Red Squirrel

For much of the winter, when the weather isn't absolutely intolerable, little red squirrels run back and forth along an obstacle course from our backyard to our neighbors. They begin their trek in a large tree on the far side of our neighbor's yard. After scrambling down the huge tree, they bound in and out of the snow on the ground, run up into our neighbor's tree closest to our house, then tumble down onto our fence with acrobatic ease and hop over little snow hills they create along the top of our fence. From our fence they precariously climb onto a branch barely hanging low enough for them to do so, scramble around the tree in our yard, then run along another branch to hop onto a different part of the fence. Eventually they disappear into the backyard of the neighbor across from the alley way to harvest pine cones from an evergreen tree. Either that or pilfering easily obtained bird food from the neighbor's hanging feeders. The squirrels then bravely retrace their steps back to their drey with goodies in tow.

Dandelion Dance

The long 2018 season of snow, ice, and cold wind have finally receded into the "distant" past, and dandelions are dancing across our yard with a vengeance. My son and I decided to make nutritional use of this resurgence by collecting dandelion leaves for a dinner salad. However, I got a little sidetracked with the brightness and unusual shape of the leaves of this very common flower (and the flying insect!) and recorded it in my sketchbook.

Of Mussels and Clams

This is a preliminary drawing of the second painting in my intertidal zone series. I love the byssal threads the mussels throw out and attach to rocks or even other molluscs. The threads have super glue strength!

Perfect for Halloween

Thomas Violet is finally emerging from the darkness. This is the beginnings of my scratch board drawing of a Maine Coon kitty named Thomas Violet. I've always loved scratch board - it feels like sculpting in 2-D.

A Monarch's Delight

This is a final drawing of a showy milkweed (native to Montana) accepted into a local coloring book of Montana artists' drawings published by the Yellowstone Art Museum. The milkweed is the only plant that the Monarch butterfly uses for it's reproductive process, from laying it's eggs to the larva and pupa stages. I plan to eventually turn this drawing into a painting with a butterfly included. As I was observing the plant and drawing it, I was very intrigued with all the unique shapes associated with the plant, from the seeds, to the seed pod, to the flowerettes.

Good Chives

Chives are one of my favorite herbs. Each spring they dutifully show their lovely green shoots and keep growing no matter the weather, and when the air temperatures sufficiently warm they grow edible purple balls of tiny flowers. I love drawing them. Each flower seems to have it's own habit and I get to use some of my favorite colors to paint them.

An Old Ponderosa Pine

I spotted this old pine tree hanging on the edge of rimrocks while hiking in the Four Dances Natural Area just outside of Billings. It was an impromptu hike after dropping my son off at cub scout camp. Nobody else around except two deer watching me watching them and buzzing insects, some of which sounded a little too much like rattlesnakes. I daresay I walked tentatively through some grassy patches.

New Wolf Sketches

I started sketches for a new wolf painting as a sequel to my last wolf painting. The more I draw them and learn about their natural history, the more I appreciate these amazing animals.

Dem Kitty Bones

Dawn Nelson © 2017

A friend was intrigued with a cougar partial skeleton scratchboard piece I did several years ago as part of a science illustration project (an image of which will eventually be on my gallery page) . She asked me to do something similar of her kitty for her young science-minded son, a project which kept getting delayed. Funny story (sort of). I hadn't communicated with my friend for several months but decided to start on this piece and surprise her. When I saw her last month, she informed me that this kitty - which was my model for the drawing - permanently disappeared during their move into a new house. Hmmm. I have really warmed up to this cute kitty - which by the way - is (or was?) a Maine Coon breed. Nice large paws and beautiful markings, with the most wonderful name: Thomas Violet. She assured me that her son would still love the drawing, kind of memorializes Mr. Thomas.

These two images represent almost-final-ready-to-transfer to scratchboard drawings. I ended up adding the ribs to the other side of his body and started sketching a background. 

Plein Air at Dover Park

Dawn Nelson © 2017

A friend and I grabbed our sketchbooks and headed out to a newly established park on the north end of Billings along the Yellowstone River. I drew these watercolor and ink sketches from different parts of the park - wonderfully diverse topography, with cool grassy areas along a creek, the rocky banks of the river, the yellowstone cliffs, and woody ravines. Although the landscape was still primarily dressed in winter colors, new spring green grass was sprouting up.