Documenting a September walk in my Cape Cod nature journal

It’s hard to believe it’s already two thirds of the way through September but here we are. The air is cooler, the birds are gathering to migrate, and the flowers are giving up their blooms.

We went for a walk around Hathaway’s Pond this morning to see what we could see. I took along my lightweight travel bag, a big old plastic bag I’ve used for years, and a pair of garden shears. My goal was to clip some plants and leaves along the way to bring back to my studio to draw and paint, having just completed five days of John Muir Laws‘s Wild Wonder Nature Journal Conference. Although I’ve kept a nature journal for many years, I admit I’d been slacking so this was the incentive I needed to get back to it.

The water level at the pond was exceptionally low and I found many wildflowers around the edge. Most are common, some are even invasive, but I clipped them anyway, to look up, draw and paint. I’m far from a botanist so I’m always learning new plants. I looked everything up but I may be wrong so feel free to correct me.

Here’s what I brought back after an hour or so of wandering

I put everything that needed water in a jar of water and the other things back in the bag until I was ready to work with them. I drew in ink and then added watercolor.

Pondside plants, Mary Richmond’s nature journal, Cape Cod
Woodland plants, Mary Richmond’s nature journal, Cape Cod
Random finds on the woodland floor, Mary Richmond’s nature journal, Cape Cod

I spent most of the day on this project–collecting, sorting, looking things up, sketching, painting. I often don’t have that sort of time but when I do it always enriches me. It’s good to slow down, take note, appreciate the small things we see around us but tend to take for granted.

Drawing River Otters

For the last few weeks I’ve been working on sketches and drawings of river otters for a project I was asked to do. The finished piece is to be used for a children’s nature camp t-shirt. Projects like these are always fun but people all have different ideas as to what they want so starting with sketches of various poses is always a good thing.

We decided on two general designs. One was an otter looking out of the water which would be a vertical design.

This guy was the first finished drawing of that group.

This otter seemed a bit grumpy to me, especially for use on a kid’s shirt so I did another drawing.

I liked this one’s personality but we still wanted to look at a horizontal drawing that could fit the whole otter in as well as a fish.

This last drawing is the one we decided on for the shirt design. When the shirt is ready, I will show it here. You have to be a kid enrolled in the camp to get one, though. Sorry about that.

This was a great project to work on and I donated the art for the shirt design. The other two drawings are for sale, however. You may email me for more information about them or to to my Mary Richmond Design Etsy shop where they will be listed for sale.