More EDM, a Nature Journal and a Figure Dwg

Above is another of my Every Day in May drawings. I should have two more, but got lazy Sunday, and was busy running around yesterday. I had lunch with a friend and then checked out the Student Art show at the Bridgewater State University Library. Both were good, though I understand the show comes down this weekend with the end of year Graduation celebration. Leaving Bridgewater I dove over to Daniel Webster for my usual Monday visit and finally attended my weekly figure drawing session. A busy day that didn't leave me much in the way of extra drawing time. I will catch up, hopefully by my next blog post.

Anyway the challenge was to draw something sweet. I often keep miniature peanut butter cups on hand, so I used one of those for my subject. Need I add that I ate it after I finished the drawing.

Above is another Nature Journal spread. This one not from yesterdays visit to Daniel Webster but from my visit the week before. I ran into 2 sets of Canada Geese parents that day. One with 6 goslings and the other with about twice that many. They were hard to count as one group seemed to stay with daddy and the other with mommy, but I think there were about 10 or 12, certainly way more than 6.

Still it does seem a bit odd that there are only 2 sets of parents at Daniel Webster, esp. since it has not just the man made pond but also a natural pond, not to mention the river. I have a feeling that the MA. Audubon folks have taken active steps to limit the number of young raised at the sanctuary. Since there are still a lot of Canada Geese on site I can't say I blame them.

At the pond I watched a Killdeer having a bath, and noticed a medium sized bird sitting on one of the small islands. Another visitor arrived as I was leaving and I took the opportunity to ask him if he knew his wading birds and if he could help me to identify the sitting bird. He told me it was a Wilsons Snipe. Later that afternoon I saw a Wood Duck pair on the pond and a Green Heron. A good visit, esp. as I was also able to see the Osprey preening its feathers on a fence post near its nest stand while I was out at Fox Hill.

Above is last nights figure drawing. The model had brought a couple of hats with her and we all though the white hat with the black rim quite fetching. Another artist had brought some other accessories which included a pair of red gloves. So our model last night was "dressed" in hat and gloves. I didn't realize that I had her expression quite so severe. She is really an attractive young woman, I just have no love for drawing faces so foreshortened. Hopefully next week's pose won't have this feature.

I have been seeing butterflies out and about for several weeks now. Mostly the white and yellow cabbage butterflies but also some of the small American Coppers like the one in the photo above. These are small butterflies and not easy to get a good photo of, so I am fairly pleased with this one, made on my April 30th visit to Daniel Webster.

Because the weather has been a bit crazy this year I almost missed the blooming of the apple trees at Daniel Webster altogether. Just one tree was still blooming that Monday which enabled me to make the above photo. I am just hoping the trees didn't get hit by a late frost killing the young apples, only time will tell.

That is it for today. Per usual comments are always welcome.