Week 2

Exercise 3. Memory sketch

Date: Monday, 14 April 2014
Time of Day: 4-5pm
Temperature: ~65 F
Weather: sunny, few clouds, pleasant

My site this week seemed busier than last week, perhaps either because spring is progressing or because Monday saw nice weather conducive to various human and non-human activities.

Most notably, the largest change I saw was in the blossoming tree, whose flowers turned from pink to white. There are still a few pink buds that have not opened yet, but overall the effect is white. I am not exactly sure what type of cherry tree it is, but I’ll try to make more observations next time I go. This was also the plant I decided to draw, so descriptions of it will follow in my sketches.

Exercise 4) Contour sketch

I also noticed a lot more activity in the air—more birds and insects flying around. Near the blossoms, I saw a heavy, furry-looking bee with distinctive yellow on it, which I identified as a yellow-faced bumble bee. I noticed some smaller bees near the blossoms and grass too—they were probably honey bees. I saw a number of gnats too.

As for birds, I saw the mallards and the red-winged blackbird again (I wondered if it was the same one as last week, as it was on the same tree) and a small brown bird that hopped among the cherry tree branches I was sketching. I was surprised it came so close to me. I couldn’t get a good picture of it, and don’t quite remember its details, except that it was probably 4 inches tall, a little fat, and its head was a darker brown than its body. It also made a little chirping sound. I’ll try to spot it again next week, but it seems like it could be a house wren.

Exercise 5) Gesture sketch with various time limits

Since my site is near the trails, it was relatively busy in terms of human activity too—many joggers and bikers passed by, and a few of them stopped at the pond as well. One of them saw a turtle, but I wasn’t able to spot it. Next time though!

Blossoms grew together in branching clumps;

stamens had white anthers and yellow filaments

Exercise 6) Diagrammatic sketch

Finally, another species I noticed that I hadn’t seen last time were clumps of thick, flat blades of a grass-like plant sticking up from the pond. I wasn’t able to get too close to them though, since they were in the water and I wasn’t wearing water-proof shoes...picture of this species to come next week. I couldn’t find it in the Audubon guide under algae, but these clumps may be the start of broad-leaved cattails.

Exercise 7) Shading and line techniques (note: not as noticeable in electronic form as I accidentally scanned in my document as "black and white" rather than gray shading)

Exercise 8) Study and observations

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Plant 2

LEFT: This is a contour drawing of a plant that is part of a trailing blackberry bush. It can be identified through its leaves, which are toothed (spikey) and stems, which are thorny. The leaves on this one were green with a little bit of red-brown color and about 2 inches in length.

Plant 3

RIGHT: This is a diagrammatic sketch of the new species I noticed and described above, the possible broad-leaved cattails.

Plant 4

LEFT: This is a gesture sketch of a tree on my site. It has smooth bark and a thin trunk and branches. Currently there are no blossom, but there are small green buds on the branch tips. The branches are alternating. This might be a red alder?? but I'll have to check it next time for more details.

Plant 5

RIGHT: This is a contour sketch of a catkin. It was yellow, fluffy/hairy, and about 2.5 inches long. I am not sure where it came from, since I found it on the ground and didn't know where to look for its origin (tree) until class on Tuesday. I originally thought it was maybe a flower, but didn't see any around. It may have come from the red alder? tree above.