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!

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.

The Old Road Exhibit at Healing Arts Center Viroqua

Bridge 13   Walnut Ink on paper - Susan Cushing

Bridge 13

For years Bridge 13 has 

     spanned the river,

withstanding high waters

     that sometimes rise

over its base.

A passageway on the Old Road,

     framing in rusts and grays,

in every season,

     the wildness of its surround.

Stepping forward over the bridge

     onto the Old Road,

one can become lost,

     absorbed into the all…

vital and free.

Joanne Adragna Shird

The Old Road Walking Into Beauty exhibit of my walnut ink paintings and poetry by Joanne Adragna Shird is now at the Viroqua Healing Arts Center in Viroqua through September. 

Stop in anytime during business hours to view the show. If you missed it at Viva gallery, come enjoy the journey through the Kickapoo Valley Reserve's 'Old 131' trail with us.

Each painting is paired with an original poem to tell of the beauty surrounding The Old Road.

This trail is the old highway along the Kickapoo River between Rockton and La Farge. Long before it was a white man's road, it was used by local peoples and long before that by all the animals that shared the valley. Walnut trees are long time residents here, and have shared their bounty and talents with humans for centuries. I chose walnut ink to represent that long connection between land and people, making the ink from walnuts gathered here. Each picture is framed in a hand made solid walnut wood frame, harvested from local trees. The walnut's lightfast durable ink has been used for centuries and so we have used it to note the continuities between people, land, river, plants and animals, through time and in place.

As I write this, that old river has risen again, to major flood stage. In the past few years the river has been making changes to the landscape with each rise and fall through the valley. Our expressions of what we know and see here every day is changing and so some of these pictures are becoming a record of a certain time in this place, maybe to be compared to a different scene in the future. This is an attribute we had not thought of when creating this project.

There will be an ARTIST RECEPTION on Saturday, August 10th between 11am and 1pm at the Viroqua Healing Arts Center, at 224 East Court Street.

Please join us to celebrate the Kickapoo Valley Reserve beauty, enjoy a unique display of art and poetry, and home made refreshments. 

Saturday is Farmer's Market day in Viroqua. Some fresh veggies and beautiful art are a good combination for your day in town!

An addition to the paintings and poetry, The Old Road Walking Into Beauty project includes note cards and a small book of the paintings and poetry. These are always available at the Kickapoo Valley Reserve gift shop, on etsy and at the Viroqua Healing Arts Center reception.

Sketch Books

   After the long hours working on The Old Road walnut ink paintings/drawings, doodling around in a sketchbook is relaxing and allows my brain to sort and plan for future paintings. A while back I found very nice little sketchbooks at American Science and Surplus. This is a fun catalog and store for finding a wide variety of things you didn't know you needed until seeing it in the catalog. These sketchbooks were just the right size, about 6 x 8" with very white paper that is heavy enough to take ink pen work. Three books for a price worth taking a chance on.
 

Old Maple Tree

     After I started playing with this tree drawing, the rest of the book seemed to follow the theme, and just this week I finished the last page, and all the sketches are of trees, from places as far away as California, but mostly the trees are all neighbors or old friends of mine from nearby.

Peter's Orange Pig

     Now that the sketchbook is full, the next painting is getting more attention. So here are some more from the sketchbook, and I'll be back with something new in a while......

A row of eucalyptus trees in California

Walnut Ink Drawing

River Cliff-Walnut Ink on Paper 8"x10"

     Walnut ink has me fascinated with it's gorgeous, rich color. Our refrigerator has a shelf of jars full of dark brown ink. Drawing is fun, but the process of making walnut ink connects my act of making a drawing back to the land with a deeper, felt connection.
     First, drawing with walnut ink means thinking about the drawings well ahead of time. The walnuts hang green on the trees, the weather changes, the leaves start to fall. The walnuts continue to hang on the trees. Finally they drop to the ground and can be gathered. The aromatic greenish brown balls are scattered in the driveway, and we drive over them day after day until the softening husks break away from the walnut shell. It is not necessary to drive over them, but it speeds up getting the husks off the nutshells.
     The darkest pieces are put into an old kettle with some water and simmered until I remember to take them off the burner. This is usually several hours. After cooling, the ink is strained and bottled with a bit of vodka to preserve it. Over time mold may grow in the ink, so I keep it in the refrigerator to extend the shelf life. But if it starts to mold, the film can be scraped off the top of the liquid.
     Walnut ink can be used with brush or pen nibs, mixed with watercolor or other inks. I'm not sure how lightfast this ink is, so recommend any drawings made with walnut ink be displayed out of direct sunlight. That's a good idea for any drawing.
   

Warner Creek Standing Rock 8"x10"

     The warm, natural tones of walnut ink seem just right for drawings of the rocks, trees and land that are part of Walnut Tree's home. Check back for more walnut ink drawings through the winter months.
Thanks for stopping by my blog!