Apple-Pine: mushrooms

Showing posts with label mushrooms. Show all posts

A Perfect Day in The Forest

I took my pocket gouache palette and small sketchbook on a hike. It was a perfect forest hike in the mountains with temperatures changing quickly. I saw lots of banana slugs, all sorts of mushrooms and many signs that this forest is shared by many creatures.

Rogues in my garden.

We are having a lovely wet winter so far and I found some rogue visitors in my garden: mushrooms are growing on my succulents!!!

Internet was full of helpful suggestions like "may be a sign that your succulents need better-draining soil or a less-humid environment" or "That means the soil microbiology is super healthy" or "Mushroom won't harm your plant - but it is usually a sign of soil that is too organic. That may be a bigger problem". There was also discussion as to how to get rid of them and if.

I decided to sketch the situation instead of continuing down that rabbit hole on the internet :)

Forest Diary

Sketching the redwood forests on the Pacific Coast as I hike is a speeding activity - but is always worth it - even if all I get to do is put a few lines on the page or spread some huckleberries as an illustration to what is happening (see process photos below)! Bits of text are usually added when I get to the table and glue and tape in my day's sketching bounty. The forest was wet and full of wonderful light and colors. I am ready to go there again!

Annual Mushroom Sketching Post

Mushrooms are amazing! They are everywhere, they are visible and hidden, have complex lives, come in multiple forms, and play many roles. They are fascinating and beautiful and many of them are really tasty! Like these Chanterelles :)

Chanterelles in gouache and sour cream.

I spent some wonderful time in a forest where we found some luminous chanterelles! I enjoyed sketching them with gouache and then cooking them with sour cream :)

Sketching at the Farmer's Market!

People sketching is not quite back to my sketchbook life - there are many reasons, main one being pandemic. It first caused the lack of large spaces filled with people and then changed all the routines. So when the opportunity presents itself - I jump on it! This quick visit to the San Jose farmer's market with Suhita was a chance to draw some colorful produce - and people. And I found some mushrooms which I am always happy to draw :)

Forest trip to start my holidays

I spent a few days in magnificently wet and colorful forests on the Pacific Coast near Mendocino. Mostly hiking - but also looking at a gorgeous ocean sunset, foraging for mushrooms, and cooking them after.

More from the Mushrooming trip

Forests are such primal places - especially older ones with the multitude of layers opening up more and more as you let the place unfurl by being still. My love for sketching in the forest grows out of stillness that enraptures into a world I did not see before. Even with the smallest, fastest, simplest of sketches by the time I am done and ready to catch up to my party, the world around me is larger. There are more birds, everything suddenly is alive and not what it seemed before.

I made a video flip-through these pages in my sketchbook:

Mushrooming - more!

Here are more mushroom spreads from my sketchbook:

Muhsrooming

I spent a few days in the forest - looking at things and also looking for mushrooms. Here are some that I decided to bring with me home:

Recipe: Mushroom Soup

Mushrooms are amazing - they are not plants and they are not animals - they belong to their own kingdom of Fungi and the part that we eat is what a huge and very happy organism produces - a fruit. I love drawing mushrooms, looking at them, learning about them, gathering them - and eating them too. This is a soup that I make out of dried mushrooms or fresh ones.