Tuesday from the Huyck

The little stream outside my kitchen window is racing again after the hard rain all night. And it's still going. The view from my little cabin, The Bird House, is not really out of focus as I looked out at the Huyck Preserve's Lincoln Pond a few minutes ago. The blur is the steady downpour.

And it is fine with me, as I will go to my studio over in the research building soon to work for the day. There is much to inspire and motivate me there. The work of past Com.En.Art artists hangs everywhere in that building - bats, snakes, moths, insects, wildflowers, birds, habitats. All of it meticulously rendered and completely wonderful.

I have barely begun my serious work here, as I try to shake this bug I have that blurs my thoughts and lowers my energy. Sometimes that helps me to focus though. I have started drawings of some of the many aster species I find along the trails here. There are not many plants with open flowers now in early October, and I plan to relearn the asters every fall. This is an opportunity! Here is one little beauty that I quickly drew while sitting in the marshy north end of Lincoln Pond (as a Bald Eagle pair and a Common Raven cavorted overhead).

Last evening, my neighbor Heather (one of the six British Trust Conservation Volunteers staying in the adjacent cabin - more about this lively group later) came over for a drawing lesson. She really understood my teaching method (based on Betty Edwards' right-brained drawing concept) right away, and she left with the most lovely drawing of a lemon wedge. Perhaps she'll let me photograph it for you...  

Yesterday I needed groceries and so did 3 of the BTCV folks and Sarah, the other current artist-in-residence, so we all piled into my car and went to Greenville. On the way, we stopped to buy fresh produce at a farm stand. It was something new to the 2 Brits and 1 Australian, especially the Honor Box into which we crammed our small bills to pay for our gorgeous veggies.