Author Archives: admin

Keeping a Cape Cod nature journal

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I love this time of year for sketching and painting. It can be a little chilly to be outside and exposed to the elements but I have found that if I bring my smaller sketchbook I can work pretty comfortably in the car.

I travel light and just bring a few things with me. I have a tiny little set of watercolor paints that comes in a tiny plastic box. The whole box fits in my hand. I bring a pen that has a very fine point and permanent black ink that won’t run when I put a watercolor wash over it. My favorite new toy, however, is the waterbrush. It has the water right in the handle! I have never bought one of these but I recently joined a sketchbook group online and everyone was raving about using these brushes so I bought one. Now I wonder how many years of sketching I have lost by not having one of these. There’s no need to carry water. I still need to carry my trusty cloth or paper towel to test colors and clean the brush but it has lightened up my load a lot.

013Sitting in the car and drawing or painting is not always comfortable but on cold and blustery days it is a LOT more comfortable than working outside in the elements.

I have been using a small Moleskine Watercolor Sketchbook which I can open up and either use flat for a panoramic view or I can use the two pages as two entries.

019I am also keeping a bird journal in a separate sketchbook filled with fine drawing and watercolor paper. It is handmade and I bought it as a special holiday gift for myself.

018I like these sorts of sketching times because I can add notes, sightings, etc. or anything else I want to add. Bad poetry has been known to happen….

011 012Some days this past week have been pretty warm and today I actually sat outside to paint some of the many crocuses that are finally blooming in my yard.

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For me, looking back in these journals will bring me back to these hopeful spring days out on the beach and in the garden in a way that a photograph never can.

 

 

 

Spring has sprung!

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It is finally warm around here! It’s still pretty windy and I’m not ready to give up my gloves quite yet but I have traded my winter jacket in for a heavy fleece jacket. That’s some progress, right?

012The sun play peek-a-boo with me today but it was still beautiful in the soft light.

017I am still working on this series of little watercolors and here is today’s piece. My mother always said once you had sand in your shoes you’d never leave the beach….

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The calm before the storm

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There’s a blizzard heading our way in about 12 hours but right now it is sunny and lovely out. The wind has picked up a bit since this morning when it was quite calm and still but it sure feels and smells more like spring than it does snow.

I went for a lovely beach walk this morning. You’d never know a storm was coming.

016The osprey that calls this pole and nest home has returned. In another week or so its mate, or prospective mate, should arrive.

007They have moved this nest pole several times but it is still very exposed to winds coming off Nantucket Sound and no nest here has had young survive past the first few weeks but the adults keep trying.

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This beach has a lot of grassy dune area and over the winter snow buntings thrive here. This morning I hoped to catch sight of the snowy owl that travels back and forth between here and Great Island in West Yarmouth but no luck. I did see two northern harriers, though, both a male and a female. I see harriers here frequently and this pair looked like it was courting but this would not be a successful place to nest. At least I don’t think it would.

I found this sweet skeleton of a whelk shell…

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and the sad skeleton of a great blue heron…

017Every walk is different. Every walk leaves me with different thoughts and emotions even though I often walk in exactly the same place I have walked for over 50 years. That is part of the wonder of nature. It is always full of surprises. Always full of life and death and drama.

I leave you with this before the storm blows in…

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Early spring beach walks and whale watching

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There’s possibly a big snowstorm heading our way this week but for now I’m sticking with thoughts of spring. There have been some really wonderful days for beach walking and I’ve been taking advantage of them. Hearing that right whales were being seen from the beach at Herring Cove gave me a good excuse to play hooky for a day last week to go see what I could see.

I called a friend and off we drove, stopping at Fort Hill, of course.

002and then at Marconi Beach in Wellfleet

015and finally we made it to Herring Cove where there were lots of people with binoculars and spotting scopes hoping to catch a glimpse of these marine mammal rock stars.

We were not disappointed! We watched a few small groups of right whales surface feeding, spouting and diving, showing us some good fluke views before they headed back down under the waves. My camera can show you the people but not the whales. You need a bigger lens than what I have to do that!

004 For fun I’ve begun a daily series of quick watercolors with little beach inspired sayings on them. I sell these in my online shop and will be offering prints here later in the season but in the meantime I’ll be posting them daily or close to daily on the blog. I hope you enjoy them.build your castles in the sand by mary richmond

 

 

What winter leaves behind….

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Tomorrow will be the first day of spring! I think we are all more than ready though it looks like the cold will be with us for another week or so. I’m concentrating on the light and the daily arrival of migrant birds to help keep me in spring mode.

One of the things that happens at this time of year is one big spring cleaning out in nature. You even see this at the beach.

Whelk egg cases and skate egg cases have been tossed up all over the beaches. The long segmented tan or gold colored strand is one kind of whelk egg case. Sometimes you can open one of the little compartments and still find tiny whelk shells but mostly the cases are empty.

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There are lots of old raggedy feathers left behind. Looking at this one you have to wonder how that gull was even flying.

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And the shells of all sorts of mollusks like this whelk wash ashore, creating sweet vignettes against the still cold sand…030

And other times all the shells are gathered up together in big piles….008I always like to think of these days as the days nature does her spring cleaning….now, if only I could be motivated to do the same!

Getting off the Cape

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I love the Cape. I grew up here, raised my kids here and of course, live here still. And as much as I love the Cape sometimes I just have to go over the bridge into the city. Yep. That’s right. Country girl has to have a bit of city now and then. After college I lived in Manhattan for a few years and loved it. I found I spent most of my spare time in the parks, though, so when I came back to the Cape I decided to stay here and visit the city.

I love lots of cities. I love Boston, New York, Chicago and San Francisco. I love London, Paris and Amsterdam, too. In fact I have yet to meet a city I haven’t been able to love. What do I love? The energy, the diversity, the hubbub and the youth. There’s something going on every minute and sometimes I need to get myself some of that. I spend a lot of time working by myself and a lot of time out in nature. Sometimes I need the lights and noises and even the smells of the city.

So, we went to Boston.

2014 Boston etc 064I love that you can see things like these light sculptures just walking along the street.

2014 Boston etc 053Or just wander into the oldest cemetary in Boston….and find the grave of Paul Revere and John Hancock among others…

2014 Boston etc 066I love the lights against the buildings and the sunsets….

2014 Boston etc 082and the bright light of a sunny early spring day.

2014 Boston etc 062I love happening upon wonderful independent bookstores…

2014 Boston etc 081and happening into a historic church to find a choir of wonderfully talented young people singing…

2014 Boston etc 086I love seeing the old and the new residing in harmony….

2014 Boston etc 127I love the charm and elegance of the beautiful old buildings

2014 Boston etc 162and the silly exuberance of youth on a pre St. Patrick’s Day pub crawl.

2014 Boston etc 113I love the old sculptural elements on the buildings

2014 Boston etc 106and the less than elegant reminders….

2014 Boston etc 136There’s all that ironwork to enjoy….

2014 Boston etc 167and of course that eternal reminder of the ride of Paul Revere.

Yep, it was a great weekend in Boston. Weather was perfect. We had a great time and now it’s good to be back.

Do you have a favorite city?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finding inspiration in nature

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As much as I love to be outdoors much of my work each week keeps me indoors at a computer or studio table, especially in winter. Even on the coldest and wildest of winter days, however, I like to get out of the house and often take my sketchbook or notebook with me. Some days I jot down a few thoughts, some days I sketch a bit and lots of days I just get lost in thought while watching the waves and the gulls and I don’t do either.

020Some days I contemplate the winter lives of gulls. It has to be tough being a gull on the winter beach. It’s cold, windy and often just nasty and uncomfortable. In order to keep their insulating feathers in place they must face right into the wind and no matter how hunkered down in the sand or behind rocks they are, that has to still be really cold and yucky. And how about those naked scaly legs? I have read a lot about how birds keep warm, especially their legs and feet but still, looks pretty cold to me.

Gulls are not what we may call “nice” birds. They scavenge, they argue, they steal and they murder. I have seen gulls kill the young of other gulls and I’ve seen them drown diving ducks. In spite of all that, I respect their ability to survive and thrive. Gulls are tough, really tough.

001Over the years I’ve drawn a lot of gulls, probably more than I’ve drawn any other single kind of bird. Gulls have many postures but they also have a rich language. I can watch and listen to them for long periods of time.

I often find inspiration in nature. Usually I look for the beautiful and sublime to raise my spirits but some days, I only need to watch the gulls for a bit. They remind me that we can be strong and persevere through whatever gets tossed our way and some days that is exactly the message I need to hear.

How about you? What in nature inspires you the most?