Lichen, Moss, and Mushroom Sketch

Just look at the beautiful specimen I found while hiking last Sunday! I always like to note what the weather conditions are because I think it is so vital to what you encounter in the woods. While I was hiking it was 41°F, raining and there was a light fog hovering above the horizon.

Here is what I found on a felled tree. Aren’t those the most beautiful puffball/earthball mushrooms you ever did see! There were hundreds growing on tree bark. My friend David Fischer of American Mushrooms.com told me that these are mature mushrooms. They stared out as a solid form before they releases their spores and became hollow. Speaking of spores, while observing these mushrooms, I took my pencil and tapped one of the shrooms… a brown cloud of spore smoke erupted from the hole. So totally cool.

Here is a close-up…

Notice the speckled skin. As an artist you must look at the little detail and include it in your sketch.

Here is my sketch. I did this real fast, maybe 20 minutes. I just wanted to include the lichen, moss, and puffball mushrooms. See, you don’t have to be a perfectionist and make everything exact, take the stress away. A quick little sketch will do and it will allow you to savor these memories for a long, long time.