Goodbye Dogwood Berries--Vickie Henderson

The Dogwood limbs are bare now, picked clean by all the berry-loving birds that feast on them-- aided by a squirrel or two. When the Dogwood limbs are bare and the winds turn cold, it's time to put feeders out in Tennessee. (Click image to enlarge...:)Even so, there are still plenty of berries around. Among them, the American Beautyberry. If you've never seen this shrub in the fall, click the link and take a look at this lucious combination of reddish-orange and lilac purple. Only nature could stage such a show of brilliance!

Watercolor on 140# hotpress paper.

a rose on Thanksgiving day

Several times, I have decided to dig this plant up. Although I successfully grew many David Austin English Roses at our old home, this plant has never done well in our present location. Instead of 4 - 5 feet tall, it is only 2 - 3 feet. Instead of covered with roses, we have a bloom maybe once or twice a month.

But how often do roses bloom at the end of November in Kansas? Maybe I'll give it one more chance after all.

This is an exercise for Cathy "Kate" Johnson's current on-line class, Keeping an Artist's Journal.

Finger grass - Maree Clarkson

Nothing belongs to you
of what there is,
of what you take,
you must share.
- Chief Dan George


Common finger grass - Digitaria Eriantha - done in an old soft-cover book

I took and old soft-cover book with me to record little sketches of grasses, weeds and indigenous flowers on our property. I found this finger grass, which is a palatable grass that is regarded as one of the best natural and cultivated pastures (the best known cultivar is Smuts finger grass) in southern Africa. It remains palatable until late in the winter and is often utilised as standing hay.

Chisellers and other marvels

I recently completed a vertebrate zoology lesson on rodents, lagomorphs, and insectivores, only this time I had no live models to sketch from. It was fun nevertheless. And, I learned a lot.
This on the right is a shrew. In 1607, the English naturalist Edward Topsell described this little creature thus: "It is a ravening beast, feigning itself gentle and tame, but being touched it biteth deep, and poisoneth deadly. It beareth a cruel mind, desiring to hurt anything, neither is there any creature it loveth". Hence, the words "shrews", "shrewish", and "shrew", which in the English language describe cunning, ill-tempered, or villanous people. He was wrong, shrews are fascinating. If my photographic references have helped me being faithful to nature, the shrew I portraid is the smallest extant terrestrial mammal, a pigmy white-toothed shrew, weighing only 2 grams (0.07 oz)!

Mice belong to one of the most succesful Orders, the rodents. 42 percent of all mammal species are rodents, and they can occur in almost any habitat, generally in close association to people. Rodents, as their name implies, are expert at gnawing. They have self-sharpening incisors. Their incisors have enamel only on the front and lateral surfaces, so that grinding worns away the softer dentine in the back, transforming the enamel layer in a cutting edge. The incisors of rodents have open roots and grow throughout life, to compensate for wear. I first sketched this field mouse with a biro and then added texture with wax colored pencils.

Hares belong to the Order Lagomorphs, together with rabbits and pikas. The snow-shoe hare moults its fur twice a year and dons a white coat in the winter, for camouflage. Hares are expert runners, and their strategy in avoiding predators is exactly that, outrunning them. Some of the longer legged hares can reach a speed of 72 km/h (45 mph), while shorter-limbed rabbits hide in dense cover or in underground burrows.

Have a nice day everyone!

Barbara Bacci, Rome

Park Sketching - Carolyn Pappas

Last Sunday I went to the park in my city and sketched these trees while sitting in my car and sipping on (too sweet) coffee. It was a relaxing time and it was quite warm in my car so I didn't notice that it is November. There were a lot of old ladies walking dogs, but otherwise it was very quiet. I tried to keep my color selection down to a minimum so I didn't become overwhelmed with multiple colored pencils, but I actually like the limited palette now that I look at it. It seems very mellow to me, which was how I was feeling at the time.

The trees are all bare now. I was meaning to get out and draw the foliage, but unfortunately I had a bad fall a few weeks ago which kept me from drawing. I did collect some leaves however, and they are now on my side table waiting to be drawn.