Broadmoor: June 3

I drew this witha blue pencil; you just have to imagine that everything is green!

I've been trying to get over to Broadmoor once or twice a week to sketch. This drawing was done yesterday morning. The view is from a boardwalk across the marsh, not far from the nature center. A cold front had come through the day before (bringing tornadoes to western Massachusetts) so the weather was sunny, crystalline and breezy. I felt like I was at a higher latitude.

The pointed leaves of aquatic Broadleaf Arrowhead (Sagittaria latifolia) are brilliant green and they cross swords at consistent angles as they set to work harvesting the sun's energy. These angles and the resulting patches of light and shadow are the dominant impression to be seen. Swifts also darted constantly back and forth across the marsh from one end to the other feeding on the sun-dazed mosquitoes. Some geese meandered by and a Great Blue Heron soared overhead, wheeled and landed in the upper reaches of the marsh.  A few photographers, as sun-dazzled as the mosquitoes, traipsed across the boardwalk in search of prey. But it was early and I pretty much had the place to myself.