After years of on-line and email chats, I was delighted when my friend Robin Atkins decided it was finally time we met in person! Bravo!
Robin and her travel buddy Lunnette, drove over 1,800 miles to Tucson to teach a Spirit Doll class to a local beading group. Then after spending 5+ days exploring Tucson and before driving home to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island, WA, they took a “short” scenic 450 mile detour …… to Tijeras, NM. This out-of-the way drive would bring them to our doorstep, and our first face-to-face meeting! While in Tijeras, we were able to spend an evening and full day getting to know each other and spent time hiking, nature sketching, and sharing each other’s art.
Robin snapped this photo of me sketching out at Golden Open Space. The beautiful wind sculpted juniper trees growing along the precipices of the windy observation areas are absolutely captivating (and tough). Luna thinks they’re tasty!
Meet Robin
Robin, whom I’ve always thought of as an “extreme creative,” is a fascinating, energetic, curious, passionate and bright-eyed adventurer in her early 80s. Her many interests and skills, in addition to creating uniquely designed, hand sewn and beaded Spirit Dolls, include: quilting (many with bead embellishments), thread embroidery, book making, watercolor painting, Zentangle art, nature journaling, making decorative papers, poetry, weaving, collage, crochet, felting and book author. And she shares her skills and techniques by teaching.
This isn’t an exhaustive list by any means! As someone who seems to thrive on learning and developing new skills, Robin never stops seeking artistic challenges to take on.
Check out Robin’s beautiful webpage and blog (http://robinatkins.com) where you can find photos and posts highlighting her current and past creative projects.
A Short-but-Sweet Visit
We had a wonderful time getting to know each other, and what a delight to have also met Robin’s long-time friend and travel buddy, Lunnette. A retired firefighter in her mid 70s, Lunnette is also a nature journaler, calligrapher, quilter, and according to Robin, “she’s a terrific navigator, who always uses her keen sense of direction and map reading skills to keep us on the “right road,” (in both the literal and figurative sense).”
This is my finished graphite drawing of the twisted juniper I spent 5 minutes sketching.
Parting company was hard, but Robin and Lunnette needed to return home. Along their route they visited both Mesa Verde National Park and Arches National Park, soaking in more of the desert southwest sun and culture before taking on the 1,200 mile journey for Friday Harbor.
My notes taken and sketches/watercolor paintings created during the workshop
April 6, 2024
Each Spring, Winslow Art Center of Seattle organizes and hosts their Spring Fling! For four days, back-to-back live Zoom workshops are offered, featuring artists skilled in a wide range of media. Each workshop is free, a full hour long, and may include talks, demos, or a work-along. And all of the workshops are recorded for unlimited playback in case you miss one or all of the live sessions or want to watch one or more over and over again!
Each workshop is fascinating; there’s always something new to learn from all of the professional artists. But one work-along session presented by artist, educator and naturalist, Jean Mackay, I look forward to with exuberant excitement! Jean has been actively observing, illustrating and sharing, through her blog, stunning watercolor paintings of her daily encounters with nature for the past 20 years. Jean’s knowledge of wildlife and the many wonders found in nature are reflected in her illustrations. But there’s more! She always provides helpful tips and techniques pertinent to the development of her pages. For Spring Fling! 2024, Jean’s workshop was all about creating realistic looking bird eggs. I’m not sure how she managed to cover so much material in a very short hour, but she did. Beginning with a bit of bird egg natural history (just enough to whet the appetite for more), Jean jumped right in by describing 3 basic techniques for sketching egg shapes. Defining edges, shadowing, coloring and marking eggs came next, and before I knew it, time was up!
Somehow during the excellent, well organized presentation, I felt compelled to try a sketch of my favorite nature journaler, Jean Mackay. Perhaps not as good as my eggs turned out, but a pretty recognizable likeness, even if I do say so myself!
Thank you so much Jean! Every minute was a joy!
You too can follow Jean’s artistic journey! Check out her webpage and subscribe to her blog at: http://www.jeanmackayart.com
And if you’d like to give egg painting a try, for free, the Winslow Art Center’s webpage at: http://www.winslowartcenter.com
National Crayon Day is a day dedicated to celebrating the beloved colorful drawing tool. Observed annually on March 31st, it encourages people of all ages to embrace their creativity and express themselves through art using crayons.
So much history ….. So much enjoyment!
But where to begin? Because I’ve posted about crayons in the past and didn’t wish to repeat myself (too much) … I dug deeper this time and learned something new … there’s a “place” called The Crayola® Hall of Fame!
Since 1904, when cousins Edwin Binney and C. Harold Smith sold their first box of 8 “Gold Medal” Crayola® crayons, colors have come and gone. There’s been an assortment of reasons for changing out colors such as unpopularity, social, racial or politically incorrect names, or discovery of a new pigment. The fate of colors also varies:
they may be renamed to better represent current trends or social acceptability (e.g. the color Chestnut replaced Indian Red and Peach is now the new name for Flesh),
they may be temporarily discontinued to make way for a new promotion or contest (e.g. plain colors have made way for a naming contest for sparkly or neon colors),
they may be permanently retired (e.g. Dandelion lost out to Bluetiful, to introduce the latest pigment discovery of blue)
And once a color is discontinued or retired (even temporarily) gaps are left in the box where each color lived, whether that be the small box of 8 Crayola crayons, all the way up to the box of 120!
One of my many rainbow-colored rabbit trails led me down the path to The Crayola Hall of Fame. I had no idea! Apparently there is such a place, established in 1990, populated with crayon colors that have been retired as far back as 1910. Most of these colors are now permanent residents in Easton, PA, where The Crayola Hall of Fame is located. There they are (re)learning the joys of coloring outside the lines, golf cart decorating, and marathon rolling. But some of the retired colors, having a taste of the easy life, have decided to rejoin the active ranks of worker-writers, painters, and scribblers, as re-employed annuitants.
The Short but Brilliant Story of Dandelion
Doesn’t look like annuitant status will happen any time soon for the self-retired, extremely happy-cheerful and brilliantly radiant Dandelion yellow Crayola. From 1990 through 2017, a short 27-year blip on the Crayola history timeline, Dandelion was the color lighting up the boxes of 24+. But when he heard a gorgeous new blue hue had been discovered, Dandelion graciously checked into The Crayola Hall of Fame allowing the exciting new Bluetiful to take center stage! What a guy!
Being honored with permanent residency in The Crayola Hall of Fame also means the retired color has gone out of production permanently. How lucky to have found two brand new, never before used Dandelions in my stash of crayons! And a single Dandelion is worth as much as $20!
$20 is also the value of each of the four recently retired (2003) Crayola crayons: Magic Mint, Mulberry, Teal Blue, and Blizzard Blue. I also own these four colors! You can do the math, but instead of cashing in on any of the 5 colors in my possession, I’ve decided to keep them, then created this floral page using only these colors for my post, showing off their beauty in celebration of this year’s ………………………………..
Reading this poem not only gave me the “lift” I was seeking on a dreary winter day…….. it was clear I wanted to design an illustration to further heighten the “lift” in anticipation of Spring and the new season of imaginative creation that was fast approaching!
Thanks to Michele Lee for allowing me permission to reprint her wonderful poem, Paper Airplane Pilot (March 6, 2024). Michele is a talented and prolific writer of poetry and prose, and a published author who lives in the heart of the Sonoran Desert. I look forward to her almost daily posts featuring something new and inspired on her widely-followed blog.
If you enjoyed Paper Airplane Pilot, your sure to enjoy her regular posts by becoming a subscriber to her blog, myinspiredlife.org
There are a number of different woodpecker and closely related species (sapsuckers and flickers) that frequent our Piñon-Juniper woodlands in the East Mountains of central New Mexico. These include the downy, hairy, Lewis’s, red-naped, Northern flicker, and Williamson’s sapsucker. They are always such a joy to observe, unless they’re drilling a hole in the side of the house. Their stiff tails allow them to ‘walk’ up and down tree trunks and other vertical surfaces that house insects or exude sticky sap. Their sharp bills are ideal for creating nest holes and sapwells in tree trunks. Their sharp calls, drumming, and stiff-winged flight make them easy to recognize as a member of the woodpecker group of birds.
Until mid-March we’ve never seen a Williamson’s sapsucker. Then one morning Roy was trying to catch a glimpse of a strange woodpecker on one of our old growth piñon pines. Immediately recognizing the markings of this bird were unlike any we’ve seen before, he excitedly fetched me from my studio to have a look.
Sure enough! Realizing this was likely a life list sighting for us both, the markings looked just like those illustrated in our numerous field guides. Indubitably, dear Watson! This was a Williamson’s Sapsucker (Sphyrapicusthyroideus) and he was treating us to a visit. We watched him (definitely a male, as females look completely different than the males, which is unusual for woodpecker species) working his way up and down the tree trunk. As he walked and hopped up and down the tree, he would circle the trunk and pause to lick up actively flowing tree sap from rows and rows of sapwells! Why had we never noticed so many sapwells on this tree before? Did this or other Williamson’s sapsuckers drill these shallow sapwells? Maybe another woodpecker species created them and the Williamson’s was stealing the nutritious sap? Are these new sapwells or have woodpeckers been drilling this tree for many years? Countless questions, but this handsome fellow wasn’t giving up his secrets. So we enjoyed his antics for about 30 minutes until he flew off, maybe to another piñon to lap its sap?
The next day, as we were about to pull into the garage, we spotted the Williamson’s again …… again working the sapwells up and down the piñon tree. We sat in the car and watched him while mulling over new questions, like “isn’t this the same time he was here yesterday?” “Why yes!” We closely observed his feeding pattern, beginning at about 5 feet above the ground, walking and hopping up the tree while circling the trunk, and when he reached the needled branches about 25 feet high, he would make a diving flight back down to the 5 foot height and again work his way up. This went on repeatedly for about 5 times before he flew away. Hmmmm! Why did he stop when he did? Had he licked up all the available sap for the day, and had to wait until the sap began flowing again? (I showed up later to see if he returned ….. he didn’t. Maybe my timing was off? Maybe the sap flow still wasn’t worth his trip?).Day 3, and same time/same place. This hungry bird was back lapping sap! Same up and down behaviors; same departure time.
Day 3, and same time/same place. This hungry bird was back lapping sap! Same up and down behaviors; same departure time.
Day 4, ditto
Day 5, ditto
Day 6 ……. We arrived at the same mid-morning time, and waited. And waited. And waited. The Williamson’s sapsucker was a no show. And we haven’t seen him since.
Was he only migrating through, just long enough to stock up on high energy meals? Apparently this species is widespread and fairly common throughout the Rocky Mountain West, but their breeding range begins just north of us and extends into Canada. However, we are well within the Williamson’s sapsucker’s winter range. Hope he returns again next year!
Meanwhile we’ll be watching that old growth piñon to see if the sapwells draw in other hungry birds!
Now, a few fun facts about the Williamson’s sapsucker and sapsuckers in general.
While the male Williamson’s sapsucker is silky black with a cherry-red throat, a brilliant lemon-yellow belly and bright white wing patches, the female looks totally different. This is very unusual for birds in the woodpecker group. The female has a mousy brown head, banded back and small patches of black and yellow on the belly.
The difference is so striking between the male and female, they were originally thought to be different species entirely. It wasn’t until 1873 that ornithologists realized they were the same species. Naturalist Henry Henshaw located a pair at their nest in Colorado and published his observations, thus putting an end to the confusion.
Sapsuckers get their name from their habit of drilling rows of shallow holes in tree bark. The birds come back to these holes to lick the sap that flows from these holes and to eat insects that have become caught in the sticky residue.
Early ornithologists in the West reported seeing Williamson’s Sapsuckers at sapwells in aspen trees; however, in the past 100 years, observers have seen their sapwells only in conifers, never in deciduous trees. The early reports might have been of Williamson’s stealing sap from wells made by Red-naped Sapsuckers.
Here’s a few progress shots I remembered to capture while creating the Williamson’s clinging to the tree
Earliest coloring stages …. Laying down base colors to build up to the Williamson’s silky black back
Adding more base colors, sapwell and tree bark furrowing details
Close to final image. The black was achieved by using purples, browns, blues and greens to achieve the iridescence of his black coloring.
It’s been a few days now, and the scene continues to replay over and over in my mind’s eye. Somehow my sketch of these two birds …. one the victor, the other the victim ….. came easily and quickly, much like the time it took for the event to unfold.
Returning to our house after photographing snow scenes created by an overnight winter storm, I paused at the door, turning to admire the beautiful white landscape. Faster than an eye blink and just as quiet, a sharp-shinned hawk soared by at top speed, obviously intent on capturing one of our feeder birds!
I’ve seen this small hawk fly by a few times over the past several weeks, but the smaller juncos, finches and titmice always managed to duck for cover in the nick of time, foiling the “sharpy’s” chances of a meal. But the hawk, perhaps better skilled in his timing and approach after some practice runs, wasn’t about to miss on this day.
The spotted towhee must’ve been so focused on scratching for buried seeds that all obvious warning calls eluded him. Out in the open eating seed under one of our feeders, the towhee must’ve been too hard to resist for the sharp-shinned hawk, and fell victim to the expert predator.
Having camera already in hand, I was able to take a half dozen photos after the sharpy snatched the towhee with his long piercing talons, pinning him securely to our brick patio. As sad as it was to watch the towhee struggle against the hawk’s sure grip, it was all over for the towhee in 30-45 seconds. Then as fast as the sharp-shinned hawk had attacked, he regripped the lifeless towhee, lifting him effortlessly and flew away into the trees.
The circle of life.
“You can’t imagine anything like nature as we know it without predators.”
-Dale Jamieson
“Every living creature, big or small, plays such an important role in our ecosystem.”
-Mufasa’s memorable speech to Simba (from The Lion King)
Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss! Born in Springfield, MA in 1904, if this brilliant author, poet, and illustrator of more than 66 memorable children’s books was alive today, he would be 120 years old! That’s a lot of candles …….. and imagine the variety of fanciful characters he would still be gifting all of us “kids!”
Dr. Seuss Day is an annual celebration held on March 2nd to honor the birthday of Dr. Seuss, a famous children’s author. The day is marked by reading Dr. Seuss books and participating in educational activities.
March 2, 1904 – September 24, 1991
Seriously, is there anyone out there who’s never heard of Dr. Seuss? Born Theodore Seuss Geisel, Dr. Seuss began his career as a cartoonist early in life. With an imagination beyond compare, he began writing children’s books in the 1930’s, publishing his first, And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street, (one of my first Seuss books) in 1937. Then war interrupted his career, and for a number of years he turned political cartoonist (note to self: haven’t seen those ….. must find!), returning to writing children’s books after the war.
I always have, and always will love the works of Dr. Seuss. Apparently Flambé is a fan too. And even though it’s not her birthday, I wanted to delight Kat with my best attempt at Seussian-style storytelling poetry, inspired by her favorite book (and food), One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.
Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!
Line work before color.
Like myself and Flambé, do you have an insatiable appetite for all things Dr. Seuss? If so, share your favorite character(s) or book(s)!
Every year, for the past several years, I’ve shared with my most excellent and talented friend and poet, Elaine, the official word prompts used by artists around the world participating in Inktober. Then inspired by these prompts, Elaine creates original poetry, many of which she shares with me.
“Toad” is one of those poems.
Inspired by her words, and my appreciation of this chubby amphibian, here’s how I thought “Toad” might be illustrated. Perhaps this combined effort would be a cute mini bedtime story Elaine could read to her grandson? I wonder!
Arrow shows where to lift next
A full page view, unfolded ….. The inside
A full page view, unfolded
A Toad is not a Frog is not a Toad
The tri-fold card style worked perfectly for the poem, allowing several of the toads to appear more than once. While illustrating the card, it was important to understand the visual characteristics separating a toad from a frog. This challenge led me down both a slippery slope leading to a marsh, and a hidden trail meandering through a nearby grassy meadow. Here’s what I discovered …..
Thanks for sharing the birthday joy!
Elaine received this Toad card in time to celebrate her Leap Year Birthday. I love that we share our creative projects with each other! There’s no finer warm and fuzzy feeling.
Happy “19th” Birthday to you, Elaine, on this year’s February 29th, Leap Year!
As the Fall season rapidly came and went, and the first snows blanketed the landscape, I focused my hiking time (and some of my drawing hours) on collecting local native seeds. Always careful that plenty of seeds remained available for overwintering birds, I still managed to harvest hundreds from about 25 plant species. All sorted and packaged in separate pill containers, my collection is now stored in the refrigerator at 40 degrees, until growing conditions are optimal for planting. This treatment method is referred to as stratification.**
Why collect native seeds? All throughout the Spring, Summer and Fall, a diverse assortment of pollinators visited our locally blooming wildflowers and shrubs. Along with these butterflies, moths, bees, wasps, beetles and flies, were the insects, spiders, and birds that prey on unwary pollinators. Such an amazing show; a kaleidoscope of colors and shapes! The air was a buzz with activity. My goal is to mimic the native banquet in hopes of attracting these pollinators and predators.
Also, seeds are absolutely fascinating. I like to think of them as gift-wrapped, living plants-to-be. Tucked neatly inside of the seed coat are food stores enough to feed the makings of a complex root system; flowers, leaves, stems, branches and even a trunk. Seeds can be tiny, some microscopic and some as large as a softball. Seeds come in a variety of shapes, colors, textures and decor both inside and out. Some seeds have “wings” to fly; some have silky or puffy “feathers” to float; some are like “lead,” heavy enough to intentionally sink under water.
So I pulled out my 10x hand lens to investigate, drawing most of the seed species in my collection. It was very cool to compare seeds of different species that are in the same family (like the composites of the Aster family and the penstemons of the Plantain family). Until creating this journal page, I’d never held the seeds of 3 different species of yucca in one hand at the same time. Observing the similarities and differences, I finally confirmed in my mind that the genus Herperaloe and Yucca are indeed in the Agave family. And then I found examples of seeds from completely different families that evolved similar dispersal mechanisms (convergent evolution). This phenomenon was visually obvious in the delicate feathery, silky, and poofy hairs or bristles attached to grass, aster, and milkweed seeds, facilitating seed dispersal by wind.
Finally, I felt the need to draw the seeds in case they happened to spill into one big jumble while being planted! Yes, I would be clumsy enough to create chaos out of order. Should that happen, I’ll be able to sort the mess by species by referring to my field guide page.
** Seed-producing plants pass along to their seeds the specific requirements(s) necessary to break dormancy and germinate. These genetic codes determine if optimal conditions exist for seeds to sprout and hopefully grow to maturity. But key to successful germination depends on seed ripeness (in most cases). Knowing the plant species from which a seed is produced; whether the plant is an annual, biennial or perennial; habitat, moisture needs and the type of “treatment” method(s) are all important bits of information tied to successful germination.
I’ll have to create a future post describing the variety of treatment methods (germination patterns) inherent in the seeds.
Are you a seed collector? If so, share your why’s and how’s!
Wow! Time is flying. Here we are already well into the beautiful month of October, and realized my journal pages from our late September road trip fell asleep in the back seat of the car! But I felt my record of this day trip was worth sharing, especially since Halloween is fast approaching, and ghost towns are all the rage!
New Mexico always surprises and delights, and our trip to explore the pseudo ghost town of Cuervo, became two destinations. While in route to Cuervo, we found a curious notation on the highway map referencing the historic village of Puerto de Luna. Only a short, 9.5 mile detour south of Santa Rosa, we decided to check it out.
Puerto de Luna, NM The village of Puerto de Luna, Gateway of the Moon, is still inhabited, mostly on the West side of the Pecos River. However there are many wrecked and ruined buildings east of the river; enough to merit the label “Pseudo Ghost Town.” After a scenic ride through country used primarily to grow wheat and for livestock grazing, travelers first encounter the well maintained Church of Nuestra Senora del Refugio. Built in 1882, the church is still in use today. Just SE of the church sits the remains of the original Guadalupe County Courthouse. Constructed in 1891 of sandstone brick and blocks, it was only used for a few years. . Before the county seat was moved to Santa Rosa in 1903, a second, much larger building was constructed on the west side of the Pecos, which today is being used as the senior center. Not much remains of the original courthouse; the roof and half of the walls are piles of rubble lying inside the structure. The photos below show the changes from then to now.
Guadalupe County Courthouse, Puerto de Luna, 1891
Remains of Guadalupe Co Courthouse, Puerto de Luna, 2023
Looking inside the remains of Guadalupe Co Courthouse, 2023
Our brief visit to Puerto de Luna was fun. We learned about some of the pre-village history, like the Spanish explorer Coronado was said to have passed this location in 1541, naming the site Puerto de Luna after seeing a spectacular moon rise. And then there’s the more recent account from 1880, involving Billy the Kid and his last dinner here before being escorted by Pat Garret to Las Vegas, NM to stand trial for murder. After a hour of poking about a few more abandoned buildings, we headed back north to Santa Rosa and east 17 miles to our next pseudo ghost town.
Cuervo, NM ….. don’t blink or you’ll miss it!
If you zoom along on I-40 at 75-80 mph, heading east or west, and happen to blink, you’ll surely miss what remains of the old trading post and railroad town of Cuervo. Spanish for “crow,” Cuervo was officially established in 1902 as a watering stop for the CRI&P railroad. When the trains stopped running in 1910, the population declined, and businesses closed. But things took a turn for the better, when in 1926, Route 66 came through town, and Cuervo boomed again. By the 1940s, the population grew to 300, and had 2 of everything ….. schools, gas stations, hotels, churches, doctors, etc. All was just peachy for Cuervo until the late 1960s when the highway department decided to build I-40 right through town, slicing it in two and causing its rapid demise. Although the post office officially closed in 2011, the 58 permanent residents calling Cuervo home still have and use the old zip code, where they get their mail is anyone’s guess. Oh, and if you exit the highway hoping to fill up your tank, think again. Even though there’s a gas station sign that looks like it’s inviting you to stop, there’s no gas, or snacks …. nothing. Just a bunch of dusty roads, crumbled and weathered buildings, and tumbleweeds blowing in the wind.
We spent a few hours poking about the old town grid, exploring a handful of abandoned properties. The old 1915 Catholic Church is padlocked, but opened on Sundays for service. The 1930s schoolhouse appears to be undergoing some renovation. And signs of more prosperous times exist when the old steam engines used to run into town to resupply. Actually there’s been very minimal vandalism considering how close Cuervo is to the interstate, but there’s one serious blemish that made headline news a few years back. The Baptist church was the site of some pretty scary satanic rituals; and it’s thought these practices conducted in the church by the perpetrator resulted in the disappearance and murder of a number of people. We chose not to investigate.
The 1930s Schoolhouse, Cuervo, NM
Early 1900s Schoolhouse and abandoned sedan, Cuervo, NM
Old wooden home and water storage bldg, Cuervo, NM
Boxcars, then and now …. which do you prefer? Cuervo, NM
And that concludes my post. Hope you enjoyed reading a bit about life as it was and is today in and around two interesting pseudo ghost towns located in central in New Mexico. I’d be very interested in knowing if you explore ghostly history where you live! Have an awesome day, and remember to be curious!
a curious nature 