Above is another of my nature journal catch up pages. Again the place was Daniel Webster in Marshfield, MA and the time was May 6, 2013. Images for this page are more of my old standbys. The fact that I started using basically the same images over and over is I think one reason why I lost interest in the Journal. There are still a few more written observation pages and I want to finish the illustrations that go along with them.
Again the tree stump in the panne with a few turtles, only 4 on this day, but one was fairly large. Next is a quick drawing of a pair of mating Canada Geese. I saw most of the courtship "dance" (head bobs) that lead up to the actual mating. As I recall they waited a while and then started over. After a series of synchronized head/neck bobs the male mounts the female as they swim in the water. I have a feeling this was a rather late pairing since the bottom image is one of a pair of parents with 2 goslings. I was being warned off by the arched neck and loudly hissing parent.
I must say that all my visits to Daniel Webster over about a year and a half allowed me to observe a lot of Canada Geese behavior that I had never realized prior to this time.
I made the above graphite portrait the other day. Not sure if I am pleased with it or not, the photo (another of the May WetCanvas Pen and Ink forum challenge images) has very dramatic lighting, both making it easier to draw but also in a way trickier. This man has the most androgynous face that I think I have ever drawn. Hair was very fluffy, and the mouth just doesn't seem male, however the nose and chin are very male. The subject had very dark eyelashes accenting the arc of the top eyelid.
I tried to do this portrait with just tone and very little line, it should really be done in Pen and Ink for the challenge, but I don't think I will be attempting to do that.
Not quite sure where the above design came from. I was just sort of doodling around and this just evolved. The birds came first then other elements got added in until it seemed finished.
I was thinking it looks a bit like a Pennsylvania Dutch motif, but why it should surface at this point in time I have no clue. Sketched first in pencil, then inked and color pencil added, drawn in my sketchbook. Though in some way blue birds might make sense, after all it is spring, and spring here in MA brings mating blue birds, so maybe that was origin of the design.
It also looks like something that could easily be translated to applique for a Baltimore Album Block. Course I don't do hand applique and have never had any desire to make a Baltimore Album quilt so it won't be me who does the sewing. I wasn't consciously coping anything though in fact there are probably similar designs out there.
Above is a photograph of the Brockton Public Library with a white dogwood in full bloom. On the other side of the entrance there is a Pink Dogwood also in bloom. But I think the white tree gets more sun light since it has a more dramatic show of blossoms. This is the front of the old Library building. A few years ago they build an addition toward the back with a second main entrance.
That is it for today, per usual comments are welcome.
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