We made a return visit to Sturgeon Creek; this time parking on the north side of Portage Avenue. Everyone is griping about the slow departure of winter but secretly I'm happy to get an extended time to record the creek areas with some snow still laying around. We walked under the bridge and along the creek looking for a location to sketch. A pair of Canada Geese were on the edge and not too happy with us hanging about where they had staked an area out for themselves. If we got too close, they would raise their wings in a flap and hiss at us.
We finally settled on an interesting spot where the snow was hanging in an interesting shape from the bank and pointed to a small clump of grasses nestled among rocks on a low part of the creek. After doing a very small sketch using my LAMY pen and PITT pencils, I wandered back to where the geese were and did a quick sketch of the two of them. What interests me most about sketching geese is the contortions they can put those long, sleek and very black necks in to. Of course, this is the part of their body they move the most, so it's a real challenge to capture the different positions of their necks.
The second sketch we did was on the north side of Portage near Grant's Mill. We both sketched/painted the view of the bridge. What was of interest was the view of the creek that the bridge framed. The partially snow covered banks and trees reflected beautifully in the water.
We seem to be settling into a nice routine now of going out twice a week to sketch and typically we do two sketches of approximately 20-30 minutes each. Each time seems to feel slightly warmer and we seem to encounter some type of wildlife which is particularly gratifying. Our next sketchout will be this thursday morning with our destination not yet picked. I can hardly wait!
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| First Sketching Location
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| Abstract sketch of creek reflections under bridge |
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| Canada Geese |
I like the way the light and reflections are shown in your sketch under the bridge; it's a lot more interesting to look at than the photograph!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jackie ... this is your love of the abstraction showing through!
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