View from the coast #4: Triumph, tragedy, more travel, and even a drawing or two.

Unbelievable. Four weeks gone, just like that. We said goodbye to our fourth session of campers on Friday afternoon and have slowly been transitioning to two weeks without the flat-out pace we've been accustomed to.

I even took time to join the bees in admiration of the rose bush in the middle of camp.

Before our campers left we celebrated International Guillemot Appreciation Day. I bet you didn't even know that such a day existed. It does! And you should definitely celebrate it next year, because after all... it's not ALL about puffins. Mark your calendars now: June 27.

FOHI (Friends of Hog Island) volunteer Betsy adorns boots with red guillemot
feet for the IGAD celebration.

At breakfast our festively decorated (white, black, and red, of course) dining hall
was the site of a dramatic reading of "A Visit from the Guillemots."
That's me in recitation mode.

It's always hard to say goodbye at the end of a session, but our own Eastern Egg Rock-ettes help to ease the separation anxiety as campers get on the boat for departure.

All this silliness was unfortunately followed by solemnity and disappointment. Right in the middle of camp is an active osprey nest, the residents of which are internet superstars. (Hog Island osprey cam) Two osprey chicks hatched during the second camp session, but even here in paradise life can be dangerous. Last week a bald eagle started rushing the nest, but was driven off each time by the osprey parents. Unfortunately, on Friday afternoon the eagle succeeded in snatching both nestlings, to the shock and dismay of online nest-watchers worldwide. If you think you're up for watching the clip of the raid, you can find it here, with commentary by Dr. Steve Kress.

But now I turn my attention from seabirds and Maine, because tomorrow I'll be headed to the other side of the Atlantic. For the next two weeks I'll be visiting friends and colleagues in the Netherlands and France, returning to Maine midway through July. In preparation for that different mindset I took a little time to make a couple of sketchbook drawings of specimens in our camp bio lab. I felt a little rusty, but it was good to move pencil across paper for while.

Snowy owl skull.

Woody, twisted stick collected from the Bahamas.

Not sure if I'll be able to post anything from Europe while I'm away. Last time I was able to do a bit via my phone, but no promises! In the meantime... try to imagine either of these sketches as part of a future linocut and let me know what you come up with. ;-)

Fieldwork Friday: Some museum sketches

I grew up in the Denver area, so there are long lists of people to see and errands to run and venues to visit whenever I make the long trip out of our little valley to The Big City, as I did this past week.  But I'm a small town girl these days, and find my energy sapped pretty quickly by the need to drive everywhere and contend with crowds and traffic and oblivious SUV-wielding Whole Foods princesses with cell phones permanently attached to their craniums.

Hm. Judging by the previous snark it appears I'm not fully recovered from this week's experience.

But no fear. I ALWAYS find a way to go either to the zoo or the natural history museum (in Denver these are conveniently located next to each other) to draw... even if it's just for an hour or two. Although I haven't lived in the Denver metro area for 14 years I still maintain memberships to both institutions so popping in and out is no big deal.

This trip I managed two visits to the museum. The first resulted in many pages of lousy drawings, the second fared a little better.

A page of bones: Stegosaurus leg, unspecified "duckbilled" dino limb,
and a fossil turtle skull because it was 10 minutes to closing time and I
wanted to squeeze in "just one more".

Herons. Black-crowned night-heron and great blue.

Geez. I can't believe I had the entire museum to choose from and
I drew seabirds. Brown noddy and Heerman's gull.

I had a birthday while I was in the city, and I have to say that the thing I least like about advancing middle-age is the compromises it has placed on my eyesight. Museum halls and displays are softly lit to protect collections, but DANGIT it's hard to see both my subject and my drawings. The drawings are sometimes a surprise when I finally get them in daylight.

But I'm home again in my little town and back to printing this weekend... Whew! Gotta finish the last of those seabirds!