April 2014: Lemons on my kitchen table

A friend gave me a bag of very fragrant lemons picked form her tree.

April 2014: Lemons
I made some tea, nice lemon pie, lemonade and a whole bunch of sketches. Some of them were overworked so I tried to save them by overworking them more - until lemons were dry :)
April 2014: Lemons

April 2014: Lemons
April 2014: Lemons
You can see more sketches of the same lemons here:
http://blog.apple-pine.com/2014/04/on-my-table.html

Lilac in Hidden Villa

Amazing lilac bushes in Hidden Villa made me (almost) come in into someone's private garden :) April 2014: Lilac Bushes in Hidden Villa
April 2014: Lilac Bushes in Hidden Villa

I picked up the idea of drawing with highlighters from Richard Câmara and now cannot stop using them :)
  April 2014: Lilac Bushes in Hidden Villa
April 2014: Lilac Bushes in Hidden Villa

Bottle Tree

I've noticed interesting seed pods first - really amazingly fluid boat shape! I identified the tree by the seed pod as Australian native Bottle Tree. April 2014: Bottle Tree
Then I found a whole bunch of the seed pods with the fuzzy insides still in and was sketching them curiously while fighting a bit of repulsion - they looked like a bunch of hairy spiders sleeping inside these marvelous boats. I am not against spiders but perhaps not that many at the same time...
 January 2014: Treasures
And then I found a tree and learned that it will be blooming soon! These were the first flowers I saw: #Drawing #bottle #tree #flowers April 2014: Bottle Tree

On My Table

April 2014: On My Table

April 2014: On My Table

April 2014: On My Table

Badger Log: 28 (2014)

Badger Log

April 2014: Lilac Season

Lilacs were part of every spring when I was a kid. All colors, all kinds - they were everywhere.

April 2014: Lilac Season
And I finally tracked down their season in California :)

April 2014: Lilac Season

April 2014: Lilac Season

Bits and Pieces of March

March 2014: Project

I am playing with liquid watercolors a bit lately - when I get to scanning this week's sketches you will see more. It's very direct and very unforgiving and extremely exciting! March 2014: Treasures

Treasures as a way to return to sketching. March 2014: Treasures

Badger Log: 26 (2014)

Badger Log

March: Arrival of Spring

March is the month when colors change rapidly and I see so many things to draw that choosing becomes impossibly hard but flowers are my favorite subject this time of the year :) Along with blooming trees :) Too bad I haven't figured a way to sketch the smell!
 March 2014: Magnolia March 2014: Iris March 2014: Freesia Flowers March 2014: Freesia Flowers

March 2014: Trip to Israel - Tools

Well, apart from a rain jacket which saved me on this trip, I took quite a few very portable tools for sketching on the go. Most of them were used - especially since part of my company was sketching almost as much as I did. Not pictured here were more color pencils - I trimmed a set to a "bare minimum" and it got some use but not as much as what you will find on the sketched below.

March 2014: Israel - Tools
March 2014: Israel - Tools

The last piece is a small - pocket watercolor album which proved to be the best size for my pocket and the first one to be pulled in a jiffy hence most used. I would draw in it during any and then tear out pages to tape them in my main journal at night (or early in the morning) with additional comments. I had only 2 pages left after this trip and hence will add it to my list of "art supplies I must bring with me when traveling".
March 2014: Israel - Tools

This concludes my sketched story about the trip - you can see full set here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/23173190@N07/sets/72157643038176185
March 2014: Trip to Israel at a Glance

March 2014: Trip to Israel - Treasures

Things I found in Israel, things I saw in passing, things I ate and things that fell on me, some of these were gifts - all here :)
March 2014: Israel - Treasures
March 2014: Israel - Treasures
March 2014: Israel - Treasures
March 2014: Israel - Treasures
March 2014: Israel - Hyraxes
March 2014: Israel - Hyraxes