Drawing and painting

For much of my life I have carried pencils, pens and watercolors where ever I was. In reality I had started drawing by 1956 – a very long time ago. Even while I was leading natural history tours in Mexico in the 1980s and 1990s I took some time to sketch.

The above photo of me was at El Tajin, in the state of Veracruz, Mexico. I had some time free to sit and sketch while my tour group wandered around the ruins for awhile. But before I knew it I had attracted the attention of a student group and was soon surrounded by over a dozen of enthusiastic young people, all commenting or asking questions in Spanish. Fortunately my Spanish back then was enough to answer questions, albeit with simple responses. The watercolor sketch below was what I was working on.

I was always interested in the ancient Mayan ruins since my time in Anthropology in the early 1970s. So I was taken with many ancient archeological sites in Mexico and the associated fauna and flora, especially the birds. But I quickly learned to enjoy the plants as they moved much slower than birds or insects.

Hummingbirds are a challenge to photograph, let alone sketch. The Green-breasted Mango, below was one of the few that was still long enough to be painted in the field while I watched it.

For five years I took people to Tecolutla, a small village in the north-central part of the state of Veracruz, Mexico. It was situated on the Gulf of Mexico, and was a great place to see many hundreds of thousands of birds migrating north in the spring. But even here I was drawn to old ruins. The once active ferry terminal caught fire many years earlier and got me sketching.

While I have always been interested in birds and insects I also find plants frustratingly attractive. While in Mexico I would have my copy of Mexican Roadside Flora with me, allowing me to identify a few common plants, including trees. White bombax is a favorite flowering tree as the blossoms are the size of tennis balls.

Some day I will find my sketches of the ancient Mayan city of Palenque, located in the state of Chiapas, Mexico. But until then this is enough for today.