Back in Maine
/Just in time for spring…
This past winter, aka summer in the southern hemisphere, I returned to New Zealand (five years after my seabird adventures there) for a four-month project called Toka Tāiko.
Toka means “rock” or “boulder” in te reo Māori, and this refers to one purpose of my trip: teaching sketching to a roving band of geology students from Carleton College. Tāiko is a word for seabird. Another purpose of the trip was to help seabird scientists with seabird research on seabird islands, picking up the threads from my project five years ago.
Between these two enterprises I covered a decent amount of ground (and water) from the Tongariro Alpine Crossing to the Southern Alps to the Mercury Islands, and was fortunate to steer clear of Cyclone Gabrielle along the way. Meanwhile, I did a whole lot of sketching. Which brings me to this news:
I’m making a bunch of the original sketches from this trip available for sale. Check out available artwork here and use the “Inquire” button alongside any piece to ask questions or let me know of your interest. (For prints, visit here.)
Sign up for my newsletter to stay in the loop about future projects.
A few sketches from a few days on a seabird island 23 miles offshore from Rockland, Maine, with Audubon’s Seabird Institute. Featuring: Arctic terns, Atlantic puffins, black guillemots, razorbills, seals, bindweed flowers, bird blinds, granite, a lighthouse, scientist Gemma Clucas, John Drury’s lapstrake dory, and scenes from the Vinalhaven–Rockland ferry.
Sketches from a week as a “Puffin Islands” instructor for the National Audubon Society at Hog Island, Maine (with a trip to Eastern Egg Rock).
Abby McBride
SKETCH BIOLOGIST
Contact: abbymcb@alum.mit.edu
© Abby McBride 2014-2024