Author Archives: makielb

After intense periods of illustrating, which is completely different from drawing, I would take a figure drawing class. Typically, the models for these classes were women, not like the wild ginger which was part of the large project that lead to this. One of those classes got me to drawing women, which is the restContinue reading “Art challenge – wiggly? No! Women.”

The art challenge for toady is “colorful.” The above photo of my friend Heidi’s paint palate perfectly defines “colorful.” But I also wanted to use something that I had done. So here it is in two steps. First there’s the illustration that the watercolor was done from. The above illustration of a buckeye, one ofContinue reading “Art challenge, friends and family”

We were visiting friends in Petosky recently. They had been gifted lots of English walnuts by their neighbor. I immediately thought that this was perfect for my Sciartober challenge today which is “shelled”. We went to visit the tree that these were from. Nearby there was a tuliptree and a ginkgo. None of these nativeContinue reading “Shells and friends”

The other day I ended the art challenge for evolution with this drawing of the fossilized remains of this ancient bird. It is a great transition to the post for today – prehistoric. Brontops, an ancient mammal, drawn from a diorama at the Field Museum in Chicago. Smilodon, the skull of a saber-toothed cat. IContinue reading “Prehistoric art challenge”

The challenge for day was called “leafy.” As a result I first choose an illustration that I had done for Along the Huron, back in the mid-1990s. Then I thought about a sketch in the woody plants journal that I did in 1995. Finally, I’ll add a photo from the Baltimore Aquarium that I tookContinue reading “A leafy art challenge”

The squash is all in, and the last of the tomatoes and green beans will soon be in as well. There are still a few hot peppers in the garden as well as two small eggplants and some herbs. Soon the garden will be put to sleep for the winter, except for the kale. TheContinue reading “Art-challenge and the garden”

The idea that my friend Megan is doing for her podcast series is part of Sciartober 2021, an endeavor for scientific illustrators. Since i am not a medical illustrator in any sense of the word, I thought that I’d do the ideas for the day with older sketches, drawing and illustrations that I had doneContinue reading “A friend’s artistic challenge”

We spent the first days of fall in Petosky with Mike and Deb. Lots of fun little walks looking for mushrooms. The above three fungi are (left to right) Yellow fairy cups, Bears head tooth fungus, Coral tooth fungus. The above are Wolfs milk (a slime mold) and Common eyelash. Above left is White coralContinue reading “First day of Fall”

Our day, whether at Whitefish Point, in Ann Arbor or elsewhere starts with coffee. It’s just at the cabin our mugs reflect the site. Usually after coffee and breakfast we usually take a walk to the bird observatory to see who might be there, or what birds shave shown up – like the Snow GooseContinue reading “Whitefish Point weekend”

I have been visiting Whitefish Point since the 1978, and we have had a cabin here since 2009. Over the years we have learned a lot about the history of the area (for instance when I first came here what is now the headquarters for the Whitefish Point Bird Observatory was then a general store,Continue reading “Our years at Whitefish Point”