallen trees; the decomposing trunks create a food web in the forest or swamp. When this log fell, it left a gap in the canopy which let additional sunlight into the swamp. As it decayed, the log became home for many types of life: insects, fungus, mosses, ferns, and tree seedlings.

The softening wood provides nutrition and a raised bed away from the competition of existing plants on the woodland floor. Leaf litter collects in the nooks and around the base of the degenerating log, which provides habitat and nesting material for small animals.

Detritivores such as bacteria, fungi, millipedes, slugs, terrestrial worms, and small land crabs feast on the log and the surrounding leaf litter. They break down large matter into smaller pieces and return nutrients back into the soil. In turn they are eaten by birds and small animals, which are preyed on by even larger species.

This particular log was probably a felled cypress. The diameter of the remains is about two feet; the truncated length suggests that it may have been left as a remnant of the cypress logging heyday in the mid 1900’s. What amazes me about this log is the number of seedlings, mosses, and fungi growing on it – I can only imagine the activity going on inside of it!

You can click on the caption below the image to see it on my Flickr photostream.

Guzmania bromeliads

2011-03-30T11:43:00.016-04:00

Guzmania, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

“There are still remnants of the old wild Florida. There is always something. Anytime. Day or night, cold or warm, in the rain or shining sun you can find bits of the old wild left around, if you can only get away from your fellow man for a spell.”
~ Archie Carr (Professor, herpetologist, ecologist, author, and conservationist)

And one way to rediscover the old wild Florida is to trek through the Fakahatchee Strand Preserve Park, also christened “the Amazon of North America.” Fakahatchee is a forested watershed of cypress and mixed hardwoods. Once logged heavily for its large stands of cypress, the swamp is crisscrossed with raised railroad beds. Constructed in the early and mid-1900s, the rails and ties are long gone, but the raised pathways remain. Some of these pathways are cleared for trails, while others are completely overgrown with vegetation.

On my visit to the Fakahatchee as part of the Plein Air Arts outing March 19th, we walked one of these trails and waded through the slough that paralleled the raised tram road. Leaving the trail is almost magical: the rich brown waters of the slough were cool and inviting, the canopy of newly emerged cypress needles and popash leaves were a light-filled delicate green-gold.

Entering a small clearing of popash and pond apple rimming the water, we came on a fairyland of Guzmania bromeliads growing on every available tree. Guzmania monostachia is an endangered bromeliad native to South Florida, found nowhere else in the United States. I can’t imagine coming across this hidden glade filled with blooms – what a sight that would be!

According to presentation by Daniel Austin at a 1986 Florida Native Plant conference, the word “Fahkahatchee” first appeared on a military map in 1856 created during the Second Seminole War. Various meanings of the names’ origin have been suggested: from the Muskogee words for “muddy creek” or the Miccosukee name for “forked river.”

The Fakahatchee strand is a long linear wetland, about 20 miles long north to south, and 3 to 5 miles wide. Its unique ecosystems contain an abundance of trees: stately royal palms, bald and pond cypress, pond apple, strangler fig, laurel oak, willows, popash, and red maple, just to name a few. Many types of plants flourish here: orchids, ferns, bromeliads, cocoplum, peperomias, and poison ivy, just to name a few more. Fakahatchee is home to many types of birds and mammals, including the Florida black bear and Florida panther, mangrove fox squirrel, and Everglades mink.

For more information about the Fakahatchee, please visit these links;
Florida State Parks
Friends of the Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve
Wikipedia

You can also click on the caption of the top image to view it larger on my Flickr photostream.

Copeland Baptist Church

2011-03-24T06:41:00.002-04:00

Copeland Baptist Church, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

I was invited to attend a sketch outing at Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve near Copeland, Florida, and the first place we visited was the historic church at Copeland. Copeland is a small community (population just under 300) nestled against the edge of the Preserve. During our visit, we were treated to a tour of the interior and a brief history of the church and area by Reverend John Gilmore. The church was built in 1947 of local cypress during the peak of the logging period, closing briefly when logging declined in the 50’s.

After lunch, we joined a scout troop for a swamp walk at the Preserve through some of the most beautiful sloughs and hammocks in Florida. I wasn’t able to sit down and sketch, but I brought back reference photos for the future! This was part of the Arts in the Preserve – En Plein Air event for March. You can read about the upcoming get-together for April by clicking on the “Events” tab at the top of my blog under the masthead. A warm thank you to Amy, Kathryn, and Karen for sharing their creativity that morning, and a BIG thank you to Karen, a park ranger at Fakahatchee, who organized the event and shared her knowledge of flora and fauna. It was a beautiful day!

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

Seagrape leaf

2011-03-13T16:49:00.004-04:00

Seagrape leaf, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

In the spring, the combination of cold temperatures and dry conditions cause the occasional leaf on the seagrape tree to turn the most vivid colors. I read somewhere that the circular and sometimes heart-shaped leaves turn red around Valentine’s Day, and that people have turned the brightly colored leaves into natural valentines, scratching or writing verses and sentiments right onto the leaf itself. I don’t know if this is true or not, but it’s a charming thought!

If you’d like to read more about our tropical seagrape tree, please visit my previous post here. This is another one that describes drawing a sea grape leaf and foreshortening.

Thank you, too, for all of your get-well thoughts and wishes!

You can click on the caption under the image to view it in different sizes on my Flickr photostream.

Other references of interest:

Tropilab, an exotic importer

The Smithsonian Marine Station at Fort Pierce

A short absence…

2011-03-09T08:14:00.000-05:00

I suppose one could say that so far 2011 has NOT been my year. Instead of exploring the fascinating outdoor world of Southwest Florida, I’ve been off on medical adventures. Somehow this phrase is easier to process than the facts of pneumonia, anemia, and bleeding ulcers!

The good news is that I am mending quickly, though my drawing excursions have been limited. The next few posts will probably be found nature objects that I can bring inside. I am planning to take part in Art in the Fakahatchee – en plein air in the Preserve coming up in the next two weeks. If you are interested, please click on the Events tab on this blog when published.

Thank you for visiting, and know that I appreciate your support and comments!

Fog!

2011-02-12T11:38:00.003-05:00

Fog!, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

The weather in southwest Florida in the wintertime tends to be drier than our humid summers (also known as the rainy season). Lately, though, we’ve had an abundance of fog. Fog in the morning is not unusual, when cold landmasses meet the warmer air off of the Gulf of Mexico. But fog at 2 p.m.? Very unusual. We watched the visibility become worse as the afternoon progressed, when normally the fog is lifting and melting away with the sunshine.

I captured a composite watercolor sketch in my nature journal of the cabbage palms near the beach. Since a foggy atmosphere dampens and desaturates the color of things, I used a limited palette of neutral colors. Later I added a touch of watercolor pencil for some foggy texture, trying to add a dense feeling.

Drier days are predicted, thank goodness. Last month the fog was so thick across the center of the state that officials closed the section of Interstate 75 that connects Naples and Ft. Lauderdale (about 105 miles)!

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

A bit of news

2011-02-06T15:30:00.003-05:00

30th Worldwide SketchCrawl
Just a quick update…our local paper sent a photographer to our SketchCrawl and created a small photo gallery for the online version. You can see us in action by clicking on this link.

A Reprint
Other nice news – Artella has once again reprinted one of my blog articles in their e-Zine, The Art Journal Journey. This article is one on leaf printing, and describes my explorations using watercolors and acrylics. If you’re interested in printing with leaves, you can read about leaf printing here, with my follow-up article here.

A past client shares photos

I did some illustrations for Miami-Dade County Department of Environmental Resources Management (DERM) that they used in signage for parks at Oleta River and at a rare scrub preserve. Robin Gray-Urgellés, the biologist working on the program, very kindly sent me photos of the finished kiosks as well as permission to use her images. Thank you, Robin!

And a past illustration is reused for a great event
If you are in the South Florida area Saturday March 12th, consider visiting The Randell Research Center in Pineland for their Sixth Annual Calusa Heritage Day event. You can find information here, and in more detail here. I’m honored to have my illustration used for their promotional posters and flyers. The image is done on scratchboard and depicts a wooden mask surrounded by native plants used by the Calusa peoples.

Tillandsia ~ a universe unseen

2011-01-29T12:08:00.004-05:00

Tillandsia ~ a universe unseen, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

This is a quick freehand watercolor study of ball moss, Tillandsia recurvata. It’s growing on an oak branch that broke off in a recent windy thunderstorm. Not a moss at all, this air plant is a member of the bromeliad family. Air plants are epiphytes, growing on other plants or trees and obtaining their food from the water and debris in the air and around them. Contrary to some popular beliefs, they’re not parasites and do not harm the hosts.

The dense clusters of linear grayish-green leaves capture water from rain and dew, and create a habitat for all types of tiny living things. Caught between its wiry strands you can see live oak leaves that will decay and provide nutrients. I’ve often wondered at the small organisms that must make their homes around and on these types of plants, if we could only experience them from a microscopic point of view.

The haiku written by Issa connects me to the wonder I feel about a universe of life in a small space. If we were a tiny ant crawling along that branch and encountered this unexpected forest of life, what we experience? How far and deep would we travel; what would other worlds would we discover?

It is just a ball moss on a broken branch,
and yet…

SketchCrawl pages

2011-01-22T21:06:00.004-05:00

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.

Red maples at Freedom Park

2011-01-12T20:26:00.001-05:00

Finally - a few minutes to sketch in this unusually hectic new year! I headed for the boardwalk at Freedom Park and was spellbound by the sight of a bare-branched red maple in flower - the brilliant red flowers and buds seeming to glow in the late afternoon sun. A quick ink sketch in my nature journal, and I was off to see what other discoveries lay in wait.

How odd - I next came across a red maple with lots of new leaves and no flowers. There is nothing quite as fresh and graceful as the bright green of new leaves unfurling. In this case, magenta, red, and a bronzy-purple are part of the red maple's palette. I wondered at the lack of flowers and the abundance of leaves. My past experience is that usually there is a similar cycle of bud, leaves, flowers, and seeds in the same species (although with some overlap), but I'd never noticed before that maples could be so different. Another quick sketch and a photo reference for painting later...

Next - close to the boardwalk I spotted a red maple with tiny new leaves and graceful sprays of young samaras. Samaras are winged seeds, in this case, two seeds joined at the tips. These are the "helicopter" playthings of my childhood. What a treat to see the entire life cycle of the red maple in one area at the same time! I added a detailed study of these to my page.

As I emerged from the wetlands portion of the boardwalk, I spotted yet another red maple in bloom next to the rail. Bees hovered and dashed and busied themselves with the tiny red flowers, packing away bright yellow pollen bundles onto their hind legs. I slowly (and carefully) eased up for a closer view and more quick sketches.
I added watercolor washes to my ink sketches afterwards , but I can't seem to capture the deep color glow that the afternoon sun lends to nature. My questions on the seeming disparity of flower-leaf-seed cycles sent me on a research quest.

Since red maple is one of the commonest species in Florida and eastern North America, it wasn't easy to find the uncommon information. Craig Huegel mentions in his book "Florida Plants for Wildlife" that some red maples seem to be dioecious, with only certain female trees producing seeds. I'm guessing that the locations of some of these trees in the park also influenced their development: some were in deeper shade and wetter areas.

Please feel free to comment and add further to my knowledge - it's all about learning from nature around us and from each other.

Gulf Fritillary Butterfly

2011-01-01T14:04:00.003-05:00

Gulf Fritillary Butterfly, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

I’ve read that in the winter months, Gulf Fritillaries migrate from southern US states into the south Florida peninsula. Maybe that’s why I’m seeing so many of these brightly colored and patterned butterflies lately. Or perhaps it’s the new growth of Passiflora species I see popping up throughout my yard. Gulf Fritillaries use Passiflora as a larval food as well as a nectar source, and I often see the butterflies and caterpillars near this plant.

My model for these studies was found on the ground, possibly a victim of one of our recent freezing temperature dips. I was sad to find it dead, but happy to be able to observe it closely and sketch it from different angles. If you’d like to see an earlier journal entry showing the Passiflora leaves, and the Gulf Fritillary caterpillar and chrysalis, please click here.

To read more, see beautiful photos, and learn some interesting facts about the Gulf Fritillary butterfly, please visit these links:

University of Florida IFAS

Tree of Life

Butterfly Fun Facts

Wikipedia

You can also click on the caption under the image to view it on my Flickr photostream. A very happy New Year to my online friends!

A very Merry Christmas to all!

2010-12-25T15:19:00.005-05:00

A very Merry Christmas to all!, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

Inspired by nature, created with love, shared with affection.

"The birds of the air are my brothers,
All flowers are my sisters,
The trees are my friends.

All living creatures,
Mountains and streams,
I take unto my care.

for this green earth is our mother,
Hidden in the sky is the spirit above.

I share one Life with all who are here;
To everyone I give my love,
To everyone I give my love."

Joseph Cornell, nature educator

Clicking on the caption title will take you to my Flickr photostream, which has identifying notes on the plant species in the wreath.

Catclaw

2010-12-22T20:24:00.003-05:00

Catclaw, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

I’ve wanted to draw and learn more about this tree since I first saw the seedpods at Rookery Bay Estuary years ago, and a recent field trip to Barefoot Beach provided the opportunity. The Naples Chapter of the Native Plant Society met December 5th to explore the coastal plants of this lovely preserve. Just one of the fascinating plants we came across was the catclaw tree.

The seedpods are particularly interesting, ranging in color and contorted forms, and split open to reveal seeds that are even more dramatic. The black shiny seeds are partially encased in red flesh (white inside) and sometimes strung as beads in the Caribbean. Challenging to draw!

This tropical large shrub or smallish tree is found in the US only in Florida, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Common names include cat’s claw, blackbead, bread-and-cheese, and uña de gata. Catclaw also provides larval food for several butterfly species: Miami Blue, large orange sulphur, and cassius blue.

You can click on the image caption to see this nature journal entry on my Flickr photostream.

For more information about catclaw, please visit the links below.
Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants
US Forest Service
Institute of Regional Conservation (IRC)

More leaf printing

2010-12-12T11:27:00.001-05:00

Leaf printing is a fascinating way to learn about different types of leaves, as well as a great excuse to play around with paint!

When I wrote my first piece on leaf printing, I received some wonderful feedback from others on their particular approaches. Although I haven’t had time to try them all out (yet), I did experiment with pressed maple leaves, watercolors, and household detergent. Since I have allergies and a low tolerance for fragrances, I used Free and Clear Dish Soap by Seventh Generation – but I imagine almost any detergent will do.

First, I created some watercolor washes on various scraps of watercolor paper, and let them dry thoroughly. Next, I mixed up some puddles of very saturated watercolor paint on my palette, and added a drop or two of soap, mixing well. The amount of paint saturation will depend on how dark or light the print will be.

Then I painted the back of my leaf with an even coat and carefully turned it over, pressed it gently onto my watercolor paper, trying not to move it once it had contact. I covered it with a paper towel and a light piece of cardboard and pressed, removing the cardboard, paper towel, and leaf after about 30 seconds. After a few practice leaves, you can adjust materials and technique to get the look you want.

Interestingly, leaf printing features in US history. Benjamin Franklin investigated leaf printing as a way to foil counterfeiters, developing a system of creating metal casts from leaves to incorporate into the currency printing plates.

Contact leaf printing and variations of impressing printing plates from natural material was also developed by Philadelphia naturalist Joseph Breintnall and Austrian printer Alois Auer to illustrate complex botanical specimens.

Leaf printing is a great way to record complex veining and a helpful learning tool, but also an easy and fun way to create leaf images for journals or to decorate wrapping paper. It’s a new way to experience the leaves beneath our feet, as we discover lines and structures we may not noticed before.

A big thank you to Pam Johnson Brickell for suggesting the dish soap as a way to help the paint stick to the leaves. Thanks, Pam!

You can visit my Flickr Leaf Print Set to see these images larger and to see other experiments in leaf printing.

Autumn leaves from a Florida wetland

2010-11-30T10:23:00.090-05:00

Autumn leaves from a Florida wetland, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

Autumn in Florida can be a subtle season, but the signs are there if one pays attention.  Autumn is my favorite season, and I particularly like plants, so I tend to notice those changes most.  Here are just a few of the things I notice around me in the southwestern part of our state:

• There are more yellow flowers blooming, but also some purple and lavenders.
• We're enjoying lower humidity and less rainfall.
• Acorns and pine cones are ripening and dropping to the ground, attracting birds and squirrels.
• The red maple leaves have tinges of red – when they fall they often take on beautiful colors of scarlet, burgundy, and gold.
• A few more oak leaves and pine needles on the ground.
• I see more grasses with seed heads, especially broom sedge, which has turned a beautiful yellow ochre hue.
• We have cooler temperatures that come in waves with each new cold front.
• Some of the bald cypress needles are turning a delightful rusty red-yellow color.
• Berries are ripening: most recently I’ve noticed Dahoon holly and marlberry.
• The colors of the sky are different than summer – now they are a cooler blue. The sunsets are different, too, with clearer skies and deeper colors.
• I notice more flocks of birds in the air.
• Some of the ponds and lakes have lower water levels.

I discovered the leaves above on a walk along the boardwalk at Freedom Park (here in Naples, Florida) and knew that I needed to paint them.  This section of the park is an old wetland area with red maple, laurel oak, bald cypress, pond apple, pop ash, royal palm, and red mangrove trees – some of them fairly mature.

There is still water in these wetlands, but areas that were wet are now merely damp, and sections that were damp are now dry. Scattered among the trees are understory shrubs and young trees and water-loving flags and grasses.

What have you noticed about your surroundings? During busy holiday times, we sometimes forget to look around us and enjoy the changing theater of our environment. As artists, naturalists, and humans, observation is a primary force of being.  Observing nature can be a wonderful way to relax and relieve stress, center ourselves within place, and entertain our senses.

Clicking on the caption below the image will take you to that page on my Flickr photostream.

Parents and teachers – please use the link below for a free PDF coloring page of the leaves above (with names):
Coloring page, Florida wetland leaves

Pine flatwoods and slash pine

2010-11-26T15:12:00.024-05:00

Pine flatwoods and slash pine, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

One of my favorite ecosystems in southwest Florida is the one called pine flatwoods. Anyone who knows Florida knows that most of our state has relatively slight variations in height – and this habitat is a good example. My top drawing shows the edge of a pine flatwoods at the Fred C. Babcock/Cecil M. Webb Wildlife Management Area near Punta Gorda, Florida.

Pine flatwoods typically have poorly drained sandy soil, with a canopy of pine and an understory of low shrubs. The pines in this case are slash pine; the shrubs are saw palmetto. Fire and water play key roles in this habitat.

Squirrel on slash pine

Natural fire shaped the development of the grasses, wildflowers, and trees living here, most of them evolving to produce flowers and seed in the aftermath of heat and ash. Water levels and soil moisture affect the flowering seasons of wildflowers, and determine which understory shrubs will thrive.

According to Dick Workman in his book Growing Native, slash pine derives its common name from the historical practice of slashing the bark to obtain sap for naval stores. Naval stores are resin-based products made from the sap: pitch, tar, varnish, and turpentine. The wood is also valuable, used for construction and for pulpwood.

Dead pine at Cecil Webb WMA

One of the reasons I appreciate this tree is its adaptability and the wildlife it supports. Every spring the pine in our yard sports a bird’s nest (maybe a mourning dove?), and each fall I find stripped cones on the ground, left by the squirrels after they’ve feasted on the small nuts hidden under the scales.

Another reason I enjoy this tree is the beauty of its bark and needles, the sway and curve of the branches and twigs. I found a recently dead tree to draw that shows these branch forms in a wonderfully detailed way. Slash pine bark has large rough scales of varied browns and grays that are intriguing to draw and paint, while the cones are a logistical challenge to map out and draw.

There is also something about the way the wind sings through pine needles, a soft sighing whisper, that strikes a resonant note deep within. And the smell of pine needles and sticky sap on a balmy day – another word for heaven! I love this quote by Terri Guillemets (quotation anthologist), which is both literal and symbolic:

“The best part of happiness is the pines.”

Great egret

2010-11-20T08:24:00.006-05:00

Great egret, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

It surprises me how a short time out in nature with my sketchbook can eliminate a week’s worth of stress! Last Sunday afternoon was warm with a cool-ish breeze, and filled with a lovely golden light.

I sat to the side of the path that winds around the north lake at Freedom Park, reveling in the abundance of butterflies nectaring on cassia and Spanish needles. As I started to sketch the grasses and water, a great egret walked into view.

I knew this was a great egret and not the white version (morph) of the great blue heron because of its black legs. Great blue heron legs are yellow, though sometimes grayish-yellow. Great egret legs are definitely black.

For the longest time I had no memory device to remember this trivia, until I associated *egret = ebony* to describe the ebony-like leg color. Now I just have to remember that it doesn’t apply to every egret! We have snowy egrets (black legs, yellow feet), and cattle egrets (yellow legs and feet) here in Southwest Florida, but they’re smaller birds with slightly different head and neck shapes.

Pond apple trunk

This lake is part of a constructed wetland designed to relieve flooding during our rainy season (approximately June through September) and to purify water before it enters Gordon River and Naples Bay. The park also incorporates existing wetlands to the east, which has old stands of cypress and laurel oak, and some lovely old red mangroves and pond apples.

I sketched these directly with a Sakura Micron Pigma pen, and then added watercolor pencil to the lake sketch, washing over it with clear water from my Niji waterbrush. If you’d like to read more about great egrets, visit the links below.

You can also click on the caption of the top image to visit my Flickr photostream for more sketchbook entries.

National Geographic
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Audubon

Spatterdock

2010-11-13T15:24:00.004-05:00

Spatterdock is a common emergent plant also known as cow lily, alligator bonnet, alligator blanket, and yellow pond lily. Spatterdock runs a tight race as a favorite name next to alligator bonnet. “Alligator bonnet” paints a cherished image in my imagination, but “spatterdock” has rhythm and mystery going for it.

I’ve looked at many online sites and checked my books – but I haven’t been able to find the origins of the common name of spatterdock. Perhaps the leaves reminded someone once of a heart-shaped leaved dock, but why “spatter”? Maybe one of my learned friends can tell me.

This plant seems to grow nearly everywhere in the United States, and was used historically for food and medicine by native people. The rhizome was used as a starchy vegetable in stews, or dried and ground for baking flour. The seeds were cooked like popcorn. Medicinally, the roots were used for poultices, and the leaves to stop bleeding.

Although an altogether useful plant, I was content last week to sit on the dock and enjoy the bright yellow flowers against the dark, wind-rippled water, and trace the outlines of the varied heart-shaped leaves on my paper. If you’d like to see a bit more of this plant, this link from the University of Florida has a video that includes a look at the rhizome.

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

Tree snag

2010-11-08T08:27:00.002-05:00

I confess to a fascination with dead wood, perhaps related to childhood memories of exploring woodpiles and decomposing logs. The echo of life is still there –I can imagine the seedling reaching for the sun, the unfurling of bud and leaf and inflorescence, the ripening of fruit or nut.

After death, another cycle of life begins – that of detritivores. On the microscopic level, bacteria and fungi colonize and start the breakdown process.

Invertebrates such as beetles, borers, and termites process wood nutrients or feast on fungi, and are feasted on in turn by vertebrates such as woodpeckers, anoles, and armadillos. Dead trees are used as homes by many species, including birds, bats, and squirrels.

This particular tree was an oak, probably a laurel oak. Something damaged it (lightning, a falling tree?), and the bark shows signs of regrowth round the split. The exterior bark and interior wood seemed to mirror each other, a glimpse of the past and present.

While nature may be extravagant, nothing goes to waste; all is consumed, refashioned, and repurposed – nature is the ultimate recycler.

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

Dahoon holly

2010-11-03T13:33:00.006-04:00

Dahoon holly, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

Dahoon holly is a small, columnar tree often used in landscaping here in southwest Florida. Now that the berries are turning color, I’ve been noticing it in the wild as well, especially along roads that border wooded areas of pine and maple. Not only do the vibrant red berries catch my eye, but the pale gray trunks distinguish it from the noxious and invasive Brazilian pepper shrubs with similar-looking fruit.

I have always wondered what the word “dahoon” meant. Was it someone’s name? A place? Daniel F. Austin in Florida Ethnobotany explains that it may derive from a French corruption of the Catawba word yaupon. Before I confuse the issue further, There is a yaupon holly (Ilex vomitoria) that was thought to be used by native Americans in a ceremonial black drink. And yes, it’s said to induce vomiting.

Because the yaupon holly is similar to the Dahoon holly, Linnaeus grouped them together in the mid 1700's, which caused some classification muddiness. It’s thought that the French began referring to the slightly different holly as houx d’Ahon; Ahon being an altered form of yaupon (houx means holly in French). D’Ahon became Dahoon, and hundreds of years later we still call it dahoon holly.

Dahoon holly provides food for birds and small mammals, and bushy cover for smaller bird species. The trees are dioecious, which means that a tree is either male or female, with the female producing fruit. The berries ripen gradually, revealing shades of light yellow-green to amber to bright red, a feast for the eyes as well!

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

Hyssop Spurge

2010-10-23T18:59:00.006-04:00

Hyssop Spurge, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

A flowering weed;
Hearing its name,
I looked anew at it.~ Teiji

I have to say that I consider this plant to be a weedy nuisance. I see it everywhere it shouldn’t be: mostly in my flowerpots and growing in the patio and driveway cracks. It flowers, it seeds, I weed it, it sprouts again.

Just to be contradictory, I also like weeds. And I happen to like the sound of this one: SPURGE. If I have the identification correct, I can further enjoy rolling the words “Hyssop spurge” around my brain.

The Haiku above reflects my feelings after identifying and naming a plant – I suddenly look at it differently. Perhaps it’s a personal connection, or maybe I like things to have a place in the world, even if it’s in a human-created concept. I also feel a shared sense of wonder with plant explorers from the past who passionately learned all they could about each new discovery.

Hyssop spurge is indeed considered a weed by most everyone, especially on the Internet, which abounds with elimination techniques. The one positive source I found was in the Botanical Dermatology Database, which describes the milky sap as used to treat warts, calluses and ringworm.

When broken, the stem exudes a prodigious amount of opaque white sap, which is typical of Euphorbias, and probably just as bitter and caustic as other family members such as Poinsettia and Devil’s backbone .

Now that I’ve researched this spurge, I see this species and its relatives just about everywhere. Identification is NOT my strong point; there are many different kinds of weedy spurges and I feel lucky to have found a name for this one.

Next time you are in the garden or taking a walk, take a second look at the flowering weed under your hand or heel – you may happen to find yourself looking at it with new eyes!

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

29th Worldwide Sketchcrawl

2010-10-18T18:24:00.001-04:00

Two of us in Naples, Florida participated in the Worldwide Sketchcrawl Saturday! Started by artist Enrico Casarosa, the sketchcrawl is an international event involving artists from over 90 locations. Last Saturday, people from Tokyo to Oslo to Seattle grabbed their sketchbooks and portable media to draw and paint the world around them.

Jeanette Atkinson

Jeanette and I met at Freedom Park to ramble the walkways and boardwalks and sketch whatever came up. The clear blue skies, cool morning air, and golden sun captured my attention before I could settle down to drawing immediately.

Lake at Freedom Park

Anhinga

Luckily, we soon came across the perfect model – an Anhinga perched on the bridge rail. The wonderful thing about these water birds is that they sit rather still for long periods, making them much easier to sketch than the small warblers and finch-like birds we also observed. This one preened its feathers for a while before diving into the lake to fish, then later spreading its wings to dry in the sun.

Across the lake, I could see hints of autumn in the turning colors of the grasses along the shore, all pale golds and browns. Alligator flag was blooming right next to the lake bridge, giving me an opportunity to study and draw them more closely. Usually the large arrowhead-shaped leaves command attention instead of these delicately crinkled violet blooms on zig-zag stems.

Alligator flag

We visited the swampy side of the park for lunch and more sketching. A tricolor heron caught my eye, and I did several quick ink drawings while it fished in the shallow water. The water was covered in a green growth that I learned as duckweed in the Midwest – perhaps it’s the same here. I watched the heron spear shiners under the sea of green vegetation and pluck dragonflies out of the air.

I ended with a drawing of an old cypress tree, done in carbon pencil and watercolor washes, majestic in the mid-afternoon sun. I changed media after watching Jeanette draw some beautifully gnarled tree trunks with a water-soluble black pencil. I remembered some interesting drawings I’d done with charcoal, and pulled out the carbon pencil to see if it was similar.

The sketchcrawl was enjoyable on many levels. Jeanette is in the final phases of preparing her portfolio for a botanical illustrator’s certificate, and she’s very knowledgeable about flora, having been the past newsletter editor and writer for the Naples Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society. It was a wonderful opportunity to share what we knew about plants, birds, art materials, and techniques.

I felt that I learned a lot, and improved my field sketching – drawing beside another artist enhances the creative spark and inspires. We’re already planning the next sketchcrawl!

Visit my Flickr photostream to see these images as a slideshow, or visit the Sketchcrawl set to see the images larger.

Saw palmetto

2010-10-12T10:36:00.003-04:00

Saw palmetto, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

Palmetto is a diminutive of the word palm (“little palm”), which describes saw palmetto (Serenoa repens) well. It’s a slow growing and long-lived member of the palm family, ranging in height from only 3 to 6 feet.

This sketch from my nature journal is of a manicured saw palmetto, left to grow by the developer of an upscale community. I can’t even guess at the age of these plants, as they live into the hundreds of years. I drew this one because I’m always intrigued at what goes on behind the normally bushy palm fronds.

The stems of palmetto often recline (hence the species name repens, from the Latin for creeping or spreading), and the pruned plants show the stem in a clear way. The drawing below shows how the unpruned plant normally looks.

These palmettos must have been the understory below live oak trees, as there are several tall oaks nearby. I’m more familiar with palmettos growing under pine trees in habitats called flatwoods, but it shows you how adaptable they are.

According to Wikipedia, they are the most common palm in North America. There is an attractive variety that grows on Florida’s east coast with silver-gray to blue-green leaves, as opposed to the green and yellow-green leaves found in our area.

The genus name Serenoa honors Sereno Watson, an expedition botanist for Yale, who later took a position at Harvard.

A most useful plant, saw palmetto provides food, cover, and habitat for birds, mammals, and reptiles. Wikipedia reports that saw palmetto is the only larval food for Batrachedra decoctor, a moth that seems to be elusive on the Internet, as I tried in vain to find a photo.

Native peoples historically used palmetto for food, medicine, shelter and cordage. Settlers used the buds like hearts of palm, and the berries as a survival food. I’ve read that palmetto berries are an acquired taste – which some people seem to enjoy, but others find horrible. Most Florida plant enthusiasts have heard the taste described as “rotten cheese steeped in tobacco” (the words of Quaker merchant Jonathan Dickinson, shipwrecked on the southeast coast of Florida in 1696).

Saw palmetto buds can be eaten like those of cabbage palms, but harvesting them kills the plant. Sometimes young cabbage palms are mistaken for saw palmettos. The saw palmetto has “saw teeth” on the petiole (leaf stem) of the palm frond, but the cabbage palm has a smooth stem. The leaf structure of the two is also different: the petiole of saw palmetto ends at the leaf base, while the cabbage palm has a sturdy midrib extending from the stem to the leaf tip.

Palmetto berries are used extensively in Europe and the US as an herbal remedy for prostate enlargement and for various urinary ailments. At one time, the demand for berries threatened the reproduction of palmettos on private property and state parks. I remember news reports of poachers stripping bushes in the middle of the night and the occasional rattlesnake bite suffered by unwary gatherers.

There’s a lot more that can be written about this interesting and useful palm; I invite you to browse some of the links in this post to find out more yourself!

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

For more reading:
Wikipedia
Floridata (scroll down to see a picture of the silver-blue-gray type)
Smithsonian

Anhinga

2010-10-03T16:00:00.006-04:00

Anhinga, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

A lot of viewers may not be familiar with the Anhinga, but it’s a common bird along the waterways of Florida.

Sometimes called the Snake Bird or Water Turkey, it can be seen diving, swimming or drying its feathers along our canals, bays, and lakes. Anhingas are called the Snake Bird because when they emerge from underwater and swim for shore, their long sinuous neck resembles a snake. They’re very distinctive in appearance; the males are black and white, while the females and juveniles are deep brown with a buff or light brown neck.

Often striking a pose on a perch near the water, they spread their wings wide to dry in the sun. Their wings in this position remind me of a black cape with epaulets and silvery white ribbons. Anhingas pose like this because they don’t secrete oil to waterproof their feathers (like ducks or geese do), and rely on air drying in order to fly. This lack of oil helps make them less buoyant, allowing them to dive more efficiently and stay underwater longer.

A member of the Darter family, you may have guessed that these birds are piscivores, or fish-eaters. For a quick overview of the Anhinga, visit The Cornell Lab of Ornithology ; included are some short facts, a distribution map, and an audio record of their call. For a more in-depth read, visit the Wikipedia entry.

I found this Anhinga sitting on the bridge walkway over one of the lakes at Freedom Park, and took several reference photos for drawing later. I've never had a chance to get this close to one of these beautiful birds before creating a flustered takeoff, and I'm happy I didn't cause this bird any apparent stress!

Clicking on the topmost image will take you to my Flickr photostream.

Parents and teachers, you can click HERE to download a free PDF coloring page of an Anhinga.

Quick studies ~ drawing with a brush

2010-09-29T15:55:00.004-04:00

Quick studies ~ drawing with a brush, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

When time is short, we can still take a few minutes to practice! Part of my ongoing practice is to find techniques that work well in Pentalic’s “Nature Sketch” sketchbook.

The paper isn’t as sturdy as the watercolor papers I’m used to using. Water is a bit of a problem, because I like to use multiple layers and sometimes lift color from the paper surface. This paper is really made for one or two washes, and no lifting. Anything beyond that and the paper starts to disintegrate. So - I’m attempting to streamline my approach.

On this page, I decided to draw directly onto the paper with my brush (a #3 round) and watercolor washes. I thought it best to limit the washes and any reworking, so I kept the colors simple (Sap Green, Burnt Umber, and Shadow Violet) and tried to use minimal colors and brush marks.

Starting with a simple suject, I tried to capture the essence of it with just a few strokes. The more I painted, the more confident I became. By the time I finished with the various leaves, I felt that I could attempt a more complicated branch by painting free-hand (bottom right)!

It’s all in the name of practice, anyway, and what we learn ~ happy painting!

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

First day of fall (sycamore leaf)

2010-09-23T17:09:00.007-04:00

First day of fall (sycamore leaf), originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

“Sycamores are among the last trees to go into leaf; in the fall, they are the first to shed. They make sweet food in green broadleaves for a while – leaves wide as plates – and then go wild and wave their long white arms.” ~ Annie Dillard

Today is recognized as the second annual crossing of the equator by the sun, known in the northern hemisphere as the autumnal equinox. The word equinox derives from the Latin, meaning “equal night.” Traditionally, the length of days and nights become the same on this day. Of course, this really depends on where you live and how exactly you wish to measure!

If you are in the northern hemisphere and out and about tonight, look for the moon; this year we’re supposed to experience what is called a Super Harvest Moon. I read that there will be a huge orange moon rising as the sun is setting.

To celebrate these events and our first day of fall, I thought I’d create another version of a sycamore leaf. This one is in my Pentalic Nature Sketch 6 x 12 inch book.

First, I brushed the paper with gesso, letting it dry overnight. Next morning I added the ink sketch and some watercolor washes. Then I layered watercolor pencil strokes here and there with a clear water wash, and added a subtle leaf print or two. The textures seemed to be appropriate to the season and to reflect the dry crinkly texture of the leaf.

The quote above is from Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard, and is part of a longer exploration of life and nature including trees, time, and sycamores.

Happy equinox!

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

Sycamore leaves

2010-09-20T07:29:00.005-04:00

Sycamore leaves, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

Although sycamores naturally range into north Florida, landscapers have been planting them in our area of Southwest Florida. I enjoy finding their huge leaves on the ground – they make interesting subjects to draw as they dry and twist and wrinkle into challenging shapes.

Sycamore trees are one of our largest species in North America – up to 100 feet or more – and can develop massive trunks. Besides the distinctive huge leaves (these are 11 inches across!), sycamore trees also produce a flaky bark of gray, brown, and cream colors.

The scientific name Platanus occidentalis refers to the wide, large leaves (Plantanus from the Greek for broad, and location (occidentalis meaning “western,” as in the western hemisphere).

The common name meaning of sycamore is a bit more of a mystery. Online sources give two or three versions, but word-origins.com seems to have the most concise: a compound word evolving via Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and French translations meaning fig-mulberry.

I’ve painted sycamore leaves in the past, but this time I wanted to explore those amazing shapes with pencil. I used my PentalicNature Sketch pad, and was happy with the way the tooth grabbed the pencil, and allowed for both soft blending of pencil strokes as welll as distinctive lines.

I used an ordinary mechanical pencil for this (.7 mm, probably an HB), and I had to be careful of smearing. If I want to preserve my work, I’ll have to spray it with fixative.

If you’d like to read more about sycamore trees, I found both of these online articles interesting:

"Speaking the Plane Truth" by Arthur C. Gibson
"American Sycamore Trees: History and Appearance of One of the Largest Eastern Hardwood Species" by Renie Burghardt

If you’d like to see my sketchbook paintings of sycamore leaves, please visit my Flickr site and start here. These are a series of leaf studies using different primary triads of Daniel Smith watercolors. The differences are subtle, but I learned a lot!

To see the top image larger, just click on it to visit my Flickr photostream.

Giveaway time!

2010-09-12T07:47:00.002-04:00

Thanks to everyone who entered my giveaway to mark the one-year milestone of this blog, A Nature Art Journal. I appreciate the wonderful support I’ve been given over the past year, and this is my way of saying thank you, of giving something back. Here are the winners:

Lisa at Greenbow – Red Maple Leaf

Kathy Johnson – Beach Sunflowers

Nheid2003 – Sand Dollar

If I haven't already emailed you to request your mailing address, please drop me an line to let me know where I should send your ATC.

Thank you!

Elizabeth

Leaf printing

2010-09-10T19:20:00.025-04:00

Wild coffee leaves, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

Some time ago, I experimented with making prints directly from the leaves of plants and trees. It was a fun way to play with color and form, to see and connect with nature in a unique way.

I developed a completely new appreciation for the plants I selected; I found myself paying more attention to leaf margins and vein patterns, to textures and shapes.

I pressed the leaves for a day or two beforehand to reduce the moisture content – it also made them flatter and more manageable. Then I gathered a variety of paints and materials and set out to see what would work best!

Here is what worked for me:

Watercolors

1. I used scraps of watercolor paper, both hot- and cold-pressed. Hot-press paper will retain more detail because of its smoothness. I normally like a 90 or 140 lb. paper.

2. Since watercolor dries so fast, I brushed pure gum Arabic on the leaf to increase flow and to extend the drying time.

3. I painted over the Gum Arabic with a deeply pigmented wash, trying for an even coat.

4. I then pressed the leaf gently onto the dry paper, covered it with a paper towel and a piece of light pasteboard, and rolled it gently with a brayer (I used a wallpaper seam roller that I had on hand).

5. I carefully removed the board, paper towel, and leaf, and let the paper dry thoroughly.

6. I added a pale color wash behind some of the printed veins, and used a small rigger brush to enhance veins or outlines. Be gentle so you don’t overly disturb the initial print.

Acrylics

1. I used hot-press watercolor paper, scraps of paint canvas, and suede.

2. A medium slurry of acrylic and water is preferable to heavy impasto paint, especially on paper. I found that a more buttery paint consistency works better with heavily textured materials such as canvas and suede.

3. Follow the same technique as the watercolor printing above, skipping the Gum Arabic part.

4. Because acrylic molecules dry and bond more permanently, you can paint over them much sooner than watercolors (just avoid scrubbing them).

A lot of my experimenting is trial and error, and discovering which types of leaves worked best. I find that printing with the leaf underside yields a stronger vein pattern than using the top of the leaf. I also realized that I could use the leaves themselves to plan out compositions beforehand by placing them on my paper and moving them around.

Be prepared to have a few flops as you learn about materials and techniques. Once you practice a bit and find what works for you, you’ll enjoy success! As for me, what could be more fun than playing with leaves and paint and paper?

Click on the topmost image to view it larger on my Flickr photostream, click here to see several other examples of leaf printing.

One year anniversary coming up – my chance to give back

2010-09-06T12:12:00.006-04:00

ATC red maple leaf, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

One year? So the calendar tells me. This upcoming Saturday is the one-year anniversary of this blog, A Nature Art Journal. Thank you, dear readers, for encouraging and inspiring me as I explore Florida nature in the ways I enjoy best, through images and words.

To celebrate (!), I’d like to give away the ATC’s (Artists Trading Cards) I’ve been working on: Red Maple Leaf, Sand dollar, and Beach Sunflowers. Comment below or email me by midnight on Saturday, 9-11-10, and I will put the names “in the hat” and choose three winners.

Each ATC is a small original watercolor painting, 3.5 by 2.5 inches, on watercolor paper, signed on the back. The subjects are from some of my favorite past nature journal entries.

Thank you for joining me in a virtual friendship and fellowship, linked by curiosity and exploration of the common things found in our natural world!

Elizabeth

As always, you can click on the images to view them larger on my Flickr photostream.

Black Vultures, the cleanup crew

2010-09-03T12:17:00.005-04:00

Black Vultures, the cleanup crew, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

You know you’re a nature nerd when you find yourself stopping to take photos of vultures hanging out near a fast-food dumpster!

I don't remember this scavenger when I lived in the northern Midwest, but they seem to be abundant in the South – I see them as or more often than the more familiar turkey vultures. My bird books show a range for black vultures extending into South America, and as far north in the United States as Missouri, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania.

Without vultures to clean up dead and decomposing matter, our world would be rampant with disease-causing bacteria (not to mention how untidy and smelly it would become). Although some view vultures as harbingers of death, symbols of filth, or ominous omens – they have an indispensable job in our natural system.

Wikipedia has a nice entry about black vultures, and Saturday, 9-04-10 is International Vulture Awareness Day. Consider this event to be a reminder to learn a little more about these thankless janitors, and to appreciate their role in the circle of life and death on earth.

The more I read about vultures, the more impressed I am by their unique adaptations and value to mankind. Tidbits I found interesting:

• The common name of vulture comes from the Latin word vulturus meaning “tearer.”
• The genus name Cathartidae means “purifier.”
• The scientific name (Coragyps atratus) means “raven-vulture” and “clothed in black.”
• Care must be taken with vulture chicks because they imprint readily with humans.
• Black vultures may choose to migrate or to stay.
• They tend to be social birds.
• Like turkey vultures, they do not sing or call, but hiss and grunt.
• Black vultures are New World Vultures. Current dispute on vulture classification going on!
• They are monogamous.
• Vultures use the sun to bake and kill bacteria from their heads, beaks, and feathers.

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

Parents and teachers:

You can click here to download a PDF coloring page of an ink drawing of the center bird.

Cumulus clouds

2010-08-29T16:01:00.002-04:00

Cumulus clouds, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

Every day this time of year our skies start out fairly clear and blue. Then the clouds start to build, usually puffy clouds, turning into towering cumulus. Towering cumulus can assemble themselves into cumulonimbus – tall, tall skyscrapers of misty water droplets that return to earth in tropical downpours. These clouds can tower for miles, up to 40,000 feet!

This time of year I also see a lot of butterflies: Sulphurs of all types, Whites, Gulf Fritillaries, Viceroys, White Peacocks, Swallowtails…a riot of fluttering color. It seemed appropriate to add a Sulphur against the clouds, since I see so many pairs of them dancing and swirling up in the sky lately.

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

Sea grape

2010-08-22T07:57:00.006-04:00

Sea grape, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

Sea grapes are seen throughout Southwest Florida, in both wild and cultivated settings. They’re a distinctive tree, with leathery round leaves on sturdy petioles. The grape-like fruits ripen in the fall to red and purple, eaten by birds and wildlife and used by humans to make jelly or wine.

They’re especially attractive growing wild along the back of the dunes in beach scrub areas. The influences of salt and wind stunt and twist the trunks in fantastic ways.

Emerging leaves are a shiny bronze-red against the varied light and dark greens of the older leaves. The older leaves turn all shades of reds in the winter after they drop, and are wonderful to sketch. Trees along the dunes have a smooth gray-brown bark, some of them silvered – while the tree in my yard has is covered with a range of light to dark browns.

Sea grape seems essentially tropical: I can imagine the larger leaves (some up to 9 inches across!) used as serving plates or temporary hats, clothing, or to thatch a quick shelter. The fruit is described as astringent, sometimes with a sweet-sour taste. Sometimes those are the best thirst-quenchers, diluted and sweetened like lemonade.

I’m trying out my new sketchbook here with Derwent watercolor pencils. I’m not sure it layers as well as I’d like – the leaf on the left is a good example of what not to do – too many layer attempts! I sketched the right leaf with more economy and it turned out better. I think I’m used to a smoother textured paper, but that’s all part of getting to know one’s materials!

You can click on the sketchbook page to view it larger on my Flickr photostream.

I've added a PDF coloring page of a scrubby young sea grape tree (with a leaf inset) if you'd like to download it for your class or home school use. Just a warning: it's 2.03 MB, so download times may vary depending on your connection. I've found that the best way to download PDF's for a PC is to right-click the link and use the "save target as" feature and save it to my computer before opening. Let me know if you have any problems and I can email it to you directly. Here is the link:
Seagrape coloring page

Firebush

2010-08-08T16:02:00.002-04:00

Firebush, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

The heat, humidity, and mosquitoes are keeping me inside, so I brought in a small branch of Firebush to paint. It's just as well, as it's been quite overcast today.

This plant is one of my all-time favorites! It looks great in the middle of summer, and attracts all sort of butterflies, as well as our ruby-throated hummingbird. It does get a bit bedraggled in the winter, but the birds seem to relish the berries after a couple of cold spells.

I'm trying out my early birthday present - a new Pentalic Nature Sketch sketchbook in the 6 x 12 inch size. The format is unusual, but I read a good review about it, so I'm giving it a try.

The paper scans a bit yellow (as does the Arches hot-press watercolor paper), but it seems to take watercolor fairly well. I wouldn't recomend it for finished paintings; it won't withstand repeated washes and/or color lifting. Otherwise the paint goes down nicely, and the Micron pens work well on the surface.

I'll try out regular pencil and watercolor pencil soon. All in all, I think it will be a great nature journal!

You can click on the images above to view them larger on my Flickr photostream.

A Florida Walk

2010-08-01T16:58:00.002-04:00

A Florida Walk, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

I took a walk this morning, down our neighborhood bicycle path and sidewalk. It’s probably not that much different from your neighborhood – filled with trees, plants, birds, and butterflies of one sort or another. It always amazes me the amount of life that abounds in even small areas.

When I got home from my walk I did a memory sketch – a composite of those things that I most vividly remembered, but believe me there was so much more left out! For example, I didn’t see any birds, but they were singing and calling and fussing all around me: crows in the pines, blue jays in someone’s backyard, mockingbirds in the cabbage palms, and somewhere… the “chip, chip” of a cardinal.

My drawing is a bit off in some areas, but free-sketching like this helps strengthen my observation and drawing skills. My snake is pretty symbolic, and the Virginia Creeper leaf is really not shaped like that. By the time I added that, all I could remember was “five lobes.”

Anyway, I hope you enjoy a vicarious outing in Southwest Florida. At least with a virtual walk there is no heat and humidity!

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

Florida rock

2010-07-27T20:42:00.013-04:00

Florida rock, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

Geology in Southwest Florida is simple; our rocks are mostly one type. Below our soil and sand lies sedimentary limestone, composed of calcium carbonate from the remains of billions of marine invertebrates from an ancient sea. Florida has so many different types of limestone that they’ve identified and named the different areas; take a look at this geologic map of South Florida from the USGS (United States Geological Survey).

This rock is from my garden, imbedded with pieces of fossilized shell and coral and overgrown with algae. Normally limestone is white or off-white, but this rock has been in a moist and shady environment for quite a while and has taken on many shades and ranges of grays. It seems that most of the shells are bivalves, but there is a bit of repeating coral pattern here and there. This limestone has a rough texture, not pleasing to handle, but full of fascinating discoveries.

Ever since I can remember, I’ve had a fascination with rocks: picking them up, wondering over their origins and travels. They seem to possess a slumbering consciousness – they are a connection to the dust we sprang from, a talisman of timelessness. This one, especially, is a reminder of the shallow seas that covered the bottom third of Florida 325,000 to 650,000 years ago.

I painted this rock on a stormy Sunday afternoon, when the outlying moisture-rich clouds of Tropical Depression Bonnie passed over us. I scanned it in stages to document each phase, from loose washes to tighter details: click here to see the progress. The final product came out a bit darker than I planned, but I think you can still see the different pieces of fossil shells, and get a feeling of my connection to it.

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

Bumble bee (also bumblebee)

2010-07-18T11:18:00.004-04:00

Bumble bee detail, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

I found this bee on the ground and couldn’t resist the opportunity to study it in detail. I’m not fond of bees or other stinging insects, but I’ve always had a soft spot for bumble bees.

The sound of its common name “bumble” seems to fit so well! It fits the rumbling buzzing sounds and the way the bees forage for nectar and pollen: clumsily bumping and nuzzling blossoms in an apparent aimless way.

When I draw or paint something, it spurs me to research my subject a little more deeply – now that I know it better from my observation and drawing, I need to answer the questions that surface during the process.

Florida has five species of bumble bees! In my entomological ignorance, I thought there was just one. Florida is a long state north to south, so we encompass several zones and many habitats. I learned that the further south one travels in Florida, the fewer bumble species there are.

I tried to use the identifier interface at Discoverlife.org to find out which bumblebee this might be, but didn’t succeed. Perhaps I entered some incorrect information or this bee is an anomaly; I just don’t know enough about bees to know what I might be missing. The portal for bumblebees is here if are interested.

I further learned that bumbles nest underground or in convenient cavities. Growing up in Iowa, most country kids know the importance of bees for crop pollination. Without bees, our food base would suffer.

I found that bumblebees are also valuable for something called “buzz pollination.” Their technique dislodges firmly held pollen, and they are especially sought for greenhouse pollination or for certain plants such as tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, blueberries, and cranberries.

Next time you visit the produce department or a vegetable roadside stand, thank a bumblebee!

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

Simpson Stopper

2010-07-15T08:25:00.003-04:00

Simpson Stopper, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

Simpson stopper is blooming and fruiting now; the flowers are incredibly fragrant! This is a quick sketch on cold-press watercolor paper with my Sakura Micron Pigma sepia pens. I added some watercolor washes during and after.

Rather than trying to be precise, I tryed for a more emotive style. Ha! Somehow I still reverted to drawing the leaves and flowers in a more descriptive way.

You can click on the images above to go to my Flickr photostream, where you can view them larger. If you'd like to see a more precise sketch of this shrub or small tree (leaves, bark, and berries) you can click here. Thank you for visiting!

Why watercolor pencils?

2010-07-07T01:08:00.008-04:00

You might have noticed that many of my recent nature journal entries are in watercolor pencil, and some people wonder why I often choose this over other media. My answers? Portability, ease of use, and versatility.

Right now I don’t have a studio space, so I often find myself sketching in odd spaces such as a sofa corner or the dining room table. I also like to sketch outside, and might be standing on a boardwalk or sitting on a lake’s edge; neither of which is friendly to an elaborate set-up.

Watercolor pencil media seems to be an ideal solution for my nature journal because I can carry a small set and a waterbrush for field sketching, or use them in a cramped indoor space for a close-up study.

Besides being extremely portable, they’re also easy to use after a bit of practice. I’ve always enjoyed having a pencil in my hand, and watercolor pencils give me a connection to drawing and sketching. I also love brushwork and the unpredictability of watercolors. These give me both! Once I’ve created a chart of my basic colors (see my Kimberly chart here) and have played around with the media, I know a bit more about what to expect when I use them.

Their versatility allows me to use them as pencils, or like watercolors, or as a combination of both. Working from light to dark, I often like to work in layers, although sometimes I like to keep it simple and work in just one pass. They’re handy to use for quick thumbnail sketches or for more detailed studies on the fly. Please note that in the following demonstration, you can click on the image to view it larger.

A dry pencil can be used for linear textures or solid color, or the scribbles dissolved completely for a wash similar to watercolor paint. At times I mix media, frequently using a fiber-tipped ink pen (such as Sakura’s Micron Pigma or Pitt’s Artist Pens), then add color with watercolor pencils. I’ve also used the water soluble pencils with watercolors and charcoal.

The step-by-step demonstration of this old pine branch gives a good idea of the process that I often use. The best tool is a test sheet of different colors that might be good candidates. The test sheet at the top of this post shows several colors that seemed to be present in my subject. I did utilize them all, however the Yellow Ochre and Orange were used very sparingly.

I was introduced to watercolor pencils last summer when I took an online class from artist and author Cathy Johnson, and learned how wonderful the media can be. Water-soluble pencils turned out to be a great tool for my nature journal kit!

You can click on any of the images above to view larger on my Flickr photostream.