Letters

Submissions reflect readers’ opinions and may be edited for length and clarity.

March Issue

I loved the artwork in the March issue. The artist Jane Bick Mudd is so deserving of being featured for her beautiful paintings that truly do what she set out to do — capture the personality of the trees [The Mighty Ones].

Her painting of a blue ash tree in Boonville used on the front cover made me pick up the magazine over and over. It’s a keeper and the best Conservationist ever!

Lynn Cornell, Lee’s Summit

The covers on this magazine are always outstanding, but this March one is so beautiful I just had to write and compliment the artist.

Betty L. Eads, Trenton

The March cover is so beautiful. Thank you so much for your magazines. What a wealth of educational information, photography, and artwork. I share the magazines with my 6-year-old grandson. He loves both the Missouri Conservationist and Xplor.

Mrs. William Adams, Richmond

Missouri Conservationist, you have outdone yourself. The March issue is amazing. It features William Woods art professor and artist extraordinaire Jane Mudd’s interpretations of my absolute favorite tree in the world — my Champion Bur Oak in McBaine’s Missouri River bottoms, along with other champion trees in the state. Art and trees — how great is that?

Crystal Payne, Columbia

Luscious is the word I would use to describe the cover of the March issue of the Missouri Conservationist. Thank you for featuring the magnificent champion trees and the paintings of these beauties by the talented artist Jane Bick Mudd. Also, the article Conservation en Plein Air [Page 24] was both enlightening and inspiring. It is wonderful to see the visual arts featured in the Conservationist.

Carol Bramon, Mexico

The Mighty Ones

Jane Bick Mudd’s beautiful painting of the ash tree made a strikingly different cover for the March Conservationist.

Her paintings to illustrate the champion Missouri trees in the The Mighty Ones offered fresh personal views of five of the champion trees. The layout of the pages using almost a full-page for each painting was appropriate for the “big” subjects.

Carl Hermann, Chesterfield

What a surprise and so refreshing to see Missouri’s champion trees [March] through the eyes of plein air artists! Inspires me to get back to painting.

Margaret Hogan, Spickard

en Plein Air

I enjoyed the story, pictures, and paintings in Conservation en Plein Air [March; Page 24]. I became acquainted with plein air painting when I attended a show at the Ashby Hodge Gallery of American Art on the campus of Central Methodist University in Fayette, Missouri, in 2011. The artist was Billyo O’Donnell, who painted a scene from every county in Missouri. Thank you for highlighting this unique genre of art.

Susan Devaney, Hallsville

This March issue is a keeper. The painting of Missouri scenery is inspiring and uplifting. All the paintings are expressing the feelings of the artists, in some ways better than a photograph.

Al Hempy, St. Charles

Pleased Subscriber

I love your magazine! I anxiously await my issue every month. The photographs are so vivid of the various wildlife, flora, and fauna. I enjoy learning about various conservation areas in the state. I feel your magazine is equivalent to, if not better than, the National Geographic magazine for the quality of your photos.

Kathy Anderson, Neosho

Reader Photo

The Early Bird

Becky Swearingen of Springfield captured this photo of a yellow-crowned night-heron about to enjoy a crayfish dinner at Shell-Osage Conservation Area. Swearingen, who is a Missouri Master Naturalist with the Springfield Plateau Chapter, visits conservation areas about twice a week to take photographs. “Spending long periods of time at conservation areas has allowed me to capture some fascinating things, both with my camera and for my memory,” said Swearingen. “This heron was a rather serendipitous sighting. I had spent a few hours photographing other birds and wildlife and was doing a last swing through the waterfowl refuge. This guy was hunting about 20 feet from the road. I was so happy when he caught that crawfish and I caught it on camera.”