Pears

Pears Harvest
Watercolor on paper 22 x 9

POPPIES

POPPIES

Watercolor on paper

Garden Journal

Garden Journal

Ink on  handmade paper

I don't usually write in my journal but I thought I might just this once.  I won't again.  Here is what it says if you can't read it from the picture.

I can’t believe it is already 12:00. I have been working in the garden since 8 and I am ready for a rest. I have had a Towhee with me all morning but now I am not finding one bird to sketch. This is one of my new plants from the Green Scene. It’s a pink/salmon geranium. It’s name is Belinda.

IRIS

Iris

Graphite on Journal

I have been working in my garden getting ready for the growing season. I have pruned for weeks now and still have not finished and the weeds are everywhere. I really don't mind weeding it just is never ending. I consider my yardening activity just like go to my local gym. I work in the garden for a few hours a day normally but during this part of the year the time is much more because there is so much prep in veggie gardening and getting those roses and fruit trees under control. My sketch for today is the sketch I work on when I just need to sit for a while to rest, hydrate and enjoy the wonderfully fertile soil that is now visible because I have pulled all those weeds out.

Hello everyone.
I haven't posted in a while but I continue to sketch and walk daily. I noticed that many of you have taken a step back from your computers for the summer also. Just why I don't have the time to post daily is a baffled to me but I keep thinking that I will get my life back soon and be doing just what I want to do. Paint and sketch, Paint and sketch and then Paint and sketch some more. Here is some of my work from the last week.

Have a great weekend.


I found this Giant Bird of Paradise plant to sketch while waiting for someone to get out of the doctor's office. Finally it wasn't me in there. She was getting a Colonoscopy. This is such an important test for anyone over 50. The test showed no cancer or polyps or anything bad. Next test will be in 5 years for her. What better reason to have the test then to prove that your health is good.

Bird of Paradise graphite on paper

These ducks were so interested in what I was doing. I had walked around Balboa Island, sketched a in a few different places and found that they had followed me the last few drawings. Do you think it might have been the sandwich I was sharing?

Mallards graphite on paper

I have been working in my garden in the early morning because of the heat of the day. My first pumpkin has grown and turned orange now but this one is the smaller one and is still yellow. The same color as the blossoms. I have been using these leaves for the cement leaf workshops I have been having. Great fun and so easy to do. I am going to be making many birds very happy with all the bird baths that are being made.

Pumpkins with Blossoms watercolor on paper


tomatoes graphite on paper

I have been harvesting tomatoes twice a week and the crop is enough for a few families. Composting and worm composting really works.

This is my Sketchercise sketch for this morning. This is on a hill in Fullerton looking toward Knott's Berry Farm amusement park. The morning was a little hazy today, over cast because of the marine layer coming in from the beach. It cools the air, keeping the heat down. Today it was only 83 degrees and that is bearable. OK, have I mentioned that I don't like the heat?

CONCRETE LEAVES

We turned the leaves over last Wednesday and removed the leaves, sand and any casting debris.

Yesterday we painted the leaves. Here are some of the results.

INTERNATIONAL GERANIUM SOCIETY

This is an apple scented geranium that I sketched during the lectures presented during the IGS meeting. I can't sit still for very long before I start to draw and if I don't have the 'proper tools' I have been known to use anything including the 2 crayons that are given to children in restaurants (ususally red, blue or yellow and not all three, only 2). This sketch was a blue ball point pen. Then I found my Sharpy.

Sorry, guys, if you recognize yourself, just don't admit it. No one will ever know.

GARDEN

The tomatoes are turning red now, squash and greens are abundant. The garden is so satisfing. I did my part with composting and tilling and planting, but it is such an amazing thing to see hard work be so productive.

FRONT YARD GARDENING DAY

This is my front yard. I have been removing more and more lawn over the last few years and finally removed the last part at the end of winter.

I dumped all of my compost in one corner, put in a veggie garden and planted anything that was growing from my wormery. The wormery is a box with earth warms in it that receives my entire kitchen green garden waste like peels, seeds, spoiled fruit or veggies, potato peelings etc. A neighbor contributed a Halloween pumpkin and the seeds started to grow so I put them out in the front yard. The result is this huge mass of green. I have potatoes, tomatoes (looks like all kinds), squash, pumpkin, watermelon, and some stuff I don’t recognize. I have posted some of the squash on an earlier post. I guess when the bees pollinate the flower the seed can be a mix of anything in the area. This pumpkin has become very big and the plant is now growing through the rose arch and onto the sidewalk.

This pumpkin is the exact same color as the squash blossoms.

GARDEN HARVEST

Here is the second harvest; oranges, apples and squash.

GARDEN

The extra moisture in the plant is released at the ends of the leaves forming crystal beads of dew at the edge of the leaf.

This is a macro of a squash leaf and below a tomatoe leaf.



The first squash and apple of the season.

To commemorate my 1000th visitor, I think it was Lin over at View From The Oaks, I would like to do something special. I don’t know what, so I will garden for awhile.


I have planted way too much but when you have something growing in the compost pile, or wormery, (my English friend calls my worm box a wormery) I just have to plant it. I will deal with the extras later.

Here are some sketches in my gardening diary for keeping track of the weather, what I have planted, seed start dates, what’s growing, when it fruits or blooms etc…. You know, nothing is as it was 5 or 10 years ago. Nothing is blooming like it should, or fruiting. The weather is just too screwy. I have an apple tree that has dormant branches, new growth, blossoms and fruit, both old and new. This poor guy is just trying to do it all.

PATIO

Here is my new brick garden patio. Easter day was beautiful, sunny, fresh and relaxing. I remember when everyone would come to my house for dinner and I worked for days to get the house ready, the food purchased and staged and everything just right so I could enjoy my family and friends. Now, here I am just sitting and sketching. Isn't life grand?

FIRST BLOOM OF APRIL

Here is my front garden with some of the flowers that are blooming.

BACKYARD REDO