Apple-Pine: November 2024

Drawing Flowers as a Therapy.

The only way to figure some things out is to draw some flowers while you are thinking about them :)

A year, a birthday and 1000 days. Update on my Parents - Refugees from Ukraine - November, 2024

This week we celebrated my Mom's 84th birthday (Happy birthday, Mom!), and this week is exactly one year since she and my Dad arrived in the USA as Ukrainian Refugees. A few days ago also marked ONE THOUSAND DAYS since the first bombs fell on the city where my parents lived their whole life (Kharkiv, Ukraine) and a full-scale invasion of russian forces began. It was a week filled with many memories and emotions. But also lots of little things that make up the magic of everyday life. It is a perfect time to give you an update on my parents.

My Mom underwent a cataract removal surgery and will soon own a new pair of glasses! Her experience with the medical system was not without some glitches yet her optimism prevailed over everything! She tried to speak to all the medical personnel in English, read all the signs in every room we went in, asked a thousand questions about everything, and enjoyed me sketching through all the adventures. She even participated in an online drawing event from an operation waiting room! She is working through my library of art history books and biographies and enjoys taking photos of all sorts of animal and plant life to discuss with me. She regularly talks to her friends and family who are dispersed around the world, many refugees like she is - and tries to find a good topic with each one - to stay in touch and keep the connection going despite some differences in worldviews. However there are some things she is not willing to compromise on - the idea of supporting putin is a hard no.

My Dad continues his lifelong experimentation with mixing things - his drinks often contain something unusual (when was the last time you put cayenne pepper and peeled grapes in your coffee?) and he is making lots of salads that are truly an inspiration in color if not in taste! His knees and shoulders had a nice reprieve during summer when he enjoyed swimming but the season is over and we are trying to find him alternative ways to gently work arthritic joints. His interest in finding things and making things out of stuff he finds resulted in a large art installation on their patio (see photos below). There are bottles, frying pans, flowers, cups, plates, toys, pens, unidentified objects, a little mural we made, and Ukrainian flags. A daily war with the squirrel population guarantees that something will be broken or moved in the morning which means that he works on this wall of wonders every day. He plays chess daily and is responsible for keeping a strict schedule of not watching war news before breakfast and after dinner.

They met some people on the street and are developing some new relationships. Now that they are vaccinated I hope to introduce some more interaction with people and outings to places. They miss their home, the life that they understood, their city, and the country they love. But they speak less about all of it these days - I think because they are trying to not worry me too much. It is a wonderful thing to witness their resilient spirit and utmost care for their family.

(For more background on their story please visit: War in Ukraine: Guide Through Posts on this Blog)

Mom's been a champion in medical appointments lately so I grew her more than Dad for a change - here are some out of many many sketches that I did - these represent the most "iconic" faces that she makes :)

Persimmons!

Persimmons have one of the best orange colors in the fruit world and what a festival of shapes! As long as these fruits are in season I eat and draw them daily - sometimes in that order that is why there are fever drawings this year - it was very good for persimmon eating :)

A season for pumpkins and getting together with friends - grateful!

It's a season to draw, eat, and decorate pumpkins :) It is also a season to be with people and tell them how much they mean to you! I am very fortunate to have some amazing friends who feed me (both literally and figuratively) with inspiring and enlarging ideas and foods on a regular basis. My friend invited me for a "turn your pumpkin into a mini garden" party and I enjoyed it so much that I got myself some pumpkins and started bringing this idea to other people too ;) And then a bunch of friends got together to chat and draw and I got to make and then draw another pumpkin garden.

There are pumpkins sitting at my parents and on our Nonagenarian's table. I am yet to draw all the pumpkins but this is a start.

Nonagenarian Update: fall of 2024.

We are approaching winter which is probably the hardest time of the year for our Nonagenarian - shorter daytime, colder weather. But she enjoys the rainy season. The bird feeder is attracting lots of visitors. The eye doctor says she is doing as well as they hoped for though this is a new doctor and "too young" again. She is vaccinated for the season. Her rose stopped blooming but there are some new shoots. Green onion, nasturtium, marigolds, and cucumber still prosper on her balcony. She is reading, cooking and even working on some new outfits - we are helping with sewing a little but the art direction muscle is still strong!

People sketching - online communities keep me going through another season!

Overall craziness of the pre-holiday and holiday season overlapped with the election season and with many folds of caregiving and projects left few holes in my schedule for some people drawing - which I continue to do in person and online - mostly via @pencils4tea - an online group of people who draw each other and time with songs. Here are some faces and experiments:

Virtual Traveling (with Street View World Tour) - Castles!

I was looking forward to the next virtual traveling and sketching event with the A Street View World Tour and wanted to see a demo by @ohn_mar_win whose color and spontaneity of sketching I admire.

But plans changed and it became a day when I had to be in a hospital with my Mom (she is fine and I am writing an update on how my parents are doing for the next week's anniversary of my parents arrival to the USA). So a big part of the the four hours of surgery preparation we spent online - I explained the whole concept to Mom (and nurses), got my pocket printmaking kit out, and positioned it on Mom's bed. We looked for good angles, Mom was watching me draw, use found objects as stamps and I even cut some stamps out of an eraser for the craziest building ever (see first sketch). She enjoyed the demo by @ohn_mar_win a lot and gave me some advice based on it too. A memorable Thursday! :)

If you are not familiar - A Street View World Tour is a fun, no-pressure gathering hosted by Jenny Adam and Eleanor Doughty via Gage Academy. You can learn more about these monthly free events and about these locations at the links above.

My previous participations include a trip to Kharkiv, Ukraine where I was the guest artist, Drawing Sky Holes, Kenya, Boats, Night Life, Hawaiian Foliage, Light and Shadow, and Japan, Ohio, Arizona and Taipei, Convenience Stores Around the World (I am quite sure that I participated in a few more but I am not sure I ever posted about them - will try to find and add to this collection!)

A day of rest in an otherwise crazy week.

Last week was very complicated on many levels. Yet there was a scheduled day of rest (the concept of Shabbat (which I take on unspecified days) was really helpful.

On Election Day I went to the magical forest and garden in Santa Cruz Mountains to be with my friends. The fall is not here yet and we had gorgeously clear weather with golden light. This day was a part of my work to get a hold of the election anxiety. We were disconnected from all the news for a whole day. It was a gift of being among like-minded people, in nature, using our hands, doing things we love, trying some new stuff, failing and succeeding in our experiments, laughing, thinking, trying again, sharing a meal, conversation, and silence.

That day and knowing that I am not alone and many people share my values and are ready to work together and make choices for a world of more kindness and justice and less greed and aggression are some of the things that helped me put one foot in front of another during this week. Thank you, Gay and Suhita and the wonderful neighborhood of people who care!

Travel Sketching: Pocket Printmaking Kit

This is the last post with sketches from my October trip to the East Coast, and here I collected sketches that I made with my pocket printmaking set of tools - plus a large acrylic marker for a quick spot of color (for details see a post about choosing tools for this trip).

I like how this worked with the limited palette and strong contrast - both things that I would like to develop further.