Acadia National Park: More Wonders all the Time

I can't believe I've already been here a week and a half, more than half my time. I could stay here for months and not see and experience all I'd like to, but I am making the most of every day I have in this rich place. 

Today the wind is blowing hard and it is raining. The rain started when I was in the middle of a plein air painting, sitting out on the rocks of Schoodic Point, painting the tremendous surf. I'm not sure yet how I'll finish that painting, but it's likely to have some interesting effects from getting rained on.

Earlier this morning I saw the otter family again. They cavorted their way around the edge of their pond, then saw me and waited a while, swimming back and forth and sticking their heads up to look at me, making occasional squeaky sounds. Finally they came up the bank and loped across the roads-- so funny looking! 

Shortly after I saw the otters, I saw a huge number of gulls along the shore, some on the water, some on the stony shore, and some in the air (all in the air when an eagle flew by). While I was looking at them, I saw a bird in the water that stood out as something different. Heavy, thick bill, very clear black and white pattern with a small whitish area in the black of the side of the head. About the size of a small duck, but with straighter neck and bill held out fairly straight in front. When it dived I saw a sharp black tail. Razorbill! Another new bird for my life list!

Below are some of my sketches and paintings from the past week. If you click on the image, you'll see a larger version.

Great Black-backed Gull field sketch (he posed for a long time)

Herring Gull field sketch (also posed patiently)

Raven's Nest- beautiful but scary place to paint

Rocks and Surf (artistic license with colors)

Rocks on Little Moose Island

Sunset from Cadillac Mountain

Rock and autumn blueberry bushes

Wilbur in Watercolor

Charlotte's Web has always been one of my favorite childhood books, and I've been wanting to play with soft color to build expression on a pig. We also have a family member who loves pigs, so I painted a small pig for her for Christmas and then painted this slightly larger version.

Meet Wilbur:

"Wilbur"

Watercolor

8" x 6"

Available for purchase

Joy!

I started this painting in Stephie Butler's watercolour portraits workshop here last August, but then got busy with life (a new grandchild) and didn't have a chance to finish it until yesterday. I also often take a while after a workshop to let the ideas and instruction settle in my mind as I practice the techniques on other subjects, before I go back to have another go at the initial subjects. This woman's smile and obvious joy captured my attention as soon as I saw her photo (by Steve Evans), so I was eager to paint her and attempt to share some of that joy in watercolor.

Delicate Arch

We visited Arches National Park a few years ago and hiked out to Delicate Arch in the late afternoon. Once there we sat quietly for a while, just absorbing the immensity of the place. I just painted this from a photo we took when there, all the while remembering the wonder of what that world is like.

Delicate Arch Watercolor Painting

7" x 10"

Available for purchase

Bearded Collie Puppy

I love herding breeds and recently have been training a delightful Bearded Collie puppy. This isn't the puppy I've been training, but she is the same color as this pup, which I've painted from a photo by Kim Russell.

Bearded Collie Watercolor

Watercolor

6" x 9"

Available for purchase

Minnewaska Hike

High flying flocks of geese heading south, honking their connection to one another; red, yellow, and orange trees overhanging tall rock slopes; Catskills clothed in shades of lavender, standing majestically to the north; the fragrance of fall making the air sweet to breathe.

Yesterday Stephen and I headed for Sam's Point Preserve right after church to spend a perfect fall Sunday afternoon hiking, but when we got there, we found that everyone else had had the same idea and the parking was full and they weren't allowing anyone else in. Figuring that nearby Minnewaska would also be overcrowded, Steve pulled out his geological survey map collection and did some searching. He found a small back way into Minnewaska through tiny Berme Road Park in Ellenville. We found our way to the park and headed up the Smiley Carriage Road-- not one of the well-maintained carriage roads we're accustomed to in Minnewaska, but not full of the Columbus Day weekend crowds either. 

We hiked up and up, along a very stony, sometimes rutted carriage road, slippery with leaves in some places, surrounded by beauty everywhere.

At one point we met a couple coming down, who told us there was a three-foot rattlesnake coiled in the path a few minutes farther along the trail. I grabbed my sketchbook from my backpack, thanked the couple, and headed up the trail, watching closely for the snake. Sadly, he had left by the time we got to wherever he had been, so my rattlesnake sketching will have to wait for another hike.

We made our way to Naparoch Point, a rocky overlook complete with the deep crevasses one expects in Minnewaska, opening to a view of the blue and lavender Catskills in the distance, the gold-tinged Shawangunks nearby, huge rocks with twisted pines and oaks in the foreground, and blueberry bushes in fall shades of red carpeting the ground.

Darkness and Dawn

Darkness and Dawn

I woke up and glanced out the bedroom window to see streaks of light breaking the darkness, crossing the night sky with hints of the new day. Racing to my studio, I painted this in the dark; if I had turned on a light, I would no longer have been able to see what was dim but dramatic in the early dawn light beyond my window. As I look at the sky on such mornings, I can't help wondering how often our lights, sounds, and other ways of adapting our world obscure from our view the often-silent beauty of that which is beyond our control and is far more majestic than anything we can create. 

This is one of the paintings on display at the East Fishkill Library until Friday this week.

Cardinals

Watercolor 5x7

Cardinals

From early spring through summer, I awaken to the song of a Cardinal, the first herald of the new day. In winter, the Cardinals around my home seem to prefer their cozy perches and they let other birds announce dawn, preferring to wait for the late-rising sun to fully appear. Just in the past week, though, the  Cardinals have started singing their cheerful morning song, which tells me that they believe spring is just around the corner. Much as I love winter, I will welcome the warmth, the sunshine, and the song of spring.

This Cardinal watercolor is currently on display at the East Fishkill Library in Hopewell Junction, NY. If interested in purchasing it, please contact me at naturepainter@hotmail.com.

Here are a few of my journal pages from recent days, sketched in between shoveling snow:

 

 

 

Wise Old Owl

Wise Old Owl

One morning before dawn my children and I went to a nearby county park to see if we could see a Barred Owl that reportedly was in the area. We waited quietly a half hour or so, before an owl suddenly swooped in on silent wings, then perched in a tree in plain sight. We observed and sketched him for over half an hour, before he left as silently as he had arrived.

Here is my journal page from that day in 2001, when I observed a Barred Owl with my children. We also found a dead weasel right near the owl's area, and we wondered whether the owl had killed the weasel.

 This watercolor is currently on display at the East Fishkill Library in Hopewell Junction, NY. If interested in purchasing it, please contact me at naturepainter@hotmail.com.

Pileated Woodpeckers

Watercolor 12x8

Pileated Pair

One day, feeling down, I walked outside hoping the fresh air would lift my spirits. One of these magnificent birds swooped low beside me and landed on a tree just feet from me—the first Pileated Woodpecker I had seen on our land! We now have a pair in our woods, and every time I see them, I am reminded of that gift.

Pileated Pair is currently on display at the East Fishkill Library in Hopewell Junction, NY. If you're interested in purchasing this painting, please contact me at naturepainter@hotmail.com. 


(This painting is based on reference photos by me and by Samantha Keith-- many thanks to Sam for permission to use her photos of the wildlife she sees around her home.)