Like Oaks for Turkeys

Mount Pisgah Arboretum is gearing up for their famous Mushroom Festival at the end of October, and they've invited me to do the festival poster and tee-shirts again this year. The theme: turkey-tail mushrooms with a flock of turkeys wandering through the habitat.

Now, turkey-tail mushrooms like to grow on stumps and dead branches of oak trees. Since I no longer live near the gorgeous oak savannah habitats at Mount Pisgah, I headed up to the Hoyt Arboretum one gray and drizzly morning to wander through their fine collection of oak trees, in seek of inspiring oak compositions. Here's what I drew.

 More Mushroom Festival poster adventures to come!

4-T Trail Hike

Way back at the beginning of August, my friend Gretchin threw a birthday party which involved inviting all of her friends to go for a hike! The 4-T Trail uses a combination of public transportation and hiking paths to make a loop from downtown Portland up through the west hills and then back via the south waterfront. * A principios de agosto, mi amiga Gretchin organizó una excursión por el sendero 4-T. Pasamos por el centro de la ciudad hasta la cima de las colinas del oeste, usando una combinación de transporte público y senderos rústicos en el bosque. 

Most of my time was spent walking and chatting with the wonderful people at the party, but I did get in a few sketches at the main rest stops. * Pasé la mayoría de mi tiempo caminando y charlando con la gente en la fiesta, pero también dibujé en algunos lugares donde nos paramos para descansar. 

When we returned home after the hike, I thought I was headed straight for a nap. But--surprise!--there was a block party going on that had a live band in the street. We ended up hanging out with more nice people and enjoying the music to finish off the day. * Al regresar a la casa, yo intentaba descansar. Pero--¡que sorpresa!--había una fiesta en nuestro vecindario, incluso una banda tocando en vivo en la calle. Pasemos un rato charlando y escuchando la música antes de terminar el día.

Scribbles from the Past

We're doing some house-cleaning and rearranging of late, and as I go through notes from old illustration projects I'm finding some amusing memories in the mix. Scanning a handful to share here!

This was an illustration project for a paleontology exhibition at the San Bernardino County Museum. The early sketch here is just exploring the general look of brown with white highlights on parchment-toned paper. For some reason I'm totally charmed by this early doodle.

From the good old days when I was drawing a lot of fossilized rodent teeth under the microscope! I focused on projects like these for about two years as an undergraduate, and occasionally revisit that subject matter when researchers start knocking at the door. Something about the simplicity of this pencil sketch, with the grid marks helping me keep in all in scale and the light touch on the shading, makes me happy.

Another undergraduate doodle, again with the rodent teeth (this time it's the chewing surface of a tooth from a vole). Once the graphite draft gets all worked out, I'd do the final illustrations in ink on plastic film with a steel-nib pen dipped into a jar of ink, totally old-school. Each of the little wriggly lines on this scrap is me testing the pen after a fresh dip into the ink to make sure it's not going to leave a big ink blot . (I suspect that's why the partially finished drawing here was turned into a test-scrap--blob attack!)

None of these scraps of paper are terribly important, really; but it's sure fun to look back at them and remember the experience of building up to the final illustrations, scribble by scribble. 

Alton Baker Park

Last weekend I stopped by to visit the annual picnic of the Philippine American Association in Eugene, Oregon. The picnic was in lovely Alton Baker Park, with a stunning view of the river. Since I was running early, I paused to sketch the river flowing behind the fountain at EWEB Plaza.

I was initially quite focused on getting the angles of all those jets of water without drawing anything out in pencil first. But when I reached the end of the sketch, I realized I had forgotten to add the segment of the watery cascade where each of the parabolas meets in the middle and falls back down to earth. Whoops! It should probably have looked something like this instead:

Ah well. I hiked across the pedestrian bridge and plugged myself into the picnic, and had a lovely time sketching the pig roasting on the spit! Tricky timing challenge to throw down more paint every time the pig rotated to this angle, but it was a fun challenge.

I had some lovely conversations about art and art education with folks at the picnic while I sketched. One fellow, who had been a professor of art before retirement, introduced me to a very insightful quote from James Johnson Sweeney:

"Creativity, in both science and art, is the ability to find new relationships between things that hadn't previously existed. It's the relationships, not the things, that are interesting." 

Lazy Vacation

The trick with going on vacation is that it's darned hard to sketch while socializing with family and friends! Despite a whole week in California, I only got a chance to pick up the sketchbook twice. * ¡Lo difícil de ir de vacaciones es que es muy difícil dibujar cuando estoy enfocada en socilizar con familia y amigos! Pasé una semana entera en California, y solo tuve la oportunidad de dibujar dos veces. 

The first chance was when we stopped at my parent's house. Their kitties are not offended when I skip the conversation in favor of the paints! * La primera vez fue cuando nos paramos en la casa de mis padres. ¡Los gatos no son ofendidos si agarro las acuarelas en vez de conversar!

Later, I took a few quiet moments to sketch while I watched my husband and his mom play a strategy game. * Después, encontré algunos momentos pacificos para dibujar mientras observaba un juego de estrategia entre mi esposo y su mamá.

But I don't mean to complain--I had a lovely time seeing folks, and it was very relaxing all around. Plus, my little 3-year-old niece got a chance to do some serious painting with my watercolors while we waited for dinner! It's a delight to see how much she seemed to learn with each stroke of the brush. Inspiring. * Pero no debo quejarme--era un gran placer visitar con todos, y me relajé mucho. Ademas, ¡mi nieta de 3 años tuvo la oportunidad de hacer un serie de pinturas con mis acuarelas mientras esperamos la cena en un restaurante! Me encanta ver cuánto ella aprendió con cada paso del pincel--qué inspiración.

Fossil Bed Flowers

I spent the weekend exploring the John Day Fossil Beds area of eastern Oregon with some friends. Our first day, I was obsessed with photographing the numerous wildflowers as we hiked around. But on the second day, I slowed down and let the surroundings soak in by sketching them in watercolor. * Pasé el fin de semana explorando el área del este de Oregon que se llama los John Day Fossil Beds. En nuestro primer día, use la cámara para documentar el gran numero de flores silvestres que vimos al andar por los senderos. Pero en el segundo día, reducí mi velocidad y me dejé observar el paisaje en más detalle por pintarlo con acuarelas. 

My notes in the margins are largely about the birds and other animals that we saw and heard. One thing that I love about camping is the freedom to spend a lot of time flopped in the dirt, listening to the meadowlarks and watching tiny bugs go about their business. * Los apuntes en los bordes de las páginas documentan las aves y otros animales que vimos y oimos en el viaje. Me encanta la libertad que hay, cuando vamos de camping, de pasar el día acostada en el suelo, escuchando los pájaros cantando y mirando los insectitos haciendo sus trabajos rutinas.

Mobile Cannery, Tall Lungwort

Spent last weekend in lovely Eugene, Oregon. We stopped by the Center for Appropriate Transport on Saturday to check out their 20th Anniversary Party; had a great time watching folks test-ride ingenious bikes.

Sunday was the Wildflower Festival out at Mount Pisgah Arboretum. As usual, there were so many old friends to catch up with that I didn't end up having a lot of time to sketch the amazing display of flowers; but I did jot down a few doodles of some especially pretty and interesting specimens. 

Had a great chat with a friend who is studying environmental education about how sketching is such a good way to slow down and be present in the moment, and to really spend time observing--even if the final drawing is not especially great, the act of having been there LOOKING is rewarding. She called this "finding a sit-spot," and I like that concept quite a bit!