The meadow has become lush under the clouds and rainy weather of May. Stately great camas, Camassia leichtlinii, has a queenly presence over the smaller wildflowers. I saw a stand of it for the first time when I peeked into an ordinary looking grove of shrubby ash trees, and to my surprise and delight the purple spires grew throughout the grove, poking up through the tall grasses.
I am chronicling the tremendous variety of botanical riches in this rare and endangered ecosystem near the lower Columbia River in Oregon. Once the Willamette Valley and many places along the Columbia River Corridor were characterized by oak savanna. Most of these meadows have been lost to development. This is one of the few left and we are not sure how long it will remain. For more information go here. Thank you for joining me on this journey. More to come soon.
This blog is about my journey as a botanical artist--what I am learning, what inspires me and what I am currently drawing or painting. My desire is to continually hone my skills to better express my wonder and gratitude for the beauty of the creation around me in the Pacific Northwest (USA).
These pages are exquisite, what a wonderful area it must be! It must be so worrying that it might all be lost. We have an area in the UK where they are removing ancient forests and woodlands, not to mention people’s houses in order to build a rail line which will knock precisely 20 minutes off the journey time up north! Did you draw the plants with a pencil first and then ink them? They are so lovely.
Hi Angela, Thank you! I draw the plants lightly and roughly in pencil first, then ink over them, refining the details as I go since these are meant to be sketches. This method enables me to work quickly, but still gives me space to refine as I go along. Fist I record the habit and general look of the plant in pencil, then fill in more of the details in ink. For me, its much less stressful than going right in with ink. Thanks for your question!