Studio, Messy; Woods, Damp

While drinking my morning tea (left), I drew a corner of my studio, kind of scary!

These enormous trees are in the old growth part of the forest that I often walk through.  These trees are well over a hundred years old and were left undisturbed when the north face of the mountain was cut for lumber in the early 20th century. I left off the leaves because my interest here was in the patterns and shapes of the trunks and lower branches.  If I stand in front of one of these giants and reach my arms across I can barely reach from side to side, certainly not encircle the trunk.  They're full of scars and round growths and twisted branches and holes.

Walking up the trail I saw so many mushrooms, including one pure white one covered with velvety white hairs.  Another was a puffball with a hole in the top through which spores had blown.  Also saw some squaw root with little seeds coming off the blackened, rotting cone-like body of the plant.  I also picked up some clay samples, just fingersful.  I found the four colors here within a few yards of each other along the trail.  Monday night my journal group is coming over to go clay gathering for paint-making, and I wanted to check out the accessibility of the clay deposits in all this rain.  We will need boots!