Mushrooms in the Lawn

Mushrooms are popping up in my lawn. These two beauties make a lovely image. Can anybody identify these babies?

Urban Nature

These are some sketches I've done in Denver. I'm a member of Urban Sketchers group. One is a band that is playing during the People's Fair in the park. One is at the Chalk Fest, with two artists at work in the street.  One is outside the Paramount Cafe, along the outdoor 16th Street mall. Yes, I know it's not nature, but I love urban sketching--sitting and watching people has always been my favorite activity. Sketching is great fun, but I truly had to train myself to draw fast to capture people's gestures and poses. These are all sketched in pen with watercolor washes over the top.

Diamond Pattern in Basket

This basket was created using a coiling technique. The materials are sisal and waxed linen. The waxed linen cord can be stitched in different patterns, with the core sisal material showing more or less around the stitches.

Mystery Squash

This squash plant has appeared, growing out from under the garden bench. Since I did not plant it, I have no idea what it is. I hope it gets fertilized so I can see the fruit and identify the plant. I wonder if it may be a wild native plant. Where it came from? I've no idea. That's Mercedes sitting up on the bench. She has no interest in the mystery squash whatsoever. Unless it turns out to be edible, of course.

A Small Natural Basket

Here is a small natural basket. It was done using the twining technique. It's got sisal cores, with sisal, jute, and wool weavers. This mini-basket will soon be for sale in my Etsy shop. I'm opening a new section in my O, Sweet Nature online shop called "Leaf Motif". It will include arts AND crafts with some connection to leaves or plants. Many things from nature's materials, as well as some botanical art prints.

A Scrap of Poetry

...the water of the ocean divides with perfect courtesy, just to let you in!  -- Mary Oliver

Mary Oliver is my favorite living poet. Her words most often touch on nature and how she experiences it. I admire her greatly.

Radish Greens

Springtime radishes are still flourishing in my garden. I have two kinds going--red round as in this drawing and long narrow red and white. Both are tasty! 

Sometimes I slice them for salads, but mostly I just like to eat them whole. And I don't waste the greens! If you eat wild edible greens, you know that the greens from radishes and beets are fantastic as cooked greens plus much easier to collect since they are there in the garden.  The greens are picked along with the root.

In my gardens past, it always seemed a waste to eat just the root crops of radishes and beets. So now I have them as greens early in the season and then cook them into curries later in the season. Too bad the potato vines aren't edible. THAT would be a bounteous crop. Potato and tomato vines are toxic, I believe. So no nibbling there!

This is a pen and ink rendering of a Raphanus sativus.

Oxalis stricta

This is a field sketch of the common yellow sorrel. It grows freely in waste areas or disturbed areas. There's only a small patch here so I'm gonna let it grow and hope it spreads itself further. Sorrel leaves make a nice addition to salads, a bit of a spicy flavor. It's a quick pencil sketch with watercolor added.

Edible Wild Greens

Time for spring tonics and wild greens. I've been eating from the bounty of my yard, aka weedpatch. So far, I've had lamb's quarters as cooked greens, purslane in my salad, and dandelion greens as both cooked greens and salad. Free food! Who could ask for more from nature? Okay, maybe I could ask for honey, but that would require the cooperation of bees and I don't have a hive, anyway. I do have lettuce and radishes in my garden. Soon the beets will be ready. Gotta wait a while for beans and tomatoes. So much to look forward to!

Surf and Shore

This is an oil painting, semi-abstract in nature, done entirely by palette knife. The palette knife (painting knife actually) is great for impasto or thick swaths of paint. Basically I started in one corner and worked my way down and across to complete the painting image.

Surf and Shore, oil on panel, 9 x 12.