July 2, 2022 11:10 am
Sketching by the River
Weather: Initially the sky was overcast and grey. The humidity was less dramatic than the day before and the clouds were breaking apart to allow the blue sky to come through. Over an hour or so the weather cleared to completely blue skies with soft fluffy clouds visible and a cool breeze flowing through the trees.
As I had hoped to last time I was able to find out more about the rainbow trout that I was curious about. I waded into the water and tried to observe them the best I could. I wasn’t able to see their dorsal fins clearly enough to make out which stream they came from but I was able to observe their spots and coloration that is typical of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). I began to understand where they preferred to reside in the stream since I could only locate them in deeper sections of the river typically under fallen trees or behind rocks that created an overhang they could settle under. I continued to explore around the lower river section and found many fallen trees laden with snails, slugs, and various bugs and spiders that I wasn’t familiar with. One that really stuck out to me was a white moth that I came across. It made me think of the salt and pepper moths that people tend to associate with camouflage. I continued to move through the forest noting that between the sections of field and forest there were distinct differences in the vegetation. In the field, there were many wildflowers that has not been present on my previous trip. However, in the forest, the vegetation mostly consists of trees, some flowers, and species of ferns. I assumed that the changes in vegetation were driven by the amount of sunlight, substrate, and proximity to the Huntington River.
The Species that I worked to identify is the flower that I chose to sketch and is also pictured above. I came to the conclusion that the species of flower was a red trillium (Trillium erectum). I have had some experience identifying plants so this process of identifying came pretty naturally to me as I have taken a class in plant identification. I used a dichotomous key that I had left over from the class to narrow it down a bit and then used some of the common Vermont flower books I had to confirm the identification that I came up with. A fun fact that I found out about this plant is that it is pollinated by flies and beetles. 🪲
Snails on a Tree
I chose to sketch this scene because as I was walking through the area making initial observations I was intrigued by the ways in which they were bending and moving about on the sides of the trees. I tried my best to convey this here
Small Plant
I sketched this scene because I was amazed at the little plant that was growing up between rocks on the edge of the stream. I had subconsciously made the assumption that plants wouldn’t grow that close because they hadn’t adapted to that much water near their root systems and yet I was being proven wrong by this tenacious plant.
Decaying Leaf
I wanted to sketch this one because I was curious as to why this leaf that was laying on the ground, in what I assumed would be a good area to decompose, wasn’t decomposing. It still had many of the qualities of a leaf on a tree but the only difference was it was brown in color.
Flower Growing
As I later found out that this plant that I chose to sketch was a red trillium. I initially chose it because it was one of the only flowers visible in the forest section and the red color was very lovely.
As I reflect on the drawing process I am very happy that it has drawn to a close. I acknowledge that I am a slight perfectionist and since drawing is not one of my better skills I can easily become distraught and irritated when attempting to draw something, especially when I know that it will be evaluated by other people. However, throughout the course of the sketching process, I do think, even slightly, that my skills improved. I would say that it affected my attention in that I looked for scenes that intrigued me but also were simple enough that I wasn’t going to be overwhelmed trying to present them on paper. On my next visit, I would like to find a way to photograph these and see if my photographs can capture more about their features than my drawings.