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.

ITALY

I spent the day in Italy today via the Virtual Paintout.

I found this location via Google Maps

Via Ugo Foscolo, 10, 50124 Florence Florence, Tuscany, Italy

The Google Map picture is below.

It is fun and I enjoyed going up and down the streets looking for a location to paint. I made a few sketches and the just painted this one taking artistic license with the light and color.

Coyote Hills

This area is land that the oil companies have worked and owned. The area is slated for development (houses and probably more stores) and the Save Coyote Hills group is trying to stop the development and the destruction of yet another open wild life area. It is hills of California native shrub, prickly pear cactus, eucalyptus (not native to California) and many animals. I drive there in the early morning, just at sun rise and then Ivy and I walk the area. I have seen opossums, skunks, coyotes, all kinds of raptors (hawks), mice, many kinds of birds, and insects. It's a lovely quiet place.

Dana Point, California

It is so relaxing to sit and paint while feeling the wind, hearing the waves and the laughter of children playing in the water, the fog horn and the smell of ocean all this while I am trying to get the waves right.

When pelicans fly over their shadows follow them along the sand and over the rocks.

IVY RELAXING

Here is Ivy relaxing. She has had to make do with too small furniture in her house. But as you can see she has made do.

BUTTERFLY

During my morning walk I came across this butterfly hanging from this blossom. I of course grabbed for my camera but the memory chip was in my computer at home. I started to sketch it thinking that it would fly away any moment. It seemed to wait for me to finish because it flew away just as I was thinking about doing a better more clear drawing. The entire time I was sketching I kept thinking that I wish I had more time and some colored pencils or pastels. The wing calls out for pastel.

Then after my walk and already thinking of my day, with my house in view a neighbor child stopped to show me this butterfly she had found. I asked if I could sketch it and she allowed me to take it home.

Top of butterfly

Underside of butterfly

Maybe I will get my wish to try colored pencil on this beauty.

GARDEN PATH

This is the sketch for my Sketchercise walk. I walked 2 miles today, up and down hills. I didn't have a garden today so I thought I would challenge myself. Then I got home and had to go to work anyway. Then I had a late night. Oh well, it was a nice plan. I have taken two Tylenol in hopes I can overcome some of the pain. I keep telling myself that the physical labor of gardening is good for me and that it is just the same as going to a gym.

LAMP POST and WALKING TRAIL

My moring walk started with this Narnia like lamp post.


I walked to the bridle trail with ivy and then found this path to a corral where Ivy always says hi to the horse. Or should I say the horse bends it's big neck down so that Ivy can smell it's nose.


This sketch was in my book from last week so I finished it when I came to this spot. The sun comes through the trees burning out the lights and making the darks darker. The grasses and stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) are really tall now.

THE WATER BOTTLE

The light was making long shadows on the stepping stones where I had set my bottle of water so I took up my garden journal sketchbook and did a quick pencil sketch.

I have been gardening constantly, both in other people’s gardens and my own. When I finally find my chair and some shade with an ice cold water bottle in my hand I think that I am finished, through, I will never work again. But after sitting for awhile I start to see that just one more thing needs to be done and then just one more thing and then another. I think without my water bottle and a little sit I wouldn't get anything done.

SUNSET

Sunset after a day of June Gloom. I couldn’t tell what colors I was using but it turned out OK. This is my favorite time to walk. A late summer day, cool and not full of mosquitoes,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, yet!

MORNING WALK

This is a stand of Eucalyptus that is on a hill. From this hill you can see Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm. These trees are so interesting and the way they march up the hill stops me and makes me want to sketch or take a photograph every time. I have walked by these trees for 30 years and still I am sketching them.

Plein Air Art Supplies

OK, So don't laugh. Here is my Plein Air art supplies
and how I carry them.

Ivy has a back pack and she carries all the little stuff.
Small sketch book, paint box, a couple of brushes, a pen, pencil, tissue, her water and dish. I carry my camera, larger paper and/or a larger sketch book and my water. If I am going to be out all day, I have a chair that has a shoulder strap.

SKETCHERSIZE

Sometimes I have such a hard time getting a get picture of my drawings.


Well I have taken up the Sketchercise challenge taken from Katherine Tyrrell's blog. This is the first day of exercise by walking and then sketching. Ivy doesn't quite understand why we have to stand for a while but I guess she will get the hang of it.

GREYHOUND PICNIC

Food was on the top of the list for all.

Yesterday was the Greyhound Picnic. Since Ivy is a greyhound I went and had a great time. It is a different experience to see 100's of people with 100's of greyhounds all in the same park.

Some people had more than 3 dogs; there were dogs for adoption and dogs with broken legs and dogs with grey noses from age and more. I got a new leash and collar for Ivy. She is styling now.

GARDEN HARVEST

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

NEIGHBORS HOUSE #33

Rainy day painting. We are having a summer storm moving through Southern California, but I am continuing despite the painting is taking forever to dry. The rain and lightening is sporadic but I am cozy in my car.

NEIGHBORS HOUSE #613

It rained today so I did this one from my car. The clouds were here and there and every time it clouded over there would be some rain and maybe lighting and thunder. I didn't have to water but I think my squash plant grew a foot. I wonder why rain is so good for plants since it is washing all the dirt out of the air.

MAGNOLIA BLOSSOM

This sketch of a magnolia blossom has been drawn with a graphite pencil on recycled cotton paper.

The photo below was taken after I had sketched the flower and the petals had started to open allowing more opportunity to see the magnificent center.

STAIRS

I was helping a friend with her Rummage sale. The first couple of hours we made 25 cents. What do people do when they have time to do nothing? My friend took a nap. She was selling a huge old overstuffed lounge chair. I sketched these steps to the backyard across the street. The air was cool, birds were singing and I could hear the neighbors getting ready for church. I love to just observe nature and experience the morning.

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.