Field sketches from Alaska, Denali and the Kenai Peninsula!

I had the privilege of traveling around the towns and wilderness of Alaska these past couple weeks. I was busy drawing, hiking, setting up camp, spying on wildlife and riding trains! 

Our first stop was Denali Nat'l Park. The fall color made the landscapes stunning with contrast- orange shrubs dotted with conifers. Looking closer to the ground, the tundra and taiga was teeming with mosses, lichens, mushrooms and berries. Red squirrels were collecting mushrooms.

Returning on the train to Anchorage, we were treated to visits to the Anchorage Museum and the Alaska Native Arts Foundation. These highlight the art, crafts and household items of villages of the tundra. Swoon. It was also interesting learning about the politics of development, oil and native corporations. 

The train brought us south to the Kenai Peninsula. We spent a few days hiking around the beaches, glaciers and fjords of the Katchemak Bay and Resurrection Bay. The city of Homer housed an amazing art and natural history museum called the Pratt Museum. Their exhibit on boreal birches rocked my socks! This sketch was done in front of the Greywick Glacier.    

        

Sketches, top to bottom, view of the fall taiga from the train, sea turtle skeleton at the Pratt Museum, spruce trees in Denali, and octopus at the SeaLife center:

There were a couple of surprises along the way too! The weather was brillant and mild; it felt like a rainy-er version of the San Francisco Bay Area. Also, with the fall weather and shorter days, the mosquitos were nowhere to be seen. We didn't have to use our mosquito net suits, DEET or Permethrin. 

Thanks for keeping in touch. I'm finishing up my internship with the Community Science program at the Natural History Museum. I'll soon be sharing illustrations of ladybugs, spiders, and pill bugs, oh my!