Capturing the Season

My family enjoys a cottage in northern Michigan, USA.  In late May, the neighborhood buzzes with activity as people clean up after a long winter and get ready to enjoy the beautiful--though very short!--summer.

Here are two quick sketches captured on sugar cane paper of the spring time goings-on.

In the sketch of the boat above, you can see the wonky way this paper takes water color--it paid off in interesting texture for the water, I thought.  I like the uncontrollability of it.

Here are my neighbors raking leaves.  LOTS of leaves!  This time I really saturated the paper and the watercolor soaked in a bit.

Then, for fun, I tried another sketch of a recently installed dock and boat on traditional watercolor paper.  Big difference!

Capturing some of the normal "goings-on" in the neighborhood in your scribbles is a fun way of paying attention to the every day things that make up all of our lives.  Catching seasonal special events like these helps me get a stronger sense of the cycle of life.  It's kind of cool.