Birding down in Kissimmee

Posted on by Thor

Terry’s niece Claire Brown was visiting with her boyfriend. The entire Brown family are avid birders and Terry has also caught the birding obsession. It has been a blessing on vacation because while Terry was searching for birds, I could sketch. This is a rather old sketchbook that has a few unfilled spreads left to fill. On these pages I drew two thumbs for some reason. Those thumbs became a block that kept me from filling up the sketchbooks. At a Mystery Sketch Theater session, I used the spread to do quick gestural studies in pencil. The sketchbook sat abandoned for years. I like a sketchbook to have an overall flow when it is flipped through. For whatever reason this spread threw the book off track.

I erased as much of the harsh pencil work as I could and reworked the sketch as my relatives birded. I only had at most half an hour, so I kept the sketch extra loose. Trying to do a sketch in a stolen moment like this is stressful, but the sketch couldn’t be any worse than the mess that was already on the page. In some ways, messing up the page a bit first can be freeing. It gets past the pristine blank page and lets me realize it is just a sketch, let it go.  I’ve shown this sketch to students and they seldom notice the thumbs hidden in the composition. You can always change and adjust a sketch to push it in a new direction. It was a lesson learned, and soon this sketchbook will be filled and join the others on my bookshelf.

Sea Ark

Posted on by Thor

One of Clare Brown’s instructors offered to take us out on his boat.The Atchafalaya River was perhaps an hour drive from the Louisiana State University. The river has thousands of islands and inlets making an easy place to get lost in. It was incredibly cold as well. The boat ramp was under a highway overpass, making a less then ideal natural setting to start. Once we lost sight of the highway however, the river was gorgeous. Everyone had binoculars. Clare is working on an ornithology Theseus. Terry like to bird watch when she is around experienced bird watchers. I’m sure she added some life birds to her list.

Clare was seated next to me with her little dog, so they didn’t make it into the sketch. Clare was baby sitting the pup, so she had never taken the him onto a boat, and was a little afraid that he might jump in the water. He knew better. When the boat traveled at top speed the wind whipped right through my several layers. When we traveled at top speed, my gloved hand got wet when the bow spray caught me by surprise, so I had to ditch that glove. I just kept blowing into my drawing fist to keep it working. Terry and I aren’t used to this kind of cold, but we survived. Periodically we cut the motor and everyone looked for movement in the trees. Birds were everywhere. As the sun set, the light grew golden illuminating the tree tops. As it grew dark the temperature dropped quickly. Luckily we got off the river before it got too cold. What a great way to discover the Louisiana Bayou.

Christmas Eve Bonfires

Posted on by Thor

On Christmas Eve, the Mississippi levies in Louisiana have over 100 teepee shaped log structures that are ignited creating a ten mile long series of bonfires. Different families are responsible for building and igniting their bonfires. Building these structures is a family tradition that has been passed down the generations. Cane reeds are added inside some of the structures. The cane reeds explode when on fire acting like a poor man’s fireworks. Of course many fires also had fireworks inside. The homes near the levee had tents set up and large spreads of Gumbo to share with neighbors.

Claire Brown drove her parents along with Terry and myself to a parking spot a few blocks away. We walked to the levee and got there just as they were all ignited. It was a freezing cold night and I immediately started sketching as everyone else explored. When my fingers got to cold to move, I walked to the nearest bonfire to warm my hands and then I would go back to work. Huge professional grade rockets were being fired into the air only a few yards from me. It felt like a war zone. Traffic along the levee road was bumper to bumper with the red brake lights blazing.

Someone unfolded a long sheet of black plastic creating a trail down the steep slope. Children were given cardboard sheets that they could use as sleds and they barreled down the hill. The cold breeze blew the embers from the fires over the Mississippi river. Teepee bonfire structures began to fold and collapse inwards. Orange embers floated up to the star filled sky. This was truly a once in a lifetime experience. It is worth a trip to the Saint James Parish to experience it first hand.