From the Garden: Tommy-Toes and Liger Tilies

Yay! Yesterday we had rain! A Thunder Shower cloud seemed to drop its heavy load all at once. The digital rain gauge couldn't keep up with the deluge! But however much we got, we needed. The area is still 5 or 6 inches short of rainfall for the year at this time.

A few sketches for today. 

I think this is the third year for Liger Tilies in the yard. Love to draw them!

I grew them from bulbils that I got from a friend. Of course, there were no flowers the first year.

Lately, I find it hard to grow Tommy-Toes. One year there are long hot dry days, and I get weary from dragging hoses and lugging buckets of water. The next year it's so damp from too much rain and humidity that everything just goes straight to mold and mildew without fruiting. Either way, I don't think I've ever drawn tomatoes in a sketchbook! I'll have to take a look back in the sketchbooks to see if I have.

Froads and Togs

Lunch with a dinosaur:

Trout:

Sharks!! ?? !! ??

What's on my mind? July 20th, Belmar Beach, NJ. 

Now that I have your attention...

I've been thinking about the Cownose Rays that have been spotted along the Jersey Shore.

The Cownose Ray has a brown kite-shaped body. It can have a "wing-span" of up to 3 feet and weigh 50 lbs. It has a whip-like tail.

Cownose Rays swim in the column of water as opposed to those rays that are benthic and swim along the bottom. When their fins break the water surface as they "fly" through the water, it looks like sharks! They school in shallow water to feed. They like soft-shelled clams and such, but will eat harder bivalves if hungry.

"Don't swim out too far! There's Stingrays in the area!" says the life guard. Really. He said that. Oh, Please, please - rescue ME!

At the lake:

In the kiddie pool:

Under the ocean:

96 Degrees - Kiddie Pool - 'Nuff Said

Zig Writer and Watercolors in Strathmore 500 Series Mixed Media Journal.

Colored Pencil Practice: Bending Blades

Just practicing...

Prismacolor Colored Pencils in ProArt 60 lbs paper sketchbook.

More Practice:

Art and Oatmeal with Georgia Peaches: Day Lilies

Practicing Day Lilies during breakfast. 

Yes, I eat oatmeal in the summer - oatmeal with fresh summer peaches!

Prismacolor Verithin Colored Pencils in ProArt 60 lbs. paper sketchbook.

More Breakfast Blooms:

Jersey Shore Gull Attitude

Went to the Jersey Shore. Used a few Prisma Verithin Colored Pencils my ProArt Sketchbook for quick gestures to record the "Jersey Shore Gull Attitude."

This guy was one of my favorites. He could have been a British Commander peering over the dunes in North Africa, searching for a sign of Rommel's advancing troupes. 

And this one kept his head close to his body and fluffed out his feathers as if to say "This one's mine and so are all the potato chips that she throws." 

More Jersey Shore:

Tom dropped his glasses once, in the Atlantic Ocean, he searched and searched...

A day at the beach. We visited the lovely Belmar Beach at the Jersey Shore. I wanted to paint the horizon but only had my 60 lbs paper ProArt sketchbook with me. Went ahead and tried it anyway. As I was capturing waves with watercolors, I noticed that Tom appeared to be looking for something in the water. Stingray! No. A wave had knocked his glasses off. He searched and searched but never found them. I just had to add him to the picture.

More Jersey Shore:

Chinese Brush: Praying Mantis

In 1896, the Chinese Mantis escaped from a nurseryman in Mount Airy, Pennsylvania. They are very large, green or brown, and found just about everywhere in the Northeast. There is a spot between the front legs. If it is yellow, you have a Chinese Mantis in your hands. If the spot is orange, the mantis is a Narrow-winged Mantis, also a native of Asia. There is also a Mantis that is native to Europe. It has a large eye spot on the hind wing. Our native Mantis has a dark spot on the outer or fore-wings. 

The simple expressive brush strokes of the Eastern way of painting. Painting with my friend Kay (Gum Ran). Chinese brush and ink, gouache, rice paper. Used matte medium to paste picture into journal.

Insectmania:

Journaling at Blue Marsh Lake

Journaling with Carol and Francine at Blue Marsh Lake. A beautiful evening to sit and enjoy the company and the view!

Blue Marsh Lake was built by the Army Corps of Engineers. The dam, built to control flooding, flooded out Pleasant Valley near the town of Blue Marsh. You can read about it in the Visitor's Center.

We sat on the hill under the Sycamore tree. 

I didn't plan the composition ahead of time and wound up just painting the tree over the lake.

Got a little too heavy with the large Sycamore leaves and the landscape disappeared!

While sitting on the hill above the lake, the Turkey Vultures came so close you could almost reach out and touch them!

It was early evening, and you could hear the voices of the children on the beach across the lake when the breeze blew in from that direction. There were a few jet skis on the lake as well as some fishermen.

Noisy Red-tailed Hawk:

Hummingbird Garden:

"Wild Thang, I think I love you..."