Archive for July, 2007

The tools for drawing are,of course,
often the tools for writing. I have a
few examples of my grandfather’s
handwriting, which is really beautiful
drawing. I don’t think that there are many that can use the pen in this
fashion today.

I was out taking some photos this morning and came across this plant that grows wild around here, but just in this certain area.

I always thought that it would be neat to have one in the garden ( these are at least 8 foot tall ). Maybe it’s the Common Mullen ( Verbascum thapsus), sometimes called the Flannel Mullen or the Cow Paddy plant.

There seems to be all kinds of interesting lore about it. The Downy Woodpecker is especially fond of it; the flower gets rid of warts; and smoking the leaves is supposed to relieve asthma, and it is a curative for gout. Alas, my transplanting successes are not impressive.

I had a minor altercation with a wasp, such as this, the other day. It reminded me of a study that I did of a friend of my little nemesis admiring himself.

Bass fishing has been a favorite pastime of mine. We used to fly fish for the smallmouth variety on Cache Creek near Capay, California. This watercolor painting was a study of what I thought the fishes point of view might look like.