Annie Patterson Art and Illustration

Illustration Friday ~ * Snow *

Little bouquet of wild arctic buttercups, picked by my daughter. Summer is here at last!

*When frost comes to the fall tundra*

It's been so long since I've posted on this blog! Partly because I've been using facebook more, and partly I suppose because I've been busy finishing a book illustration project. I'd like to get back in the routine here, though! In the meantime, here is a quick sketch I drew and painted the other day.

Hello April

Photos 1-3: tiny watercolor sketchbook ladies

Photo 4: Five year old artwork (the best!!)

Photo 5: trip to Anchorage for five year old to have surgery
for chronic ear infections(she's doing great!)

Photo 6: Pantone fan books make me happy

I Love August in the Arctic

I'm feeling lucky today to have all of this beauty in my backyard. This time of year in the Arctic is almost awe inspiring to me. Geese migrating overhead, calling so beautifully to each other in encouragement, snowy owls out my bedroom window, tiny flowers and plants putting on such an amazing show before the cold snaps begin. What a weekend!

These flowers are so tiny- about the size of a pinky nail.They are everywhere right now. I didn't see the bug in the flower cup until I opened the photo.

 

These specks of pink caught my eye.

 

 

Mushrooms! Lots of varieties all over.

A flower ring

This is the first I've seen this type of flower this summer. They are one of my favorites.

August

Dew drops reflected inside dew drops! The tundra was glistening for much of today with drops of this dew that gave the whole place a misty look. 

  A bouquet of teeny tiny tundra flowers.

A Short-eared owl surprised me recently - I've only ever seen Snowy owls here in Barrow. A very graceful glider he was.

Catching up

hello! I thought it was about time I popped in and said hello. I've been so busy with my job and my little ones, I scarcely have a minute to post anything! This photo above shows the little ermine who were chattering at us during a nature walk out on the tundra with my watercolor field journal class. They were very cute, and very serious! These two were babies! This walkway you see is put down for researchers who study the tundra every summer.

And here is what we have had to do with every chair in the house since baby Ian started climbing. If we put one down he immediately climbs up onto the table or even the kitchen counter. It gets exhausting lifting him down and hearing him cry about it, so for now this works. Except when we need to sit down!

Some recent tiny ACEO size watercolors. Have to paint fast and small these days!

Watercolors of wild flowers and grasses

 

kite flying in the backyard

Poppies and other wildflowers

 

 

A close up of our trees here in Barrow- willows that grow just a few inches tall.

 

And that's all I've got for now! It might be a while before I can post again. Thanks for visiting!!

Oh, I almost forgot to mention- I would have loved to have flown down to the Eric Carle Museum in MA a couple weeks ago to see Lisbeth Zwerger in person, along with her artwork- but alas I could not. However, they have the exhibition catalog for sale on the museum website. I collect all things Lisbeth, so yay! I ordered it.

Another pretty ice show

Lots and lots of Long-tailed ducks swimming together today along the shore in this little cove that the ice made for them. This photo just captures about half of them. The sound of the ice melting, splashing, waves breaking, ducks calling...amazing. I had a thought while taking these photos- I wondered if I should quit taking pictures with the intent that I will paint them one day, and instead stop and draw the scene, maybe paint too. Right then. It would require slowing down to a pace I'm not used to. It sounds really nice.

Recently

Here are some recent pictures I've taken around town, Barrow, Alaska.

I love the colors!! Can't you just hear the water lapping at the ice?

update: thanks Jeannie Brett for asking- this flower is called Mertensia maritima, or Oysterleaf.
It grows in the sand on beaches and seacliffs. (Info from the Barrow Wildflower Sketchbook by Michele Johnson)

Hooray for nature!!

Does anyone know what kind of duck this is? I think it's a Long-tailed duck?

Baby Ian was very interested in the broom and dustpan today! I like this picture, it reminds me of sweeping brush strokes (no pun intended, really!) and it sort of captures the sweet chaos that is my life right now, raising small kids etc...time flying by...

Arctic Ocean

The water looked so blue this afternoon- I had to pull over and attempt to capture it with my camera. My mind thinks of paint and I mix colors in my mind.

Back in the Arctic

We're back home now in the Arctic. Flowers are sprouting. The tundra is still brown, but not for long. These little red flowers were teeny tiny- about half the size of a penny. I wandered around for a while in my backyard, listening to birds and enjoying the cool air. Two geese came in for a landing near me, communicating very loudly to each other as they descended. As soon as they were on the ground they ruffled their feathers and were quiet. Cute.

Happy Mother's Day!

ACEO watercolor and colored pencil

A spring day in the Arctic

Just last week I heard the first songs of the snow buntings- they are back! Always a happy time after only seeing and hearing a couple of ravens all winter. She's so cute and already making a nest in the house outside our kitchen window. I wonder if she is a baby born here last year, or the same bird. 





This was a cool site to see- A young boy pulling a sled, on a miniature snow machine, following his father out on the ice for a hunting trip. 




Old structures. Pretty colors.

ice and sky

I never tire of noticing the colors of the sky and ice pack.

~Watercolor on scrap Arches paper~

melt

pretty icicles melting against the clouds