Barrel Cactus, Aloe, and A Plant Named Audrey

Living in Southern California, we don’t get winter like other parts of the world.  Plants are green and living, not in dormant states for the most part.  In a botanical garden, one of the real pleasures is seeing the sheer variety of plants!  Last Friday, besides trees, I also did a barrel cactus, some red aloe (I think they are aloe), and a huge succulent that I always call “Audrey” from that strange and lovely life form in “Little Shop of Horrors.”

Barrel Cactus . . . these look like a weird squash.

Red Aloe . . . no lines!

Fortunately, these Audreys do not require feeding!  Nor do they sing.

Under the Pines

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Yesterday morning I met up with a friend, to chat, drink coffee, and sketch in the local botanical gardens.  The day was warm and sunny, and before you knew it, 2.5 hours had passed.  She did some wonderful pictures of cacti and tree branches, using only colors from a very tiny paint box!  Me, I need pen and ink to feel confident enough – I am still trying to make watercolors look like watercolors, instead of ink with colors.  I do like the ink-and-color thing, but I know I want to master solid colors.  So, after inking on site, I went home and filled in some colors, and more ink, and more colors, until I hope I got what looks like dappled light on rocks and cacti beneath some pines.

Being curious as to whether or not there is decent light / dark, I thought I would convert it to black and white to see.  Results are below.  I may go in and paint the bushes behind the rocks a bit darker in the center an to the right.

Sketches from a Week or So Ago

I started a small Meetup group last September. At our third meeting we hit the local mall. I was pleased with the turnout! There were 5 of us total, two of whom showed up last minute. There are some pretty talented people out there! I finally got around to scanning some of my sketches, none of which are especially great, but it was really fun to meet a bunch of nice people who like to draw and paint and be creative. We’ll connect again in January, sometime after the new year.


Cinnabon

Nothing like the power of  the crop tool in your photo processing software.  This is a pretty bad sketch, but it was part of a lot of sketches done at the local mall.  On the original page it is all lost in space, but with a square crop, it turned out okay – just okay – but much more presentable.

This morning, I met up with a friend and we went up to one of my favorite local places, the botanical garden a few miles from my house.  Before you knew it, 2.5 hours had passed, filled with sketching, painting, chit-chat, and coffee.  Not a bad way to spend a sunny morning!