In Which we meet the Guardians of the Seeds

It was brutally hot on the day we went to the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens to meet the Trolls.  

I will admit, I overexerted myself walking in the heat.  But if you'll recall, last time I visited the Gardens, it was dreary and raining (Early Blog Installment Weirdness disclaimer).  I explored all over the northeastern side of the Gardens and it was well worth it.  Not only did I get to see my favorite gardens in the sun, it turns out that this is where the Guardians of the Seeds are hiding out.

 

As you can see in the first photo, the Guardians appear deceptively small at first.  But up close, it's like standing next to a Redwood tree or a Tyrannosaurus skeleton: they are massive and magnificent.  I made sure to get pictures of them without people, but I think the White Pine Roskva is holding here gives you some perspective.  She's huge!

The Guardians of the Seeds were created by Thomas Dambo, as part of what he calls his "Sculpture Fairy Tale", The Great Story Of The Little People & The Giant Trolls.  The installation is worldwide and there are potentially a family of his trolls near you.  They are created entirely out of recycled wood and are beautifully integrated into the landscape. 

While posted rules do not allow people (or adults at least) to climb on them, they do invite interaction.  Indeed, the two smaller (relatively speaking) trolls practically demand hugs.  Look at them!

The Fairy Garden Village sits near one of the younger trolls, and here visitors are encouraged to create their own art out of found forest materials, though on a much smaller scale.  And these are very traditional Maine coast Fairy Houses: they're meant to camouflage into the landscape, made of only found natural objects, and no dollhouse furniture or toys and certainly nothing made of plastic.  You build with what you find on the ground.  The results are adorable and I like the abstract one in the last picture.

The gardens are a spectacular place altogether and here are more highlights, including an unusual vertical garden, a sculpture by Nancy Schön (who also created the famous Make Way for Ducklings statue in the Boston Public Gardens), and beautiful water gardens (and bonus frog).

Impressions de New Hampshire

I'd brought my "new" Moleskine along on a scenic train ride along Lake Winnipesaukee last October.  This was during a weekend in my childhood romping ground, the White Mountains of New Hampshire.  It wasn't quite peak foliage yet, but the mountains look beautiful no matter what.  Here are my inept little landscape paintings and drawings of them:

Let's Go Down to "Turtle Town"

My current Sketchbook is a little pocket-sized Moleskine that's been riding around in my purse with me for some time now. Since I'm going to be traveling a bit this month, I decided to finally make it my main Sketchbook and fill the dear little thing.



There were already quite a few very nice drawings and paintings in it from this past October.  The first few pages were full of watercolors of a place we call Turtle Town.  It's a tiny little inlet off the main section of the Lake.  It's easy to kayak to and, yes, you can often see turtles of unusual size hanging out on the sunny logs or lurking in the mud.

I didn't see any turtles last October when I paddled down to take reference photos and do a watercolor sketch or two, but I did find a lot of cool water plants.  So here's a page of botanical studies and a couple of landscapes.

Pemaquid Point and Eastern Egg Rock Studies

We spent a few days on the Maine Midcoast recently, and I carved out some time to do these landscapes and sketches. All of these are watercolor on recycled watercolor Sketchbook paper. Head over to Flickr to see the bigger versions.



Pemaquid Point Lighthouse



I feel like, with it's lighthouse overlooking a sea as angry as an old man trying to send back soup in a diner, it's "locals only" art gallery and quirky-as-all-get-out gift shop, Pemaquid Point is Maine as imagined by people who do not live in it.



Still, I'm also a sucker for an iconic rocky coast dotted with little islands, like this one in nearby New Harbor.



I was also taken by the surreal world just underneath the piers.

But seabirds are what we came to see. So here are the residents of Eastern Egg Rock including the iconic Puffins and a swimming Bald Eagle:





I'd highly recommend Hardy Boat Cruises' Puffin Safari.  The sea is rough, but the journey to and from the island is quick and the field biologist hosts, many of whom were directly involved in the ongoing Puffin and Arctic Tern conservation project, are informative and entertaining.

From Up On Hacker's Hill - Part Two

More watercolor studies of the views from Hacker's Hill - and some of the wildlife too!







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Make sure you tune into TCM this Sunday night for some rarely seen early animation goodies!

And next week, I will hopefully be writing one lengthy post, since I am waiting on something very interesting to be delivered. If all goes well, we'll be catching up with an old friend...

From Up On Hacker's Hill - Part One

The last run of posts have been very wordy, haven't they?  So this week, let's chill out a bit.  I'm going to share some watercolor sketches from a trip to see the incredible views from Hacker's Hill, one of the best-kept secrets of the Sebago Lakes region.  You get a fantastic view of the entire Lakes Region as well as, on a clear day, the White Mountains. 

I was a little overwhelmed by the views but I gave it my best shot. This run of paintings was a little abstract, just to get comfortable:

The (Rainy) Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens

It was pouring rain by the time we made it to the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens. This fact did not dampen my spirits one bit. Still, my visit (we and the other tourists were allowed to explore the walking paths for free due to the weather) felt a tad rushed. Ah well.


I did get a lot of exploring in. I made it to the Gardens' two most famous features: the Garden of the Five Senses and the massive, massive Children's Garden. You know, I think the weather worked out all right. No crowds.



The Children's Garden feature this lovely stone labyrinth with rock sculptures that kind of remind me of tyrannosaurus skulls. No, really! Here's a closer look:



So cute!



The Children's Garden also featured this gorgeous little pond.



With resident Pitcher Plants! I didn't know they could grow this far north!



The Garden of the Five Senses is a riot of amazing scents. They also feature plants with unusual textures and shapes.



Some kind of unusually-petaled annual, I think.



A virtual forest of sweet Bee Balm.



And would you ever guess that these were artichokes left to their own devices instead of being harvested? My gosh, I need to grow these next year. I love plants that freak out the neighbors.



Sadly, I didn't get to see the famous Fairy Houses; they're on the tram tours, which were cancelled for the rest of the day. But they did have a few on display in the visitor's center. Even better, the Children's Garden had a giant walk-through one. (Which I forgot to photograph.)

And now, random photos from the rest of our week with our Florida relatives:



Linda Bean's Freeport restaurant. Oh deary me, I might have to warn people about this place. See, Linda's "secret recipe" for lobster rolls is to just dump Dill over everything. If this is the "authentic New England cuisine" available at EPCOT's food and wine fest, please don't assume this is what our food really tastes like. Thank you.



"Boom-boom baby! / Wanna get in my Mercedes? / Wanna be a little SAIL-fish! / Be a little SAIL-fish!"



Animal skulls on display in Mangy Moose.



I can't tell if this is adorable or terrifying.



This, however, is terrifying. Straight-up terrifying. I went inside and looked at it. It is indeed exactly what it sounds like: vanilla ice cream with chunks of arthropod innards in it. I didn't taste it; they couldn't pay me to do so. This is some "Fear Factor" sh*t right here. A line that I didn't even know existed has been crossed. Twice. With bulldozers.

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Art of the Day!

Foggy Boothbay Landscape.