Week 68: Allegheny National Forest Artist Residency Part 2!
Scenes from my public outreach programs, a painting in progress, and more!
Hello, hello, and welcome back to another weekly update! It’s the second week of my artist residency at Allegheny National Forest, Pennsylvania and what a week it’s been here in our cozy cabin in the Kane Experimental Forest. (Catch up on the start of my residency here.)
The leaves are starting to change really fast and it’s feeling like peak leaf season. I’m loving every minute of it — one of the things I missed most when I moved from the Youngstown, Ohio area to Austin, Texas was all of the autumn color. I love watching the leaves fall from the trees like confetti, and crunching through them as I go for walks to look for things to paint.
Interview with Pennsylvania Wilds!
As part of my residency I was interviewed by Brittany from Pennsylvania Wilds and it’s up on their blog here!
In case you were wondering, here’s a bit about PA Wilds:
The Pennsylvania Wilds, one of the state’s 11 official tourism regions, is a large rural area that covers about a quarter of the Commonwealth and is home to about 4 percent of the state’s population. The 13-county landscape is known for its two million acres of public land — more than Yellowstone National Park. It also boasts two National Wild & Scenic Rivers, the largest wild elk herd in the Northeast and some of the darkest skies in the country. It has a rich oil and lumber heritage.
This was really special to me as I’ve had a PA Wilds sticker on my suitcase for years that my Dad got when he went to see the Pennsylvania elk herd.
Nature Journaling Demo // All Employee Meeting
On Tuesday I got to give a nature journaling demo at an all hands meeting for the two ranger districts of the Allegheny National Forest Service.
I was a little intimidated — okay, I was really intimidated!
I didn’t know what to expect at all. It turned out to be so much fun!
I gave the rangers a quick intro to nature journaling, shared how to use a water brush and techniques for painting leaves, and then they all went to town. We even wrote some haikus and poems.
Jason and I were invited to join them for the potluck BBQ and there were even vegan options, made by the Forest Supervisor herself, Jamie Davidson. When we told her how good it was she gave us the rest for leftovers. YUM!
What an awesome day!
Trail Treasures
As part of my residency I’m required to donate a piece of art, and my plan is to create a poster of “trail treasures” — cool things that I find while hiking in the forest.
I purchased an 18x24” frame while I was visiting family in Ohio and brought it with me since this area is pretty remote and I didn’t know if I’d be able to find a frame locally.
I started out by doing a quick sketch on the backing paper that came with the frame like so:
Then I tore a piece of Arches cold press watercolor paper to size, took a deep breath, and got started!
I’ve been posting the poster over on Instagram if you’d like to follow along with my progress:
Some notes:
That white pine in the upper left was really nerve wracking to paint — with all those thin, delicate lines — I practiced it 3 times before painting it on the poster!
In case you were wondering, my go-to color for painting shadows is Daniel Smith ultramarine blue + transparent red oxide
I only have spots for 2 more tiny treasures, and then I’ll go back over it and add a few details and call it done! Whew!
I’ll post the finished poster next week — stay tuned!
PA Trail Central // ANF Visitor’s Bureau
Thursday I got to share the painting in progress with Rustin and Debbie from PA Trail Central, which is part of the ANF Visitor’s Bureau. Special thanks to them for their support of the artist residency program.
Bradford Ranger Station // Timberdoodle Trail
Friday morning we left our cozy cabin and headed for the Bradford Ranger station to pick up a sandwich board sign to display at my public outreach program and then stopped by Timberdoodle Flats Trail since it was close by.
It was a glorious fall day in the forest!
For those who are new to the term like we were, a timberdoodle is another name for an American woodcock. Don’t ask me how they got that silly name!
We didn’t see any timberdoodles but we did see so many amazing trees:
It was also my first time seeing white pines — at least while knowing what they are. The leaves are so flexible and graceful — and they smell good, too!
Prairie friends will be excited to learn that there were pockets of big bluestem in the forest!
So glad we got to see this.
Public Outreach Program // Willow Bay
Saturday I had my public outreach program at the day use pavilion at Willow Bay Campground — it was right next to the Allegheny Reservoir — what a beautiful spot:
I gave an intro to nature journaling, a water brush demo, and shared ideas for painting leaves. It was so fun!
Thanks to Ranger Kate for printing out the Wild Wonder Foundation’s quick guide to nature journaling zines — everyone loved them. You can download yours here.
Extra special thanks to Jason for helping out when the camp host dropped his 4 (!) kids off for an hour, and to everyone who came out — especially Moose, the German shepherd who stole the show!
Another Glorious Fall Day
After packing up from the program we set off in search of some acorns that I could add to the Trail Treasures painting, but first we made a quick detour to…
Allegheny State Park, New York
We actually drove past Willow Bay into to New York the day before so that we could say that we’d gone to NY, ha! We had to go back again and stop by Allegheny State Park to see the leaves properly:
Shoutout to Cole from Art Toolkit — I was thinking of you and what a small world it really is!
Next we stopped at the Tracy Ridge Recreation Area back in the Allegheny National Forest (ANF) in Pennsylvania and found the mother lode of acorns, woo hoo!
Rimrock Overlook, ANF, Pennsylvania
Our last stop of the day was the Rimrock Overlook to see if we could find any beech or hickory nuts. No luck on those, but we did have an amazing view:
Then we spent some time exploring the trails among the boulders, including some steep stairs that reminded us of climbing the ladders at Bandelier National Park in New Mexico:
It was so much fun, and we got to see moss and ferns — if you know me, you’ll know that I can never get enough of moss and ferns!!
We were lucky enough to see two flocks of turkeys on our way back to the cabin — what a great day.
That’s a Wrap
That’s it for this week. We’re here in the cabin for one more week — it won’t be nearly enough time to fit everything in that I want to see and paint. I’m soaking in every minute of this residency — I don’t want it to end.
As always, thanks for following along on our adventures — it really means so much to have you along for the journey! — Lisa, Jason & Walter-the-Van
Hi Lisa! This is an interesting post for me to read. My stepmother's father was a career employee of the Forestry Service. That man was a native of Pennsylvania, and he was the son and brother of coal miners. He decided as a young man that he did not want to become a coal miner himself, so he opted for college and then joined the Forestry Service in the 1920s. He was quite a nice guy to me and I wish I had asked him to tell me of his professional experiences. So thank you for your work with our Forestry Service people today. They are very dedicated people and they do so much to help others. I have two relatives who are also campground hosts for National Park Service. I really appreciate your teaching work, not only because of my memories of that nice old man, but also because I'm a newly retired Federal employee. I think you really appreciate people who give their whole careers to public service. May I ask a question after seeing the photo of your desk in the cottage? Does Jason have a similar desk for his use? (Smile.)
Painting all of those cool forest finds on one big sheet is a little scary! But its looking so beautiful 😍