Harbour porpoises and a grey seal in Passamaquoddy Bay (you can tell they were on the Canadian side because of the spelling). Not pictured: Sabine's gull and little gull! Thanks to Cobscook Institute, Chris Bartlett, Doug Hitchcox, and company for the boat trip through Head Harbour Passage from Eastport, Maine.
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.
Sandy Bay Dunes, 6x6" Watercolor
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.)
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A hint of what I have been up to (and where) for the past four months. Details to come…
Photo by Edin Whitehead
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.
Abby McBride
SKETCH BIOLOGIST
Contact: abbymcb@alum.mit.edu
© Abby McBride 2014-2024
