Measuring Time with Flowers - part two

Here is the first part:
https://blog.apple-pine.com/2019/02/measuring-time-with-flowers.html
And here is second:

Join me on April 27th for the Joy of Gouache Workshop!

I will be teaching gouache workshop this April as a part of series of on-location sketching workshops through The International Urban Sketchers organization and San Francisco Bay Area Urban Sketchers Group.

In this workshop you will learn the joy of gouache through limiting your options and taking it with you on location for fast sketching. 

This workshop is geared towards people who have experience with gouache and want to try new techniques and get better and those who have struggled with gouache before and want to give it another try. (People who are trying this medium for the first time are also welcome.) 

Participants will learn about basic tools: layering, brush techniques unique to the gouache, then we will switch to some color mixing and brushwork on a more advanced level.

There is an additional materials cost of $15, paid to the instructor on the day.

To register please go to: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-joy-of-gouache-tickets-54767234272

This workshop is part of the 2019 San Francisco Bay Area Urban Sketchers’ 10x10 series. For more 10x10 workshops, click here.

Measuring Time with Flowers

While organizing my files at the beginning of the year I realized that one of the ways how I measure my time is by the things that happen every year - but not at predictable dates. 

Birthdays, seasons, the rhythm of school, public holidays - all create a backdrop. And then there are things that happen every year but you almost never know when exactly they will happen. The first duckling in the park. The first cherry tree to bloom. Last rain of the winter. Each time I got to run in my winter gear. 

One of these things are flowers - most of the bouquets in my life appear unplanned and unexpected. I am not a big fan of obligatory flower gifting but I love flowers and people around me know this. So I get all kinds of amazing and exotic bouquets (my friends gave me once a bouquet of carrots for my birthday) and measure my time by them. 

These are sketches of the first bouquet of 2019. I will post more of them soon. 

Saratoga Public Library crossed off my list.

I am a "list" person - I have many lists. For example, I keep a list of places/things/events I want to draw. It's long and there are some destinations on it that will take time to get to (who wants to go sketch glaciers with me? Aurora borealis in Iceland? :) but there are some places that are not that far from my everyday life.

The life of this list can be described as a sinusoid wave - I add things and then I don't and then I forget I even have this list and then suddenly I decide that no matter the workload and life load but the morning of upcoming Friday should be spent outside painting. I have a friend who always supports me in these decisions (and often inspires me to make one:) - Suhita. And my list is where we got an idea to sketch Saratoga Public Library as it stands against Santa Cruz Mountains. We ended up drawing library, church nearby, lovely mustard flowers and then library visitors.

As usual, after I cross something off the list a few ideas come to mind so the more I use it the longer it gets...

Dendrochronology

Dendrochronology is a really cool idea - one of the first concepts that I was introduced to when my parents talked to me about science, history, math, conservation, ecology, aging and family history.

I use it too when I talk to people of all ages - it's such a simple and personal thing - to touch the past on the tree stomp! 

So naturally, I try to count the years every time I see a tree stump, I draw one every time I have time for it and one of these days I will get myself a petrified tree with rings - just need to find "the right one". 

And here is a really cool example of how the idea of a tree rings is used to represent data - in this case 200 Years of U.S. Immigration. Check it out - I am part of one of those green dashes.