Bridget Bryan

That is the question. How about both? Right now in this part of midwest is morel season! Have you found any while out on your daily hikes or excursions? One of my students was telling me he and his family found over 30! THIRTY! My mouth waters. I should have asked him if I could have some, or even buy a few as I seem to have no luck finding morels.

But the other day, while out hiking and talking to my sister, I found this little guy growing almost smack-dab in the middle of the trail.

It was like God saying, “Just wanted to say hello, daughter!”

After the hike, I decided to sit down in the middle of the trail and capture the little guy with my watercolors. He was definitely the highlight of the hike!

I looked at him, sketched him out with my handy-dandy pencil, and then proceeded to layout all my painting gear.

Remember in the last article how we read that making a good painting starts with the right mindset? Build, Shoot, Coach.

Build – I am going to change that to focus. Well, painting-wise, I forgot to focus on what I liked about the morel, but did it for the drawing. I liked his shape, and caught that. When I began painting it, I was just too overly excited about finding and painting a morel!

Shoot: shoot down the naysers: this morel got a little messy: I had to tell myself: “It’s okay -have fun doing it; it doesn’t have to be perfect!”

Coach: Gentle suggestions helped me focus and finish satisfactorily, as well as capture some other scenes that I saw along the way. Getting rid of those negative voices really helped the constructive voices be heard.

He got painted, in between some snacking.

After the painting, the morel came home with me, was soaked and cleaned, and then promptly slices and sautéed in olive oil with salt and pepper. If you enjoy truffles (the fungi) the morel does have a slightly similar essence. The only thing that would have made it better would have been…more morels.

That’s all for today; thanks very much for reading!

If you enjoyed this and are interested in some tools to help you with your adventures in capture beauty, check out these products below. (Note: when you click the link below, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.)

Here’s that trusty pencil that just feels so good in your hand:

Here’s my favorite, durable notebook:

And while this isn’t exactly how my watercolors are right now, this is what I started out with. They are so portable and this model worked with national and international travel: