"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks "---John Muir
Objective:
To travel lightly and be open to nature sketching and try out some gesture sketches in my field notebook. To leave technology behind and rely just on my own field journal to record what I found.
My walk started on May 2, 2014 at twelve noon down the steep steps at Mesa Lane in Santa Barbara California. With the high noon sun straight above me I was prepared to hike a coastal hike with only my backpack full of the very basics, a bag of sharpened prismacolor pencils, my 5x8 inch blank paged sketch book, a mechanical pencil, a few hardness of the graphite pencil, sturdy walking shoes on my feet, a few trail bars a water bottle and my sunscreen.
Within a few steps of the beach I found some mussel shells, beautiful and blue, and wanted to capture the color of the shell and the sand. Plopped down next to the mussel was a live sea snail still holding onto some brown kelp. I tossed the live animal back in the ocean, then carried the mussel shells down the beach to the perfect spot to sit and sketch.
I heard that the days you leave your camera and phone and ipod behind are the times when the most wildlife appears...that was true again for me today as I saw several whales cruising by spouting from the shore. Migrating north to Alaska for the summer. A couple groups of common dolphin pods cruising the opposite direction. People were walking along the shore oblivious to the faint spouting out in the ocean while walking their dogs and chatting with friends. How much do we miss when we are caught up in the daily life of computers and cell phones and schedules.
I plopped down again near the whales to observe them for a bit and took the time to do a series of gesture sketches of sea birds and humans as well. Not worrying about what the images look like but to get a feel for the movement of the people and the animals.
An interesting harbor seal that couldn't get enough of the paddle boarders splashing in the water, and endless dog walkers and beach lovers out to enjoy the sunny day. I spent some time observing a beautiful mussel shell I saw sitting in the tide and took some time to take in the joggers and my attempt at getting a good enough bird observation without binoculars or a guide book. I am not sure if the tiny shorebirds I found were plover or sandpiper but there was definitely flocks of curlew cruising by.
This walk made me realize how much sea bird identification is a mystery to me. I came home with my sketches realizing I needed to add much more detail in the birds to get a proper identification. Was it a plover or a sandpiper? I plan on spending much more time in the field with my sketch book. What a great way to celebrate this planet we live on.
Species List:
grey whales, common dolphin, a harbor seal, curlew, brown pelican, mussel shell, lobster molt, sea snail species, shore birds possibly plover or sandpiper, tern species, many other shore birds...
Drawings and Sketches:
