I worked on the first four warbler illustrations from day 1-36 then switched to writing narrative for these neo-tropical wood warblers. It took awhile to get comfortable with the transition. When I started writing, I missed the music of illustrating (literally and figuratively). When I resumed illustrating on day 75 with the Magnolia and Canada Warblers, I couldn’t stop thinking about new narrative. I’m learning to appreciate and respect the balance necessary to accomplish my goal of illustrating and writing the Bonding With The Landscape Series.
Bonding With The Landscape Series
Written by Raven on · 2 Comments
About Raven
I am a naturalist. I co-founded Headwaters Environmental Station, a non-profit/tax-exempt environmental education facility at Misery Bay in the Keweenaw Peninsula with my husband, Michael Scheiwe. As a licensed Master Bird Bander and Scientific Collector, I had unprecedented opportunities to teach environment/ecological education to children for 20 years. I co-produced the program, Journeys Into A Sense Of Place, narrative readings that heighten consciousness of community and landscape (6 yrs.) for MN Public Radio. I have a working knowledge of taxidermy (study skins) and annotated and mounted plant specimens at the UWO herbarium. I appreciate the freedom of kayaking, biking, fly fishing, birding, harvesting/drying wild edibles. Illustrating, writing, hiking, photography, and cooking are essential daily activities. I earned a BS in Psychology and an MA in Education from NMU. View all posts by Raven »
Correction: The first four illustrations were done from day 1-45 And from day 46-85 I worked on the narrative and the fifth illustration. There are 23 Neo-tropical Wood Warblers that nest in the UP.
Note: I worked from photos for this fifth illustration: Magnolia Warbler (Setophaga magnolia) by Harold Stiver; Canada Warbler (Wilsonia canard ensues) by David Speiser
The branch: Northern White Cedar (Thuja occidental is).
Nice to see some of your illustrations, Raven. Thanks, too, for sharing some of your process with us with your comments about balance.