Art for Breakfast!

I found this holey tree trunk on a recent hike and I loved the rich, earthy colors and the many holes and craggly bits.  I snapped a photo to create from later.

Back in the studio, I made an ink sketch on watercolor paper, then washed in loose watercolors.  

After the watercolor dried, I decided to add the final touches with colored pencils, but the piece sat on my art table for a week or more.

I finally brought it to the breakfast table and finished it with Prismacolor colored pencils while I sipped tea.  

Art can be very portable -- you can create as you eat a meal, talk with a friend, or listen to a podcast.  You only need for your hand to follow your eye.

Where would you like to take your art?

Nature Journal Update: Colored Pencil Drawings

Here's a flip-through of some recent nature journal pages, from hikes in the woods (above) to sitting at the breakfast table (below).

What we draw we connect with. How could I be anxious when I am connecting with my sweet, snoozing cat?

Nature journals are great for recording discoveries -- like the page above remarking on my discovery of a place on Hawk's Hill that reminds me of a favorite place I used to sketch years ago.

I hope you take the time to make some sketches and written observations in your nature journal!

Happy Creating!

Dreaming of Castles

I've always wanted to sit and sketch a castle in the UK.  It seems such a romantic subject.

I was sorting through my collection of colored pencils --really just puttering and organizing supplies -- when a spark of inspiration struck.

I grabbed this antique postcard that I keep propped on my art table for inspiration, and I copied the image with colored pencils.

Sketching with my colored pencils helped me to figure out which ones to put in my pack for outdoor sketching.  And I got to pretend I was on the grounds of Kenilworth Castle in England.  

If you'd like to virtually visit this lovely historic site, you can check out the link:

https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/kenilworth-castle/

Happy Creating!

Spring Hike & Sketch

David and I hiked through a wetland, in search of Spring Peepers singing.  

While he was taking photos of the area (like the B&W film photo above), I sat on a boardwalk and sketched the landscape with colored pencils.  

The past few days had been rainy, and the water was muddy and turbulent.  Not the best conditions for hearing frogs sing, but we did hear a few.  We'll have to come back when conditions are better.

Still, it's been fun getting out in nature to see what's happening.  And it feels uplifting to be using more colors to draw in my nature journal than the grays and browns of winter!

Early flowers like Coltsfoot are blooming. What a delight to see bright signs of life again in the woods!

I hope you take time to make some observations in a sketchbook or journal this week.

Happy Creating!

Nature Journal Updates

It's been a wonderful time to take my nature journal for a hike.  The ephemeral wildflowers have begun blooming in the woods -- like this Spring Beauty -- and curiosity is rewarded around every bend of the trail.

Even last year's dead weeds have taken on a new beauty next to the greening grass and the forest canopy beginning to leaf out.

Skunk cabbages have been blooming for some time in the low wetlands, and now unfurl bright green, cabbagey leaves.

Salamanders wriggle in creeks again, and the acorns that survived being eaten over the winter now sprout to begin new oaks.

Back at home, perennials are returning in the flower beds.

And just sitting on the front porch for a half hour yields a long list of signs of spring.

I hope you are enjoying the turn of the season where you are.

Happy Spring!

Bird Gestures

Because birds move so quickly, it can be hard to make drawings of them. 

You have to draw fast.

A scribbly gesture drawing is just the thing to capture the essence of the bird's pose.

My gesture of the mockingbird at the top of the page shows how loosely the drawing begins.

The Black-Capped Chickadee and the Eastern Bluebird lower on the page started as gestures.  After the birds flew away, I added details from memory.

You can also find photos online or in books to help you get the bird's markings just right.

When you return to a place again and again, even if it's your backyard, you will get to know the plants and animals who live there.  You can record the news of their lives in your nature journal.

This Mulberry tree is the reason we had so many birds flitting around the morning I made my sketches.  The birds were attracted to the ripening mulberry fruits.

Do you have a bird feeder, a berry bush or other food source for birds nearby?  Try some quick bird gestures to tell the story of your encounters in your nature journal!

Happy Creating!

Copyright Betsy Bangley 2024. All rights reserved.

Nature Journaling: A Prescribed Burn at Doak Field

Sometimes when you're out hiking, you come across something dramatic, like State Park workers restoring an overgrown field with a prescribed burn.  

We arrived at the field just in time to see this planned burn begin to remove overgrown vegetation, filling the sky with smoke, and consuming the dried grasses with roaring flames.

In just minutes, the area was cleared.

Now the land is reset and ready for grasses to replace the brambles and woody plants that had grown there.

During the excitement, we found an out-of-the-way spot, and I wrote a quick description to record the day's story.

And of course, a sketch is worth a thousand words.

I hope you get a chance to tell a story in your nature journal, complete with drawings!

Happy Creating!

Copyright Betsy Bangley 2024. All right reserved.