Drawings and New Nature Journal Page

Thankfully it is cooler today, our three day heat wave broke last night when some thunderstorms came though. I had spent 2 days this past week either at the park on the Cape Cod Canal, or on the Cape where the temp while hot wasn't quite as hot as it was at home.

Above is a sketch I made while at the Canal Park. The view shows part of the canal and the Sagamore Bridge, which is the northerly of the two vehicle bridges that cross the Canal. Three bridges and the widening of the Canal were built by the Army Corp of Engineers in the 1930s, with the bridges opening in 1935. I have thoughts of turning this into a pen and ink drawing, but so far haven't started work on it.

Above is a sketch that I made last night based on a couple of photographs I made this spring. I say two photographs as while the boy was feeding this unusual goose I didn't get a photo with both in it.

I am rather pleased with how this came out considering I didn't really spend all that much time on it (maybe 2  hours)

Both photographs were made in my local Town Park where they permit the feeding of birds (Seagulls, mostly Canada Geese and Ducks). I like photographing there as most of the birds have lost some of their fear of man and I can get quite close to them with the camera. Not sure what breed this animal is, I think a pet that someone released to the wild. The dark area on the head/face is red skin such as you would see on a Chicken and the feathers are white if anyone has a guess I would love to know.

I have started a new Nature Journal, this one has a different shape and different paper from my original book. I was unable to find another blank book like that one so had to make do with this. I am not totally happy with it, the paper takes ink a bit differently and it will probably take me a bit to adjust. Also because of the new size (7 x 7 inches squares) the whole spread doesn't fit on the scanner. Meaning all I will be showing of this Journal is the drawings, but please understand that I am continuing with my notes as before.

These images are from my outing at Daniel Webster on Monday. Monday was a lovely day, not too hot, though I would have liked a bit more sun. Images in the Journal are top the flowers of the Winterberry bush. They are small white flowers in the leaf axials.

Bottom image is of a ladybug on a grass leaf. I was looking at some thistle flower heads that weren't quite in bloom when I noticed this ladybug crawling on the grass stem. I am not totally pleased with how it came out, as I mentioned I need to get used to applying ink to this new paper. As with the other book what I draw totally depends on what I see, and what I find interesting on that day.

Above is my best photograph (so far) of a male Bobolink in the grasses at Daniel Webster. He is still in his breeding plumage, with a buff cap on his head and white down his back. I am not sure I have ever even seen one of the females who look totally different. Maybe if I spent more time in the fields watching I would see one, after all they are breeding at Daniel Webster so have to be there. Seeing female bobolinks is about like seeing female Red Wing Black birds, not usually done, though those I have been seeing at the Panne (pond) this year.

My second photograph today is of the Ladybug I used for my drawing. I found it hard to depict the red without pulling out my colored pencils. Maybe I should have done that.

That is it for today, hopefully I am now back up to speed and will be back to my twice weekly updates. In the meantime comments are always welcome.