Some Pen and Ink Work

  Living a long way from town means for me the recommended restrictions of 'socially isolating' are not that much different than daily life. Yes, I change and eliminate social interactions, but I have a life time of spending long days in the woods or at home, where it is quiet and no one else is around. Two days in a city is enough to overload me to this day. Yet not having the choice creates a different state of mind. I think ahead to how it will feel when it is again possible to zip around and be too busy, and how good it will feel to have finished some paintings and drawings and small projects that are languishing for lack of attention.

   The first drawing is a detail of a larger work of six rare cats that live in different parts of the world. It was a commission for a conservation organization in Canada that worked to save habitat for these cats. They are all small in size and almost unknown, even by the local peoples.

Rare Cats of the World-detail  Pen and Ink on Paper

  On Tabletop Mountain is a scene in Montana. My friend Kay rode with me for two weeks while I traveled through Montana some years ago; here she and Bux are descending from the plateau onto the canyon trail.

On Tabletop Mountain  Pen and Ink on Paper

    Unlike painting, which for me takes a great deal of thought and work, pen and ink or pencil drawings are relaxing, meditative and fun. So I've been spending the 'extra' time using up the pens and ink that exist only to be used. What was I waiting for?

Occasionally I do artwork for the Kickapoo Valley Reserve and now have some drawings in progress for an upcoming publication. Those drawings have grown into a small series of bird and plant ink drawings. Not sure how many will appear, but so far there are nine of them.

Asarum canadense -ginger

   Asarum is one of my favorite plants. Hidden and unusual flowers, lovely leaves, lives in moist and shady places.

Podophyllum peltatum - May apple

       This little May Apple is about to unfold and lift off, or so it seems. Have you eaten ripe May Apple fruit? They are as delicious as they are rare. It has been quite a while since I've found one, as the large number of turkeys can always get there before I do.

Old Oak From Upstairs Window

   At the top of the stairs the window frames this big old oak that is now slowly falling apart, limb by limb. It is still home to countless birds, squirrels, insects. It scatters thousands of acorns for any who are hungry and  holds a world in its limbs. From moss and lichen and insects to owls, hawks, climbing coons, possums, and what is left of the bats, tucked under rough bark, it is home.

  Another good day to get on the other side of the walls and see what is budding, sprouting and singing. I hope you too find yourself outside.

   More drawings soon; please visit again. Sharing this site is much appreciated!

More Pen and Ink Drawings

   Here are a few more of the current series of pen and ink drawings. The first one is of a Cerulean Warbler, a treetop dweller in deep forests that most of us never see, but he can be heard high overhead in the spring as we walk under the canopy.

Cerulean Warbler

   I remember discovering Showy Orchis in the woods near Avoca when I lived in that area. Realizing that orchids live not only in the tropics but the midwest too was a big surprise. I used to hunt the woods for Lady Slippers and all the other orchid family plants that lived there, just to see them bloom.

Orchis spectabilis - Showy Orchis

Arisaema triphyllum- Jack in the Pulpit

         A creek runs at the base of Coon Rock hill, between Arena and Spring Green. The area is marshy and forested, or used to be years ago. Mosquitos were enormous there, rattlesnakes could be found in the rocky ledges near the cave at the prow of the ridge and one day I caught a five foot long bull snake there. I was riding on the narrow farm road and she was on her way across the road. I jumped off Fira, and holding the reins in one hand grabbed Snake's tail parts in my left hand, and held on. I really didn't have a plan past that moment, but Snake did. She wrapped the front of her body around a convenient fence post and stared back at me. Fira pulled back on my right, Snake pulled back on my left. We all stared at each other for some time as I assessed the merits of the two choices offered, and finally I had to choose; walk home after Fira runs off or let Snake go. Large bull snakes such as her were common then but now are rare or maybe gone completely.
   Small family farms filled the sandy flat valley, but the steep slopes and marshy base of Coon Rock seemed a wild land at the time. My mother and I headed for the cave one hot day and ended up wading in deep water through the marshy woods at the north side of the hill. As we got on higher ground we noticed the Jack in the Pulpits; they were everywhere and they were huge. They were so large we measured them; some were three feet tall. The flowers were big goblets, some with water in them. I wonder if any place in the midwest now can grow a Jack in the pulpit that large.
   The past few years our smaller Jack in the pulpit residents have a hard time keeping their flowers. Just as the morels pop up,  Jack in the pulpits start to bloom and that's when turkeys roam the woods for a spring feast. By the time we get up and get out in the woods, the turkeys have nipped every morel off at the base and also eaten all the Jack in the pulpit flowers. That must be a tasty combination for turkeys.

Thanks for visiting, and thanks for sharing this blog!

A Tree Sketchbook

Old Maple Tree 

   Trees have been my life-long companions, everywhere that I have lived. I found some inexpensive sketchbooks that had paper with a good feel to it and I filled one of them with sketches of trees from different places around the country that I particularly like. All sketches are done in pen and ink.

   Some trees were met only in passing, such as the these trees on a beach near St. Augustine Florida.

   A few years ago I was on the north rim of the Grand Canyon while there were active forest fires burning in the area. Forest that had burned a few years ago had green new growth under the tall spikes of burned tree trunks. The bare and polished gray trees made a dramatic pattern against blue sky.

Here is an oak tree in Marin County, California, living on a grassy hilltop.

A row of eucalyptus trees in Marin County, California. Rows of live oaks, eucalyptus, cypress trees or allees of espaliered trees seem to invite a walk to whatever is beyond the path they shelter.

There are many beautiful trees in Victoria, British Columbia, including beech and sequoia, some quite large. This beech lives near the downtown area.

   In Wisconsin we are surrounded by many species of beautiful trees. Here are walnut trees growing on County P east of Valley.

   An elm tree garlanded with red ivy stood on the ridge on County V for many years.

   Splendid, big old locust trees filled the air with fragrance from their white flowers every spring at a friend's farm south of Hillsboro.

   The thorns on these trees were one of my favorite toys as a child. I would make chains of thorns stuck one to another. During recess at school we sat in the grass under the trees making crowns and necklaces of the locust thorns and twigs.

   Here is an old oak near my home.

      And finally, the forest of trees near Warner Creek on a winter day.

    That's my little tree sketchbook. I hope you've enjoyed meeting some of my tree friends! I'd love to  hear of special trees you know.

   Sharing this blog is appreciated. Thanks for visiting.