This gallery contains 13 photos.
This pen and ink of a dusky grouse was inspired from a trip to the high country last summer. I always knew this bird as the blue grouse, but in recent years the name was changed to dusky grouse. Dusky … Continue reading
American Black Bear, (Ursus americanus), the biggest predator in our woods.
When working in the woods I’m usually alone, but really never alone. Do you ever get the feeling that someone or something is watching you? I had this big brute spying on me one day. He didn’t think I noticed him.
My neck is tingling! Is someone there?
The watcher was a big black bear boar.
Now, to answer the age-old rhetorical question.
You know the question. Yes indeed, they do poop in the woods. Just sayin’.
Hey, where’s my fierce guard dog?
Blitz decided she would wait it out in the truck. She knew the bear would leave after filling up on a yummy forester meal.
When I say “lost art”, I don’t mean a lost skill. I really mean lost artwork.
Pen and ink of the Battery Point Lighthouse at Crescent City, CA around 1981. Preserved in a photo.
Have you ever lost track of your artworks. After decades of doing art, there were some pieces I had entirely forgotten about. Mary used to take pictures of my art. It is the only record I have of some of my work. After all these years I don’t remember where or to whom some of it went. I never kept track of things in a serious manner, since art was never my first career. Between selling art, giving pieces away, moving again and again, and years of living life, things fade in memory. Then, out of the blue I come across a photograph of some lost and forgotten art. It’s a bit of bliss to me. All because Mary, of Sneaking Bliss purveyor of bliss, had to forethought to record my art.
This gallery contains 5 photos.
When steam came to the woods just after the turn of the previous century the logging locomotives were the cutting edge of technology. They could move logs farther, faster and in much greater quantity than had been done with horse and … Continue reading
Gopher Snake
We just returned from a visit to family in Arkansas and Louisiana. I took my sketch book with me as I usually do. I don’t get as much art time as I like so I grab it when I can. I had the brilliant idea that I could draw on the plane. I worked on one pen and ink, that has been a WIP, on the way there. The ride was pretty smooth and I will post that picture in the future.
The return trip was a little different. We had a four-hour leg from Houston to Sacramento. I decided to challenge myself to complete this snake picture during the flight. After subtracting the takeoff and landing and a couple visits from the drink cart, no adult beverages were involved, I really had less than three hours. I had no help from the pilots, whom I am sure sought out as much extra turbulence as they could. The line work is a bit spastic, but I hope it communicates snake. Despite the turbulence and sitting in the middle of a three seat row in economy between Mary, small, and some 7’5″ guy on my right, yes I’m right-handed, I managed to finish it. It is a good thing for me that snakes don’t have any straight lines!
My model!
I photographed this little gopher snake late this Summer. It was my “Snake On The Plane.” Mary thought I should have titled this post “Snake, Rattle and Roll!” Great title, if it had been a rattlesnake I would have used it.
This gallery contains 5 photos.
Without a doubt squirrels are the most visible mammals in the forest. Now is their most active time. With acorns dropping from the oaks like big hailstones, the squirrels are in high gear. When I stopped to get a picture … Continue reading
The Gray Fox
When I was a young child my mother had the record album Jimmie Rodgers Sings Folk Songs. I loved this record. One of the songs on it was The Fox And The Goose.
I came upon this little gray fox not long ago, and this song played in my head all day. I think the fox was a vixen, because she posed like a Parisian runway model.
The Fox And The Goose
by Jimmie Rodgers
Well, the fox went out upon a windy night,
Prayed to the moon, a gonna give him light,
He had many long miles to go that night,
Before he’d reach-a that town-o, town-o, town-o,
He had many long miles to go that night,
Before he’d reach-a that town-o.
Well the fox, he came to a great big pen,
Where the ducks and the geese, they were kept therein,
He said, “One of you’s a-gonna grease my chin,
Before I leave this town-o, town-o, town-o,
One, one of you’s a-gonna grease my chin,
Before I leave-a this town-o.”
Well, he grabbed the grey goose by the neck,
Throwed a duck up across his back,
And he did not mind their quack, quack, quack,
And their legs all a-dangling down-o, down-o, down-o,
No, he did not mind their quack, quack, quack,
And their legs all a-dangling down-o.
Well old Mother Flipper-Flopper jumped out of bed,
Threw back the shutter and stuck out her head,
And yelled, “John, John, John! Well, the grey goose is gone,
And the fox runs away from the town-o, town-o, town-o!”
“John, John, John! The grey goose, he’s gone,
And the fox runs away from the town-o!”
Well old John went up to the top of the hill,
He blew his horn both loud and shrill,
And the fox said, “I better hurry up with my kill,
They’re gonna soon be on my trail-o, trail-o, trail-o!”
Yes the fox said, “I better hurry up with my kill,
They’re gonna soon be on my trail-o!”
Well the fox, he came to his cozy den,
There sat the little ones, eight, nine, ten,
Said, “Pop, Pop, Pop, you better go back again,
‘Cause it must be a mighty fine town-o, town-o, town-o!”
“Pop, Pop, Pop, you better go back again,
‘Cause it must be a mighty fine town-o!
Well the fox and his wife, without any strife,
Cut up the goose with a fork and a knife,
And they never never had such a feast in their life,
And the little ones chewed on a bone-o, bone-o, bone-o,
No, they never never had such a feast in their life,
And the little ones chewed on a bone-o.
The End
Teka with the wind in her face.
We have been on the road a lot lately, but it is now time to check in with you all. One weekend not long ago we took the Blitz and Teka to a hunt test in Smith River, California. Go a bit North of Smith River and you’re in Oregon. Here are a few pictures from our travels and a bit of pen and ink.
The cormorants moved like poetry in the surf.
Sailer yard art, you have to love it.
We stayed at a RV park with this ship in the front yard. I thought lumberjacks had big yard art, but I have to admit the sailors win the “BIG” prize.
A pair of cormorants in the surf were my inspiration.
Blitz and Teka on the beach near Brookings, Oregon.
Sitka Spruce cones.
Blitz chills after an exhausting day of events. “Don’t get up Blitz, but I need to get into the refrigerator!”
Mary and Blitz take a stroll on the beach.
Sunset where the Smith River meets the sea.
On the road home and Blitz dreams of ducks.
Osprey
Osprey portrait in pen and ink.
The osprey family has been quite busy lately. The young birds have been practicing for their first flight.
The young osprey in training.
The parents had been flying around the tower trying to entice the fledglings to take wing.
This is how it’s done kids.
Then the heat came. We had seven straight days over 108 and it peaked at 116. It was way too hot in the nest tower!
Trying to assume a cool position in the tower.
This was the incentive to motivate the young osprey to fly. After the first day of extreme heat, they fled the tower.
The osprey nest was finally empty.
Down along the river in the shady oak trees is where they took refuge.
This is much better than roasting in that steel tower.
When the heat settled down, back to the tower they went. After, being in the tree I thought they might not return to the tower. As it turns out they weren’t entirely ready to give up the nest.
The nest tower is still home.
They still want to roost there at night, and they know this is where they get fed. They are like teenagers that still depend on mom and dad.
When it’s time to eat, they tell their parents in no uncertain terms.
The parents seem to debate each other whose turn it is to take care of the noisy offspring. They rarely go into the nest anymore unless they are dropping off a fresh fish meal.
I fed them last time!
The Fledgling.
The osprey chicks don’t look much like chicks anymore. They are nearly fledglings.
Feeding the babies.
Parent brings a fish. They have grown fast and eat the fish on their own.
Careful where you stand while taking pictures.
Projectile poop keeps the nest clean.
Sorry, didn’t see you there, hehehe.
Wing exercise is important preparation for that first flight.
The osprey parents are constantly flying in and out with fish.
We hit a hot spell a little while back, 109 F one day and 111 F the next. Osprey will fluff up their feathers and pant like a dog in the heat. When it gets that hot one of the osprey parents will stay in the nest and shade the chicks.
It’s been hot here!
It’s really hot on the tower.
This hot neighboring osprey shades it’s babies.
THE FORESTER ARTIST 