Nature Calls – August 31, 2014
Shades of yellow and red sneak into the landscape as autumn approaches. Days grow shorter and Orion shines brightly in the night sky. Cool air rushes through the open window with the sound of night creatures singing farewell to summer. Yellow school buses transport nervous children to their first day of school, one grade higher than before. I remember the long, lazy, childhood days of summer spent gathering wildflowers, climbing trees, capturing frogs during the day and lightning bugs at night.
Giant Stick Insect – Female Eurycnema versirubra from Indonesia
Times have changed. Many children no longer wander the fields and meadows gathering flowers and insects. My summers have changed, too. Though I still explore nearby woods and rivers on foot or bicycle, I wander further by car and plane. What hasn’t changed is my love for nature in all of its forms: plants, animals and minerals.
Image: Giant Green Stick Insect from Indonesia drawn first in ink with a fine nib Waterman fountain pen, followed by watercolor washes. Limited Palette Color Scheme: Semi Triad – Yellow Green, Red Violet, Blue Violet.