Some Trees

stone wall, trees, ground cover
ink, charcoal
11-9-14

Tree by a river
conté pencil
11-11-14

morning sun through the trees
ink, charcoal
10-12-14

Ducks

detail

Three mallards
9-18-13

low water + rocks = ducks
9-10-13

ducks in the rain 1
9-13-13

ducks in the rain 2
9-13-13

Catching Up

Carved Bird from a Looking Glass
06-15-13
I saw this creature at the Museum of Fine Arts while preparing my notes for a tour about early American furniture designs.

Silver Coffeepots (Philadelphia Boston, circa 1780)

The Charles River floods in South Natick
06-16-13

The Pleasant Street Bridge
06-19-13
The arches are covered halfway by the river.

The Charles River: the island below the dam
06-19-13
The island is completely submerged.

The South Natick Dam
The squiggly thing is a log which I drew in more detail below.
06-21-13

Canada Geese on a large log above the dam
This log was dislodged during the latest storms and is moving very slowly to the top edge of the dam. The geese don't seem to mind.
06-21-13

The river is still very full and flooded.
06-24-13

Looking up toward the dam
06-24-13
I drew this yesterday. For many days this stone retaining wall has been underwater. Its surface is now scoured and whitewashed with silt.

The ocean at Reid State Park in Bath, Maine
06-23-13
After driving our daughter to Camp Arcadia, we spent a few days with in-laws in southern Maine. Summer has officially started.

The Hungry Heron

This Great Blue Heron was feeding just below the dam. Imagine, his ears are filled with the white noise of the cascade and it has to tip its head this way and that to see the fish in the river. While one eye peers into the swirling water the other is glaring skyward --here he's saw a few people just above at the railing at the top of the retaining wall and has craned his neck to get a better look.

Sometimes he gets spooked and swoops over to the small island in the middle of the river below the dam. But this time he was agitated and returned quickly to hunting. Soon he had a small bluegill in his beak. This fish was a manageable size that was soon on its way, still wiggling, down his long throat. Then it was time to retreat to the island for digestion and drying out.

On the island, the Great Blue Heron flares out its wings to dry and warm up and imitates a statue of a heron. 

several studies of the heron
(graphite, conté pencil)

quick studies of the heron
(graphite, conté pencil)

Great Blue Heron, South Natick, MA May 23, 2012
(charcoal, conté pencil)

Here's a quick sketch of the Great Blue Heron using the water

and the natural buoyancy of the fish to position it in his mouth.

I came to the dam today and the heron was back at work. Maybe this will be his summer hunting ground.

When I approached, he flew over to the safety of the island but was soon prowling the currents in the middle of the river. A mother and her young child observed from the railing. After they left to look for frogs and turtles, the heron caught a truly large fish; a bass or trout that must have been 12-14 inches long. Somehow, it managed to position the fish just so and in one long protracted gulp, swallowed it. It looked a little stunned as gravity allowed breakfast to slide down to the harsh chemical factory that is a heron's stomach.

Because of some driftwood lodged at the top of the dam this Spring, an eddy has formed at the base of the dam. Fish congregate here before attempting to scale the dam. If the heron doesn't eat them all, a few will discover the fish ladder (in the background) and spawn further upstream.

(charcoal, conté pencil)

One Fish, Two Fish

Spawning Bass, Leach Brook, Natick, MA
04-29-12
charcoal

detail

I own waterfront property! Well, I do when there's water flowing and this year, there has been enough flow lately can accommodates several spawning Large Mouth Bass (I'm not positive that's what kind of fish these are). I have to do a bit more research to determine the species but they are big and brown and very conspicuous in the shallow water where Leach Brook flows under the lane. The fish are a mottled brown color and are approximately 12-18 inches long. They thrash around in the shallow stream and then rest sometimes side by side with another fish.

The local kids are fascinated by them. The small bridge over the brook is kid-magnet and all the cars have to slow down as the children muck around or drop sticks on one side of the road and race over to see them emerge from the culvert on the other side. And then, voilà! there's this big prehistoric blimp of a fish lumbering along. It's all very exciting.

The fishermen are out by the South Natick Dam and Pleasant Street too. It's a real pecking order: there will be a hatch of some flying gnats, then the purist fly fishermen emerge like baseball players from an Iowa cornfield. Then the bait casters come down to the park early on their way to work or on a Sunday afternoon. Their families picnic while the anglers ply the waters. After all this there are the inevitable styrofoam bait containers, used tissues, malt liquor cans and the occasional young brown trout that wasn't released from the hook soon enough. Sad.

Brown Trout, South Natick Dam, MA
04-18-12
graphite

The Nest

a small bird's nest in a maple tree near Lake Waban
12-15-11
colored pencil

This is the time of year, where I live, that bird's nests become visible. The leaves are off the trees and each Autumn rain and clarifying Winter cold spell serve to make the branches more stark. Additions like nests become visible and can be seen high and low, casual and definite.
It is remarkable how sturdy they are. In this case, grasses and mud are the primary materials. It is snugged down into the fork of a small maple tree. The rains will slowly wash it away but fragments may remain on into next spring.

I think the hanging gauzy nests of the Northern Oriole are the most impressive. The nest is a kind of sac that hangs pendulum-like. It is merely "woven" from stems and blades of grass and is about eight inches long, maybe longer. The babies fledge in July I guess, and the nest is abandoned having served its purpose. But there it may swing and twist through the winter gales and ice storms of February. This is another promise of Orioles and Summer warmth to return.

A Meeting

Three geese confer about the day ahead (7/21/11, carbon pencil)