I also live in a very humid, windy, bug-infested climate. Like most folks, I often have limited time to hang out in the woods perfecting a painting. I think sketching and painting on location can be extremely important, but not always. I'm not a stickler for en plein air sketching. Today, I’ll simply share a bit of my mushroom sketching strategies, and since these same processes are how I sketch a variety of subjects, maybe it will help you also. Since I’ve previously written about mushroom identification and field study, there's no need to say any more about that here.
Definitely not so! Sometimes simply touching a mushroom can drastically alter its color, and what was an ovate cap early in the morning can be bell-shaped by lunchtime. Not so! Another misassumption was that a single specimen wouldn’t change color or shape. My first faulty assumption was that all mushrooms had gills. To succeed in nature journaling and field sketching, one of the first hurdles to overcome is to draw exactly what is seen and not what one thinks is there. And when drawing mushrooms, it’s extremely important to observe each species well. I learned to sketch quickly!Įven though time is of the essence, there is much to study. Most often, I had but a few hours before the mushroom would drastically change or start decaying. Mushrooms seemingly spring up overnight and disappear by the next sunrise, aptly fitting the axiom, “Here today, gone tomorrow!” I would rarely have more than a day to study a species. I hope this encourages you to discover new worlds also! I've learned a lot, so I thought I would share several of my nature journal pages along with my process of drawing and painting mushrooms. In the process, the fungi world has earned my respect with its amazing variety, beautiful adaptability, and mysterious workings. I've spent the last month seeking out, studying, drawing, and painting as many mushrooms as I can find.
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