Walking and Sketching in Sandwich

This morning looked sunny and inviting and I had plans to go to Sandwich and do some sketching. I packed my paints, my sketchbook, my good pen and my camera along with some water and my sweatshirt. It was pretty warm but one never knows. It is Cape Cod, after all.

I started at the newly reopened Thornton Burgess Museum on Water St., where my husband had been working hard to have everything spiffed up and ready for another summer season. The museum is right on Shawme Pond and has a great herb garden so there's plenty to draw. There are also plenty of these....

The parent Canada geese were a bit wary but as long as I kept my distance they didn't seem to mind me sketching their little ones. By this time the sky was getting really dark and I could hear thunder in the distance.

The geese didn't seem too impressed but the thunder got closer and closer and finally the sky began to light up with lightening and I headed inside....

The rain began but most of the storm seemed to pass north of us so before long I was able to go outside and finish sketching...

I stopped over at Green Briar and then headed to the Game Farm where I did more sketching and walking...

and as I often do, I kept a list of the birds, etc. that I saw or heard. i also fooled around with some ideas for kid's poems...

It wasn't the perfect sunny spring day I started out to paint in but it ended up quite a nice day to walk and sketch and sit and watch the red tailed hawk get harassed by smaller birds...

Summer Days....

Have left me busy enough to not be blogging and I have a lot to catch up on. Here are some photos from some recent trips I've done with families to do some nature journaling and exploring.

Water lilies always make great subjects.This young lady is exploring all sorts of marine goodies we dragged up in a net.A frog had left the pond and was hanging out under the bushes in the shade so this artist got right down on the ground to draw it.Can you see the frog?

Nauset Marsh Art and Nature Boat Trip

I did this trip through Wellfleet Audubon and several more are scheduled throughout the summer. It was the first time we combined the art with the nature part of this trip on the Queen of Orleans and everyone loved it. Of course it didn't hurt that it was a perfect summer day.

These young people are keeping watch over the flooding marsh.We always pull up an eel pot but usually we just find lots of crabs. This time we also got a really big eel! Don't worry, everyone was released safely and alive.This is Captain Dave Bessom of the Queen of Orleans. An old Cape Codder by birth and inclination he'll tell you all sorts of wonderful stories. He'll pull your leg a bit, too.These young men are busy putting finishing touches on their crab pictures.

We got out and walked on the end of Coast Guard Beach and looked for more things to draw. Everyone was asked to find something that crawls, something that flies, something that attaches, something that buries and something else of their choice.

It was an awesome day and the families all seemed to have a really great day.