Sketching Outdoors in Spring 0688062849

Citation preview

Outdoors

v

JIM ARNOSKY AUTH(

i

Drawing from Natw

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t

$11.75

EARLY

March

in

sketchbook

in

Jim

Arnosky,

hand, set out to

die

*a

»

1

C THE BAKER

4

TAV\OA CO

Sketching Outdoors in

tyring

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ALSO BY JIM ARNOSKY Deer

at the

Brook

Drawing from Nature

Drawing

Life in

Motion

Flies in the Water, Fish in the Air:

A Personal Introduction to Fly Fishing Freshwater Fish

& Fishing

Secrets of a Wildlife

Watcher

Watching Foxes

Sketching Outdoors

m

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TUC^O:;, AZ S5717

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VAN HORNE LIBRARY

BY JIM LOTHROP, LEE & SHE PAR

I")

ARNOSKY BOOKS

N1

W YORK

DIS

This season

is

dedicated to

LOUIS PORTER

Copyright

©

1987 by Jim Arnosky. All rights reserved.

No

part of this

book may be reproduced or

utilized in

any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by An\ information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher Inquiries should be addressed to Lothrop, Lee

**

£_/£< '

^

'

actixc, but thcx

it.

This sketch was done on a blustery attracted to the scene

May afternoon. I was

by the contrast between the sturdy stone

wall and the slender poplar trees that were being

whipped about

by the wind. Some gusts were so strong they threatened

my easel with

them.

No

matter

how strong

the wind, the

poplars' tiny spring leaves held fast to their branches.

Some

trees

and shrubs

leaf out in early spring. Others develop

your spring sketches

reflect this

xariety by showing which trees already haxe leaxes

and which

lea\es later in the season. Let

trees are still in bud.

Small springtime leaxes seen from a distance appear as

dots,

dashes, oxals, and arrowheads. These are also the shapes used in

38

drawings

to

suggest spring leaxes.

to take

-

-

While this

resting streamside during a long day of fishing,

male smallmouth

circular nest he

The

fish

fins I

He was

had cleared away

in shallow water,

in the gravelly

noticed

guarding a

bottom.

was immediately aware of me, but he stayed over

nest even after

while

bass.

1

I

had approached

to

within three

feet. All

his

the

sketched, the bass appeared not to be threatened. His

I

and

tail

waved serenely

presumed

that

in the water.

one or more females had already deposited

eggs in the nest and that the eggs were there, hidden glistening pebbles

among

the

and sand granules. Papa smallmouth himself

blended so well with the water color and the stream bottom that even with

my polarized glasses on

I

more than once

of him.

^

&J V-

! v*

*a.

\

C

40

lost sight

The female mallard was on her nest when close

enough

to see

I

her in lovely detail but

so as not to frighten her off her eggs.

I

first

saw far

still

her.

I

was

enough away

didn't press that luck

and

stayed only as long as necessary to get most of this picture

completed. Later, well away from the nest

site,

I

added the

finishing touches.

One morning pond

I

spotted the male mallard standing on the

shore, asleep.

I

was

him and began making

able to sneak to within eight feet of

this sketch.

Suddenly the duck awoke,

spread the feathers of one wing in a lazy stretch, and walked away.

^mm

The next time mother.

I

I

visited the mallard hen, she

found myself sketching

was becoming

frantically to

a

keep up with her

active brood.

Ducklings were

still

hatching, out of sight under their

mothers broad feathery form. Those were quacking the ground.

softly all

around

her.

that

had already emerged

Soon they were

Any sudden movement or loud

scurrying back to

Mama where,

investigating

noise sent

them

all

pressed against her flanks, they

felt safe.

i

/&*

book

is

a

paean

to the

unobtrusive obser-

vation of nature and to the marvels of the natural world."

I

othrop

1

iv Cm

Shepard Books

Nov >ork

Rf

IMORi

I

ISBN D-bflfl-0b2flM-T