Ink Drawings

brush and ink. The wash is a mix of coffee and India ink.

These were great fun to do this morning. A small flock of mallards was feeding and minding their business in the river below the dam. They seemed so peaceful and dedicated to their own particular needs. They eat, preen, dabble and squabble and chase each other around. And they rest by tucking their heads under their wings and balancing on one leg. Can you do that?

Seeing Deer

A whitetail deer at Broadmoor

"[Stewart Edward] White was an excellent observer, and devoted an entire chapter of The Mountains to the subject of seeing deer: “As soon as you can forget the naturally obvious and construct an artificial obvious, then you too will see deer.”

But the artificial obvious is hard to see. My eyes account for less than one percent of the weight of my head; I’m bony and dense; I see what I expect. I once spent a full three minutes looking at a bullfrog that was so unexpectedly large I couldn’t see it even though a dozen enthusiastic campers were shouting directions. Finally I asked, “What color am I looking for?” and a fellow said, “Green.” When at last I picked out the frog, I saw what painters are up against: the thing wasn’t green at all, but the color of wet hickory bark.

The lover can see, and the knowledgeable."

–Annie Dillard "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek", 1994

I was walking under the spell of the early morning light yesterday. It was damp and cold from the previous day's rain as I followed the trail around the head of the marsh. I surprised strange ducks, numerous chipmunks and several whitetail deer. This fellow stopped and stood and allowed me to sketch the basics of his aspect. After it ambled away I stood there for another twenty minutes trying to render the vegetation and general visual static of the new growth in the open forest. But there was so much that I didn't draw!

Walking in the woods as an artist requires the delicate management of one's patience, one's knowledge about what is or should be there, and, as Dillard says: "the artificially obvious",  the imagination that anticipates things we are seeking. Things like deer or even things that are not visible.

Does anything ever stand still?

We have it all: Snow, ice, standing water!
3/7/11 wax crayon in sketchbook

A few days of warm weather have unleashed the frozen snow. The river is very full as it rushes dangerously over the dam.
3/7/11 wax crayon in sketchbook

These were drawn yesterday during a short respite of warm, rainy weather. I know it seems crazy and surely, I'm asking for too much but I hope that Spring is slow this year. I want to document it :)

Carrying water

…trying to render moving water

The moving river's surface is all chaos and dynamism yet there is also the reliable and soothing pattern of the waves. And what actually is the surface: a moving sea of watery dunes reflecting the world in odd angles, bangles and shredded shards? I keep looking for patterns to help me capture it. I often stop and realize that the river has been flowing here for millenia with no one to ponder its character. And I have formed a relationship with it. Does it look forward to my visits? My attention? My drunken mental meanderings?
À votre santé!

Homage

A sunny corner, Woolwich, Maine (24 February, 2011)
An homage for whom? For our gracious hosts and for Carl and Karin Larsson that's who!

Brilliant and Bitter

Brilliant sun and bitter cold

"Spring is just around the corner" says the grim-faced coffee shop owner as I wipe the fog off my glasses and await my order of hot coffee. Whatever you say!
Good morning people! The sublimating snow is leaving fanciful lace-like spires and icicles. Sticks and stones are revealed like bones from a grotesque injury. We are half past the Hunger Moon and larger animals are very hungry now that winter is in its eleventh hour. But mockingbirds and robins have started to sing.
How can we be so grim when the sun shines so marvelously (although some would say mercilessly)?

Hoarfrost

Lake Waban, Wellesley College is on the opposite shore

I walked around Lake Waban several days ago. Another snowstorm was predicted and I knew this would make the path impassable. The heavy Boston snows this winter have constricted my sketch outings so, with my art supplies in hand and a few dollars in my pocket I headed to the lake which is a short walk from my house.

There's a large wetland area which had the only open water. It was congested with ducks, Canada Geese and a few swans. There are cottonwood and alder trees here. Their willowy young branches painting the gray skies with a cheerful promise of leaves and nesting opportunities for the migratory birds.

I took these crude photos with my cell phone. They remind me of the French Impressionist painters Alfred Sisley and Camille Pisarro

The trees in the wetland were covered with hoarfrost. It was so beautiful (and I was getting very cold) that I couldn't attempt a drawing. I guess I didn't have the nerve. I'll try again before the winter is over.

the white trees in the middle distance are coated with hoarfrost

branches are festooned with fine dendritic ice crystals

Hoarfrost is caused by moist air moving over cold surfaces like tree branches and stalks of sere aquatic plants. You find it in many other places but there needs to be this gentle flow of moist air. The ice crystals form on these surfaces. The crystals are lacy and very delicate. Imagine the branches covered in snowflakes. It's as if the snowflakes come from the trees!

I did do one drawing of the young trees. I need to return to this spot.

My appointed rounds

South Natick Dam: ice, drizzle 12 Dec. 2010
colored pencil

I drew this quickly one morning last week in a few hours of warmer weather. It's a familiar view (link opens to a gallery of similar drawings). There were patches of fixed ice along the fringes and shards floating with the current downriver. A light drizzle was falling and it added a nice pricking to the still puddles of water on top of the ice above the lip of the dam.
This rain was not conducive to drawing al fresco so, after getting the basics down and reaching my limits of comfort, I retreated to the coffee shop and completed the sketch. I hope you like it.
I think it would be nice to meet artist friends down here, sketch for a bit and just hang out with our coffees.
For as long as we wanted…

Winter Drawing

The South Natick Dam | 7 Dec. 2010 | colored pencil

There's just a bit of ice on the fringes of the river above the dam. Icicles have formed where water leaks from the surface down through the arches of the bridge. I've seen an occasional goose or two swimming in lazy circles above the dam. No herons to speak of and just an occasional group of ducks heading somewhere else high overhead.
I promise though that I will make some snowbound sketches as soon as we get an accumulation.
There were a few flurries last night and it was cold enough that I saw the evidence this morning as I walked Ellen to her bus stop.
Life moves too fast wouldn't you say?

Gathering Nuts

"Red Squirrel, Lake Waban" colored pencil

Red Squirrel, le lac Waban" crayon de couleur

Fall is definitely here. And we are harvesting different things:

Some sort of flying circus

Une sorte de Flying Circus

Fearless Fox

Le renard intrépide

Birds in flying machines

Les oiseaux dans des machines volantes

We're having a good time over here. I hope you are too.

The Bridge 2

"The Pleasant Street Bridge" July 1, 2010 colored pencil and ink spot

The picturesque Pleasant Street Bridge in South Natick was built in 1857. It replaced an earlier structure built by Rev. John Eliot and the local aboriginal inhabitants. Before that, there were Indian fishing camps on this location.



Throughout the beginning of the new millennium as American banks were destroying the world's economy, the bridge was falling into disrepair. Finally, the state of Massachusetts ordered that it be repaired. This quaint looking structure is a vital thoroughfare in this area's morning commute. There are more than a few rich bankers who probably use it every day.



A new deck was created and all the masonry was cleaned and re-pointed. They even fixed the worst, most crumbling sections of the retaining wall. The well-used park is still a bit shaggy but volunteers keep it looking tended and loved if not improved. Maybe that's the best we can hope for in a down economy: Sounds like good advice for people too: keep them tended and loved and don't worry too much about improvement.

[all drawings done in colored pencil in my sketchbook in July-September 2010]

I love the light that comes through the arch: complicated shadows and reflections all contained within a bold geometric container.

A pair of mallards, a heron and the late-summer weedy lawn.

A heron plying his trade in the shadows

two cars rushing by above the low water

I like this view looking across the river as it flows under the bridge.

I need to look for some new subjects though to keep things interesting. Stay tuned!

The Fish Ladder

a view of the dam with the fish ladder

I go away for a few days, and it rains like crazy. The river gets filled up and is its merry gushing self again. No ducks dabbling at the top of the dam now; the current is too strong. There are a few upriver where it's a bit safer. Only the sturdy geese seem to be able to relax at the top of the cascade.

This is a view above the dam drawn in the late afternoon. A Little Green Heron is perched on the wall looking for frogs to eat. It's a weird little bird. Comical: his crest folds up and down depending on I-don't-know-what!

The top drawing shows a fish ladder. It's a stair-step affair that allows fish that are so inclined to swim up the river to reach their favorite spawning places. I've never seen a fish leap up there like they do by the dozen in National Geographic.

I met one old-timer a few weeks ago who said that dare-devils would swim inside the rooster tail rapids and sit and enjoy being surrounded by the rushing water. He also informed me that there apparently used to be a bathing beach with lifeguards at this park… back when there were taverns in South Natick. Now we all drink nice wine on our decks and gossip about the neighbors with subdued voices. I'll take it!

To summer then! Salut! School begins later this week :-(