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I know it’s not the time of year for Lightning Bugs (or Fireflies) to be out but thought I’d share this small illustration I finished recently. I’ve been working on studies of small, native plants (NY) [...]]]>

"Lightning Bug Under Grass" watercolor + ink

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I know it’s not the time of year for Lightning Bugs (or Fireflies) to be out but thought I’d share this small illustration I finished recently. I’ve been working on studies of small, native plants (NY) to go with illustrations in the children’s books I’m working on and decided to put this Lightning Bug in here. It’s more realistic than the books will be but I really like how it looks like an ‘old time’ illustration. Many people have never seen this bug in the day, known for it’s magical blinking lights at night, but if you get to know it you may spot it in long grasses or hedges.

Though I painted this entirely in the studio all the studies had to be done in the field. Lately when I’ve been able to get out for sketching, I’ve taken my garden kneeling pad and a big garbage bag to sit on the wet ground to work. It really is amazing how many different small plants there are growing right under your feet!

Next post will be about the small plant studies I’ve done out in the wet lanes of spring. Click on the images below to see my prints, note cards and other items with this painting (you can add text to any of them!):

"Lane with Arched Branches" watercolor and ink

I did this watercolor study while standing in the lane, looking ahead through the natural [...]]]> This walk was on April 13, 2012, all around on my land checking on how things were doing now that spring is well underway.  (please click pictures to see larger)

"Lane with Arched Branches" watercolor and ink

I did this watercolor study while standing in the lane, looking ahead through the natural arch formed by this one bush or small tree. Over the years as I would walk under it, I’d trim off branches hanging down right where you walk, so it formed a natural arch. The branches on top reach straight up like suckers do. I actually did most of it on one day then another time I was out I added the ink.

The first snail I met this year!

Now you can meet some of the critters I met on my walk. The first was a snail sliding along on this piece of dead grass floating in the water. I noticed this before on snails like this, his body color is blueish! Cool.

The second snail I met was this flat shaped coiled one.

Here’s a totally different kind, this one’s shell makes a coil but flat. Can you see the paler band of color at about 9 o’clock? Everything from there to the lip is new growth just from this year!

I took him home and he decided to come out to explore

Well, yes, I did tuck him into a little baggie I had with some of the water from where I found him! I stuck him in my pocket and brought him home to look at closer. I thought I’d have time to sketch him but when I realized I wouldn’t I released him right away.

Looking up to the spreading grandeur of this old oak!

Now here we are in “Oak Lane”, so named because of the very old, very huge oak trees growing there. They were probably planted some 200 years ago by the original owners of this farm as a land boundary. I love looking up at them as they tower over me, and marvel at how many years they’ve been looking down at people before me even. There are so many critters living in, on and under them!

Way up high this squirrel's tail was hanging out of it's hole.

When you’re out walking, if you keep your eyes open and maybe more importantly, stop sometimes and just stand still to listen and look, you may be surprised at what you see. As I was admiring my oaks and listening to birds I caught sight of something way, way up high, moving. It was just a stirring but it caught my eye; turns out it was a Grey Squirrels tail left hanging outside his/her hole!  How funny it was, just blowing around in the wind like a flag put out on a porch. I think it was sleeping!

This is the first butterfly of the year for me, the Mourning Cloak

Then all of a sudden in a flutter, a Mourning Cloak butterfly appeared and landed not far from me. It was sticking to the open lane where the sun was. Everytime I got too close it flew off but I was patient and followed it along, and the last shots I got were the best because I think, it was tired and didn’t want to fly as much. After that I left it alone, thank goodness for digital zoom!

I hope you enjoyed this little walk and my watercolor study. Stay tuned because I have some more posts in the works! And as always please share my blog with friends and visit my Shop at Zazzle where you’ll find TONS of my nature photos and artwork on all kinds of products.

"Pasture Lane in March" watercolor and ink

The land is starting to thaw at Long Lane Farm. The Robins have returned along with many other birds so I went out to look for signs of spring. It was very quiet except for occasional Chickadee’s following [...]]]>  (please click to see enlarged and clearer)

"Pasture Lane in March" watercolor and ink

The land is starting to thaw at Long Lane Farm. The Robins have returned along with many other birds so I went out to look for signs of spring. It was very quiet except for occasional Chickadee’s following me or a Blue Jay calling, some Canadian Geese flying over. I made it just up the lane a little and decided to sit and do this sketch.

I carried a small camp stool over my shoulder so I sat on that and put my sketchbook on my lap along with my watercolor pan.  I used two waterbrushes and a permanent ink pen to draw it first. I found it a bit difficult to paint the grasses right in front of me, that were all matted and crisscrossed on the ground, sooo much detail! You can see I didn’t get crazy into detail, mostly just looking for the darks and lights of the scene, showing the water around the rushes and the dry color of grasses in the lane.  I didn’t fuss over it too long because my back hurt like a ‘son of a gun’! Darn back of mine, I think I may have been better to just stand like I usually do.

PS. A note to those who follow my blog, I’m so glad you keep coming back to read and see what I’m up to. I’ve not posted as much lately only because I am finally concentrating seriously on illustrating all the poems and stories I’ve written over the past years. I’ll try to share a bit as I can, but don’t want to let the cat out of the bag too soon! We’ll see what I end up with and I’ll keep you posted!

I made some cards with my sketch, check them out by clicking pics below:

Glossy Note Cards

Glossy Post Cards

This is a little (5 x 7″) oil painting I did “en plein air”, or translation… “while standing in the snowy field freezing my fingers off”! What I wanted to do was study the colors in oil and not get too caught up in the finished look of a painting. [...]]]>

"Winter Field Sketch"

This is a little (5 x 7″) oil painting I did “en plein air”, or translation… “while standing in the snowy field freezing my fingers off”! What I wanted to do was study the colors in oil and not get too caught up in the finished look of a painting. It was a good exercise in study of color for me, it would not have been as successful if I did it from a photograph.

My oil field kit, closed.

I rigged up a little field kit for oil painting, just for taking out on hikes. Here’s a picture of the kit closed, it’s a plastic case you can buy at an office supply department. I’ve only used it this once but hope to work with it more and ‘tweek’ it. The main objective was to keep it as light as possible.

Here it is open to show you the metal pencil case and use of 'sticky tack'.

This shows the kit open with two areas of gessoed canvas ready to use. Notice the four dots of ‘sticky tack’ on the left, they’ll hold the lid of the metal pencil case when I want to paint, using the lid for mixing. I used tape to make loops to hold brushes; just put tape sticky sides together to make it ‘not’ sticky in the middle.

I created a loop of tape to slide my medium cup into.

I used the tape in the same way here, keeping it sticky on the ends but not in the middle, I created a loop that my medium cup would slot onto. At the angle I would hold the kit, the cup would not come off! It was then held from behind with a dab of ‘sticky tack’.

Here is my field kit in action!

I held the homemade kit in one hand, using my arm for support, and painted with my right hand. It’s all in my reach and I brought no tubes of paint. Notice my fingers are holding one brush at the ready and the other ‘dirty’ or ‘in use’ brushes are kept on the left of the hinge, clean ones to the right in the loop.

Of course Ginger was along for the adventure and waits patiently to continue with our walk!

I put a squeeze of my colors in a metal pencil case and put some in a pill box from the pharmacy before I left the house. The pill box was an experiment and I wasn’t really satisfied with it, it gets too messy on the lids and doesn’t keep the paint really airtight. Since then I’ve moved to using contact lens cases that screw shut…we’ll see how the paint lasts in them as they’re all back in England and I won’t see them until spring!

This shows you my view of the field as I worked.

The above picture shows you the view I had as I worked, it also illustrates how dull the colors look on a photograph and how I perceived the colors with my eyes to be a bit more vivid. This is why working in the field is so important whether you are oil painting, using watercolors, pastels…etc.

When I came back home, I stuck the little study up on a wood post in my living room using ‘Loctite” sticky tack. I hung there for ages and I enjoyed looking at it whenever I walked by. It wasn’t until I found a great frame and laid it on top that it popped out and said “HEY…I’m a good little painting!” hahah…yes sometimes my paintings talk to me…don’t yours? It also told me to stop ignoring it and get it framed so it could have a proper place on the wall! Yes…yes, the voice of guilt, this painting actually was done last year (12/31/10) and since I traveled to England it got sort of forgotten!

Click to see photos enlarged:

How it looks framed on the wall

"Winter Field Sketch" framed and in cool daylight

Original framed painting $165 contact me

Go here to see all my Landscape Paintings in the Gallery.

I also made some nice products in my Zazzle Gift Shop with this, please click on the pictures to have a look!

Pasture Lane in February, all icy and beautiful.

I wore my mud boots or Wellies because [...]]]>  Today was cold, oh so cold but SUNNY!, and that makes all the difference in the world. It’s been a long while since I’ve sketched in the field (or while walking) since coming home from England.

Pasture Lane in February, all icy and beautiful.

I wore my mud boots or Wellies because I knew it’d be wet. The photo shows the wet lane and as I walked here and all through the field, it was creaking and cracking ice under foot. It was actually fun and reminded me of some movie scenes when you’d hear that familiar creaking of ice, just before the huge crack creased through the ice towards the unfortunate victim! Haha…oh but don’t worry, the water under ‘my’ ice is only a few inches deep! A tip from me, walk near the grasses along the edges of icy lanes, it’s more solid and less water underneath.

Bird's nest found in the field (click to see nice large image)

I spotted this nest so clearly in the bare branches of a bush in the middle of my field. I walked over and found that it was actually above my head, probably around 6′ 6″ or more from the ground. I’m not sure what kind it is, I’ve seen Song Sparrow nests in this field but they were lower. I did a quick drawing while wearing my fingerless gloves, which makes it better but you still get cold! Drawing with a permanent ink pen, I tried to sketch and plan where I needed to ‘not’ draw the branches so I could put the nest in and not have unerasable lines. While I had the real nest in front of me I added the shadows to the branches.

It was when I got home that I started to play around and draw twigs around the page like a frame. I did this as I waited for my water to boil, that nice cup of coffee I’d enjoy soon, to help me thaw. Now that I just studied real branches in the field, it was fresh in my mind and the most important thing is adding the shadows. Just pretend the light is always from the same side (mine was upper right side) and after you draw the branches, add the shadows. Now if I wanted I could add a poem along the right side; below I created a card, in my Zazzle shop, where you can do that!

The birds nest up high in a bush

Here’s a picture of the nest as it looked from back a few steps, up in the bush.

Nest up close.

This shot shows the nest up close, I love having my tiny olympus camera in my bag for this type of shot. On purpose I left my ‘regular’ camera at home, determined to push myself to do a sketch today! Well, darn it, I still like taking pics of the beautiful landscapes, close ups of interesting things and if I do a sketch perhaps the subject I drew. I try to always have my tiny camera in my sketch kit. I thought the nest had spider web helping to hold it together but now I look closer and think it could be downy seeds instead. I love the colors of the woven grasses in the nest, though being that it was so cold outside, I really didn’t want to pull out my watercolors as I stood in front of it drawing.

A view from above by holding the tiny camera up high.

And here’s the last shot, I held the camera up as high as I could and pointed it into the nest. It’s in such good shape after a whole winter, I’m so glad I spotted it and did my sketch today.

I’ve created some note cards using my photos and sketch in my Zazzle shop, please click any below and have a look! (I especially love the last one!)

Snowy Lane in black wax crayon colored with watercolor

Even though I did this sketch back in December, while I was in Northumberland England, I guess it’s appropriate now seeing as there’s been a return of snow [...]]]>  (Some of the images go my shop where you can hover and see enlarged details)

Snowy Lane in black wax crayon colored with watercolor

Even though I did this sketch back in December, while I was in Northumberland England, I guess it’s appropriate now seeing as there’s been a return of snow there! This was their first snow of the winter and it fell quite heavy for a time, coating everything with that heavy kind of silent snow. I had a cold but peaceful walk up the lane and stopped at this view with the trees I always like looking at.  I did the sketch while standing to the side of the road using a black wax crayola crayon. The snow was falling on my paper as I drew and it made it hard to draw, not to mention drawing while wearing my fingerless mittens. It was later that I added some touches of watercolor.

A lovely gate along the way

I love the way this ivy covered gate looks and would love to do a painting of it. Problem is it’s someone’s front gate and with the house being just inside, they may think I’m being rude standing there staring at it.

The snowy lane so quiet under snow

This is one of my favorite views as the lane curves into the distance.  You can see this is the view I stood and sketched in my drawing.

Another view along the high lane

The trees stand sentinel as they’ve done for hundred’s of years. Many of the trees you see along a lane are just overgrown from old hedges that weren’t kept trimmed down.

The black faced sheep were quiet in the cold.

I love how the trees look in the back of the field and how peaceful the sheep were, just trying to conserve energy I guess. These ewes are probably getting fat with lambs in them now…can’t wait to see the little ones in spring!

The thick snowy hedge along the lane.

There are beautiful colors all around you even in winter!

I like seeing the leaves in winter; these were interesting with the red spots. Sorry the picture isn’t brighter but the day was so grey!

Just waiting to be put in a drawing!

 This is an old farm shed I always look at along the lane, it’s so old it’s actually fallen off it’s foundation and the sides are collapsed. I don’t usually want to paint old barns as some people do, but this with the trees, shrubs and grass with their colors in this shot, really attract me. I can see it as an ink sketch perhaps or chalk.

I hope you enjoyed coming on this little snowy walk with me. More sketches and photos from England coming soon.

Sometime ago I planned on writing a post about my dad because I consider him the greatest influence on my artistic and nature loving life. I told him I was going to do this because I knew he’d like it. It’s [...]]]>

Me (6th grade) and my Dad at Frost Valley Camp in the Catskills, NY

Sometime ago I planned on writing a post about my dad because I consider him the greatest influence on my artistic and nature loving life. I told him I was going to do this because I knew he’d like it. It’s just last week that I lost my dad as his body gave into the battle of his ailments. I’m so very sad to think about it at all, but thought I couldn’t go forward without an acknowledgement here and now.

My dad and mom loved to go camping and it was when my mom, God love her, was pregnant with me that they went for the first time.  Already having four children under their belt maybe she wasn’t worried about going to the Adirondack Mountains while being seven or more months pregnant! Yikes! So it started early for me, being in nature. Every summer vacation we would go to Lewey Lake in the Adirondack State Park and what wonderful memories it holds for my family. All kinds of wildlife to discover, from Black Bears, Chipmunks and Racoons in your campsite to Mergansers on the lake.

Chipmunks would come up to your hand to eat peanut butter on bread!

Then there was Easter vacation where we would usually head south in that big black station wagon you see in the photo, to the beach in Virginia or South Carolina. It was always camping and always close to nature. The coast held a whole new set of discoveries; I loved hearing the sound of the waves just over the sand dunes where we camped.

Somewhere along the way I got hooked on bird watching and my dad was always there to ask questions of. He knew so much about nature! One day when sitting on the back stone patio with him, I pointed to a bird and told him what it was. I was shocked when he told me I had finally passed him in knowledge of the birds. This just wasn’t possible, this was my dad who in my eyes knew everything. It still feels weird. A bird we both thought was beautiful is the Rose Breasted Grosbeak, painted below in watercolor and ink.

Rose Breasted Grosbeak - watercolor + ink

Then there’s the art, the most important thing in my life. My dad was one of the most creative people I’ve ever met. He told us stories of growing up with no money and how he’d carve wooden guns for himself then every kid wanted one too. Anything he needed fixed or created he’d figure out how and do it himself. We had an eagle hanging in the dining room, complete with shield and arrows in it’s claws. Dad carved it from an old wooden chair seat! He dabbled in painting and I remember still when I was around 1st or 2nd grade, watching him paint a scene in oils of a watermill. It wasn’t until just a few years ago I realized it was signed on my birthday! Fate!

Viking Dragon I carved in college, inspired by my dad's carving

I was always at his elbow in his shop, I can remember still the smell of fresh cut wood and our private talks about things going on in our lives. I also remember when very young, watching him create the prettiest little church out of simple mat board. He cut it, built it, put sparkly glitter on it to look like snow, colored acetate to look like stained glass windows, carved bushes out of Styrofoam and then put a little light in it. It was the most gorgeous church I’ve ever seen, and it was for Christmas of course. He created so many things like that and I loved watching him.

The "Purple Coneflower Bench" I built for my garden

When I went to college it’s no surprise I ended up taking a lot of furniture design classes too, I guess wood runs in our blood. Above is a bench I designed and built for my garden for me and my boys to sit on.  My dad was the best wood carver and I hope to share some photos of his carvings with you someday, probably on my flickr page. College was also where I took my first Drawing classes that involved studying nudes of course. When I brought my big huge sketchpad home to share dad didn’t blink an eye when we discussed the form of the female body and he did a little sketch to show me. I thought it’d be embarrassing since we were raised as strict Catholics, but dad had studied art too in college and it was great, he showed me how ‘normal’ it was to do what I was doing. He’s the first one to teach me how to draw a profile, and though it’s cartoon style, I can still remember how he taught me to draw eyes! Below is a drawing I did while studying in Toronto at the Michael John Angel Academy.

Charles Bargue Figure - done in Toronto at the Michael John Angel Academy

He was also a very talented writer and it’s where I must have gotten my love of turning a poem or writing a story. He used to tell us and his students, stories that would keep you on the edge of your seat. Usually it was ghost stories that of course were all true, around Halloween time. We’d hear about the Banshees that Great Grampa McAndrew chased away, the white glove that my aunt saw crawling, how Aunt Aggie saw her sister’s ghost the night she died and then dad’s best loved story called “The White Porcelain Hand”. Below is a still life I did in college using graphite, just so happens to have a white glove in it!

"The White Glove" - graphite still life I did in college

Whenever I’d call dad and tell him about my creative ideas he’d be so good at giving me his honest opinion and feedback. We’d talk until both of us had to switch ‘ears’ twice!  He knows about my ideas for children’s books and nature sketching and I’m determined now to work on them in his memory. It’s the best way I can think of to stay close to him.

He was well loved by a big family of 8 children and 33 grandchildren and countless students he taught in the Endicott, NY area. I’m not sure how I’ll do without him to talk to now, I’ll just work on one thing at a time.

Dad and me at a family reunion

I love you Dad!