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Once in a while, an art commission comes along that becomes an unexpected source of great enjoyment. The drawing process takes on a life of its own, and I feel almost like a spectator as the image takes shape on the paper. That’s what happened recently, and here is the result. I haven’t done a pencil portrait in years, so it was fun to watch this one unfold.
Meanwhile, in the garden, I’m slowly working my way through the not-so-enjoyable process of clearing the summer beds. Over the next couple of weeks — working in the early mornings, before the mercury reaches those stifling 90s — we’ll spade up the soil to loosen and aerate it, then add a layer of compost from the bin. The winter garden is my favorite.
…And, in the rapidly dwindling fennel patch, 25 fat Eastern Swallowtail larvae are munching, munching, munching the days away. Click here to see how far they’ve come in four short days!
Beginning September 22, you can spend your Tuesday evenings happily painting Mobile Bay area plant life (and maybe a butterfly or two) in vivid color and detail. My eight-week Botanical Watercolor course at Space 301 downtown will meet weekly from 6:30 to 8:30 pm, and will include one Saturday field drawing day at a date to be selected by the class.
No previous art experience is necessary… we’ll explore step-by-step scientific illustration techniques in a relaxed, encouraging atmosphere. Develop your powers of observation while using washes, dry brush and glazing. Mix colors to create depth with light and shadow. You’ll never see plants in quite the same way again…
There is a modest supply list for the class – under $20 – and tuition for 8 weeks is $110 (It’s $95 for members of Centre for the Living Arts) .
Fore more information, email education coordinator Cindy Phillips at space301@cityofmobile.org
There was a beautiful Eastern Black Swallowtail in the fennel patch yesterday. This morning, the herb’s tender green shoots were peppered with tiny butterfly eggs. The little orbs are pale yellow now, but they will turn black just before they hatch into small caterpillars. In several stages, these fast-growing creatures will pass through increasingly vivid color patterns — all the while steadily consuming an impressive quantity of fennel, parsley and dill. Individuals lucky enough to avoid hungry wasps will eventually transform into a chrysalis and, finally, something that looks a lot like this:
(c)2009 Val Webb
Meanwhile, we have defaulted to our usual steamy south Alabama late-summer gardening schedule. Manual labor is now limited to really, really early in the morning. We’re prepping beds for fall planting, checking our saved seed and picking those die-hard eggplant and peppers… and some scrumptious ambrosia canteloupe that the Perfect Man incorporated into an experiment in edible landscaping.
Summer is also canning time. Last week, it was green tomato chow-chow… and this week, it was blueberry jam. The hardest part is not opening the jars immediately and devouring the carefully preserved contents. It’s a treat to live with a man who has impressive food preservation skills! (Here’s a tip for any guys out there who might be contemplating an online dating service: just be sure your profile includes the fact that you’re inordinately fond of Mason jars and pressure cookers, and then stand back.)
Almost finished, here's a portrait of my garden visitor
There’s a fritillary free-for-all going on out in the flower garden. Bright and busy, at least a dozen Gulf fritillaries are out there all day long. They don’t seem to mind the heat, as long as there’s plenty of nectar to go around.
Here’s the sketch I started out with:
Happy drawing!
Fennel — sweet or bronze — is a favorite swallowtail caterpillar delicacy, along with carrots and parsley. It’s worth growing a few plants just to attract these beautiful little creatures, with their vivid custom paint jobs and voracious appetites.
So graceful and leggy, fennel has always had a place in our family herb garden. A half-teaspoon of the aromatic seeds, steeped in a cup of hot spearmint tea, is a soothing and safe remedy for nausea. I bruise the spearmint leaves and fennel seeds alike (crushing under a wooden spoon will do the trick) before pouring boiling water over them. Steep for five to seven minutes, strain the liquid, and sweeten with honey if desired.
The stalks are a good substitute for celery in soups.
Children like fennel’s delicately licorice taste. When my girls were small, I’d find them in the garden on summer afternoons, nibbling the feathery leaves like a herd of two-legged deer. Even at three or four years old, they could instantly distinguish between fennel and dill. I had to shoo them out of the herb garden when their grazing got out of hand, or risk not having any fennel for the kitchen.
After watching the caterpillars dine for a while, I banished faithful garden dog Atticus to the house (he loves to chase flying insects) and brought the camera out. An adult black swallowtail posed for me — a female, judging from the iridescent blue patches on her hind wings. I hope her presence, lingering among the low-growing greenery, will result in a fresh crop of fat caterpillars in seven or eight days.
Atticus, meanwhile, thinks he should be allowed to participate in some up-close butterfly observation.
