I had to start off the post with the view toward the visitor center last night. The clouds came rolling in and they were gorgeous, but foretold the lightning and thunderstorms that followed.

So today I packed up some sketching and watercolor supplies and headed to the canopy outside the visitor's center. First, I sketched a few plant silhouettes, collecting them for a future project, then I settled in for a couple hours of watercolor studies. The clouds here are spectacular! The blue skies, too!

The quiet is something else altogether. When I'm hiking or drawing in one place for a while, the animals start to forget I'm there and come around. I scared up a doe at one point today, and she snorted at me for quite awhile, as she headed into the woods.

older fawn in the woods, Homestead National Monument