Author: -N-

The Palo Verde Tree

Our local botanical gardens is open again! I took one of the dogs, Smudge, my X100V, and off we went, following the trails up and down. We have missed a lot of the early spring blooms, such as the narcissus and daffodils, but the trees are beginning to blossom. At the top of the hill is the cactus garden, filled with a variety of desert plants. There are barrel cactus, crowns of thorns, cholla, saguaro. Other drought-tolerant plants are there, too. The best of the day, though, was the Palo Verde tree, fully dressed in its light yellow-green leaves.

The Palo Verde Tree

The local botanical garden is open at last!  It has been closed since Ventura County closed trails, stores, and such, as well as issued a shelter-in-place order to keep the spread of the coronavirus at a minimum.  Some places are beginning to open up, though the shelter-in-place order is on until the end of May.

It was such a treat – a real slice of heaven – to be able to walk around the garden again.  Many of the spring flowers have gone, like the poppies, but many of the flowering trees are in bloom.  The palo verde tree at the top of the hill has leafed out in all its delicate bright yellow-green glory.  It is so graceful and lovely in spring that it could not be overlooked – here it is for today’s painting.

Field of Flowers

I did a painting in pastels yesterday.  Out of practice!  Plus, I had to contend with curling paper, new pastels that are softer than what I am used to, a new fixative, and the fact that one of my boxes of 90 colors fell to the floor.  You can imagine that mess.  A day later, and the pastels are out, still jumbled, along with the curling paper, etc.

Antidote needed!

Flowers are always cheerful subjects, particularly those in a field.  Walking through the field, hearing the birds and hum of insects, feeling the itch of the grasses, is something I love and wanted to capture.  I think I did.  Such happiness!

Eyes and Bottle

I took a few days off from painting and drawing because I needed to work on some sewing and knitting.  Made a couple of masks, and did a major step in a sweater, and those both took a lot more time than I expected.  But, breaking up patterns refreshes you – like a good vacation!

The next lesson in Keys to Drawing is to draw your own eyes!  I can’t see past my nose without my glasses, so it was a bit of a challenge.  Here I am, blindish and glasses-less.

I look pretty darned paranoid here!  My eyes are wide open and I am trying to see what I am looking at in the mirror.

The next one I did with my glasses on.

Hardly stylish, but at least I could see what I was doing!

Then, a tinted bottle.  As it is in the 90s, I have my water bottle everywhere I go.

Both assignments were to use a pencil, here an HB for both, and use lines.  The bottle neck is a bit small compared to the rest of the bottle – it’s really about 1/3 the bottle’s diameter – and a bit misshapen at the top.  I did have my glasses on when I did it.

As in painting, the idea is to go from the general (shape) to smaller details and to focus on line and shapes, not thinking, “I am drawing eyes” or “I am drawing a bottle.”  Overall, it worked.