Shooting Stars
Bleeding Hearts trembling in the breeze. Be still my little hearts.
This is a Bumble bee with purpose. Manzanita flowers are in it’s sights. It’s time to fuel up!
Erysimum capitatum, Western Wallflower
Yellow Wood Violet, Viola glabella
Taken near Shingletown, California.
Canyon Delphinium, Delphinium nudicaule
They are red and orange sparks along the roadside in the spring mountains.
Also known by the common names canyon larkspur, red larkspur, and orange larkspur.
Erythronium californicum the California fawn lily. It lives in moist woodland areas in the mountains of Northern California
Starting today, “Wild Wednesday!” It may be wildflowers, wildlife, or whatever wild thing that comes along. Today’s wild thing is a California Fawn Lily.
Here’s one I pulled from the archives of forgotten favorites.
I finally pulled the trigger. I’ve been thinking for some time about marketing prints of my art work, as many of you do. I checked out what was available and checked in with some of you, special thanks to Russel Ray, an excellent photographer in San Diego. After examining many of the sites available I went with Fine Art America. Their business model seems to be a good fit for me.
Click here to see the gallery!
I’ve been slowly posting pieces, about two a day. I can already see how difficult it is to stand out on the site, but you can’t sell it if you don’t put it out there. Clearly, promotion is the key. There is so much great art, I am curious to see how this works out. Any advice, comments or experiences are welcome.
A managed redwood forest.
Last week, I was in the redwood country of our coastal mountains. However, I wasn’t down in the parks with the gigantic and ancient trees. As you might imagine, I was in young, working redwood forests.
Wild Foxglove
It’s beautiful country and full of surprises. One of the surprises you’ll find in these forests are the old stumps of the ancient forest giants that were logged over a hundred years ago.
A giant redwood stump.
These old stumps tell a story of the past. The stump pictured above looks like it has two eyes. The “eye” on the left is a spring-board hole. Way back when, the timber fallers would cut a notch in the tree up above the butt swell. They then wedged a board into the notch. They stood on the board, called a spring-board, to cut the tree down. Two man teams with double bit axes and cross-cut saws fell these trees. The spring boards elevated the fallers up the tree where it wasn’t as thick, making it easier to cut. That’s why these stumps are so tall.
Many of these stumps are charred on the outside. The fires that caused this may have been intentional. It was a common practice of the time, to burn the logging site after the trees were felled. They did this to eliminate slash. After the big trees were cut the slash was so deep it was difficult for a man to get through it. The fire solved this problem and left burned stumps behind.
This redwood stump is fifteen feet across.
A spring board hole cut into the stump.
Looking west from the Coast Range toward Humboldt Bay and the Pacific.
I did a watercolor of a logger bucking a log with a cross-cut saw, which is showing in my post Misery Whip – The Final. Timber fallers on spring-board would be a good subject for an illustration. I might have to work on that. Happy Friday.
The Mendocino National Forest is one of our beautiful Northern California forests. It’s located in the coastal mountains and is worth a visit.
Elk relax near Lake Pillsbury.
Sugar Pine
THE FORESTER ARTIST 