Mourning Cloak

Nature has certain rules for things that I don’t always pay attention to. I am working on a drawing of the mourning cloak butterfly for an activity book and wondering if I have put on too many spots—or not enough? On our escapades, my friend the master gardener has talked about petal groupings and configurations on different flowering plants, which somehow made me wonder if I’m putting too many spots on a butterfly… And yet, two of my coworkers and I did a mini field trip to a local taxidermy firm where the owner talked about retrofitting pre-built forms in proportion to the hides that go over them. He noted that animals, like people, vary in shape and size, even in the same species.

I know that in my art I often simplify or standardize a pattern or color on the animal, bird, or insect I am depicting, but somehow creating images which represent certain animals for kids to color leaves me asking that question—is there a certain number or pattern to the mourning cloak butterfly? And yet, here I am overthinking an image that kids will color any way they like, even out of the lines. 

Wildflowers

I seem to do a lot of thinking when I am on a jaunt with the dogs. Especially when I am hiking in the foothills. Saturday was a tough day, one of those day when I was flooded by emotion and sorrow at the death of my friend. My eyes were certainly leaking.

It was a good time to distract myself, so I focused on yet some different flowers in bloom. These were different than others I have been seeing throughout the spring and into this summer. Some delicate yellow blooms with grouped petals, on a sort of tail, then very delicate yellow flowers with petals like daisies.

I am obviously a toad when it comes to naming flowers or plants. I know some by name and even recognize some, but most are pretty flowers or plants to me. One of my hiking partners is a master gardener, with a passion for wildflowers, she will tell me the name of things and I’ll forget them just that fast. The thing I do appreciate is how different plants have a season when they present themselves. We are noticing many more flowering plants this year because of the good rain we had in June. I love too when my friend will bring up a curious fact or trait of certain plants, or even odd things brought up on NPR on one of the nature podcasts. Plant pods too give a plant a whole different look. The stages of growth, from new green stems and leaves, buds, open blooms, seed pods. The way plants have adapted to season and terrain, sun or shade. Some plants bloom at night, some in the heat of summer—some have an underground network group connection. They attract different insects or birds for pollination in an intricate dance orchestrated by mother nature.

Comet

It has been a while since I’ve rambled. Last evening when I walked my dogs I was reminded that it could be possible for me to see the Comet NEOWISE, though typically of me I remembered it would be in the southern sky at sunset, or sunrise . . Luckily, as I walked the trail I passed Barney Park, and there was a whole passel of folk set up watching the northwest sky. Ah-ha! I thought, and watched as I walked. 

What I realized as I did so, is that it has been a long time since I have paid attention to the sunset, and watched bats flying, and seen the sky deepening and stars lighting up. I have been becoming more observant with the weird anxieties around COVID-19 and have been focusing on the wonderment of nature on my walks, or in my yard to take my focus away from the hamster- wheel of anxiety. Last night’s sunset was slow and soft, the colors washes of pastel, light fading slowly in the western sky. When I finally saw the comet trail it was very subtle, but still impressive. 

Winter Count, 1976.14.01      

I got to thinking how much Celestial events affect us and did so in the past. We have in our collection a winter count which depicts major events over a series of years, typically something major for each year. This winter count records smallpox epidemics, a flood, a celestial event among its depictions.