Happy All Hallows' Eve!

Nature's Color Wheel...

Leaf Litter

Working on new greeting cards and needed some forest floor reference material. I do like this part of my job.

Slow Monday

Warmed up today with a little scratch of a snail. One of the employees at the coffee shop I sometimes work in helps me build my Spanish vocabulary. Caracol. Snail.

The Studio en plein air

A few days a year, I get to take my studio outside. Yesterday was Autumn perfect. The river birch tree is turning; I set up right under it and scratched at a squirrel illustration. The cats found me. One of them wedged herself between my back and the back of the chair.  It was me and the radio and a cup of tea and a warm afternoon and doing what I love to do.

Growing like a weed

Compass plant, milkweed pods, asters and cricket....

Descent of the Bumblebee

A little poem formed yesterday. As autumn becomes more pronounced, I think of that sweet melancholy often associated with this time of year.

Descent of the Bumblebee

Late slant of autumn sunlight

catches you browsing the last summer flavors.

Striped plush on banded armor,

your finely-tuned hoverings maneuver between goldenrod,

prairie jewel and the meager remains of Veronica.

Still robust and agile, your weight bows down each bloom.

Soon, I will find you, some cool, near-frost morning,

nestled in the petals of your final gathering place,

close to deep slumber but not quite,

perhaps already in Dreamtime.

And I will mourn your descent as much as any living thing.

But for now let me dwell on this warm moment,

and you,

full of lavender and light,

lifting yourself off

towards that next season.