More Swirlyland

Lake Waban, Wellesley
colored pencil
May 29, 2014

We're looking across the lake now. This view is from the bridge where the yellow warbler was singing. yesterday.On the far shore resides "Swirlyland." That's the name my kids gave to the topiary pinetum owned by the Hunnewell family. Here are a few other drawings of the pinetum. It's a magical and difficult subject to draw. Bonne journée and bon weekend.

2011

2011

2014

Spring Birds

Yellow warbler (detail)

Yellow warbler (details)

Yellow warbler studies
May 29, 2014

Swifts and Swallows studies
May 28, 2014

 Down by the dam yesterday morning briefly: the air was laced with barn swallows and swifts zooming this way and that way catching insects. Every now and then they would leave a circular ripple on the river's surface. Today, briefly once again, a Yellow Warbler, a male, declares his ownership of a few trees in the emergent wetlands. The brilliant sun sets fire to his bright yellow breast.

Ain't it Grand?

Swirlyland
charcoal
May 25, 2014

"Swirlyland" is a hillside "pinetum" with carefully pruned evergreen trees owned and maintained by the Hunnewell family of Wellesley, Massachusetts. It is located on a grassy slope above Lake Waban which includes the campus of Wellesley College. I occasionally walk there from home with my sketchbook. Sometimes I go into town for coffee or to a concert at the college. It's all very sophisticated in a New Englandy rustic kind of way. Emerson, Thoreau and Margaret Fuller would approve I'm sure.

Riverscapes

May 16
conté pencil

May 21
charcoal

May 22
colored pencil

May 22
colored pencil

May 23
hard charcoal pencil

The Daily News

The other night: an opossum seen in the yard

violets, also seen in the back yard

The small island is a thicket of weedy, junky vegetation and a challenge to draw.

And today: bright morning sun and three robins looking for breakfast.

Lake Waban at Sunset

The setting sun shines on the far shore of the lake
5-14-14
charcoal, watercolor

In the growing darkness, two mallards are settling in for the night
5-14-14
pencil, ink

Wet Duck

Mallard and drizzle
04-30-14
conté pencil

Happy May Day!

What could be happier than a duck in the rain?

Hello Spring!