Apple-Pine: August 2025

Update on my Parents - Refugees from Ukraine - August, 2024.

On August 24th, Ukraine celebrated its 34th Independence Day! My parents and many people around the world were sending messages of support to each other. And I will share a few sketches and updates about my parents as a part of my celebration of the country whose bravery and determination remind me every day that democracy is something we make with our own everyday actions. By not being indifferent and doing what we can when we can - even a little bit at a time.

Last time I wrote an update on my parents was in February of this year, and I was lamenting the fact that my Dad is not happy when I draw him, so there were more portraits of Mom. Since then, Dad had significantly more medical appointments than Mom and, this time I have way more portraits of him than of Mom - hopefully by the time I make the next update, I will find a balance :)

Mom got new glasses, which are not perfect but an improvement. She enjoys her pots of flowers and takes pictures of all kinds of insects that come to visit. She cooks many new things (from Dad's recipes, so the results vary) and plays word games with her new friend. They also read aloud to each other and watch lots of movies together. She is excitedly reading "Everything Is Tuberculosis" by John Green in English at the moment.

Dad plays chess every day and uses google translate to communicate with his chess buddies. He is inventing many new recipes for Mom to try. And watching the movies as well. And he is hoping to get some assistance with his mobility soon, but for now, he takes short trips between benches near the house.

They keep in touch with the family and friends in Ukraine and around the world, and try to support people with their care and strong belief that the world will get better - perhaps not as fast as we wish, but believing in this is part of making it better.

To read the whole story: https://blog.apple-pine.com/2022/08/war-in-ukraine-guide-through-posts-on.html

One of my Art Heroes - Mary Fedden

I would like to introduce you to one of my art heroes: Mary Fedden. This is an artist whose work I discovered this year, and it opened many other doors for me, spiraling out into articles, books, videos, and changing the way I think about several projects that I began, and now setting me on a new path. I am fascinated with her use of color, how she blends subjects and simplifies things, views, and space. How she works with the surface, how fresh and open her work is.

Mary Fedden was an artist who lived and worked in Britain. During World War II, Fedden worked in the Land Army and then for the Women's Voluntary Service, before being called up to serve as a driver in the NAAFI in 1944. Her artistic career spanned many decades before and after the war, and it overlapped with many very interesting artists, one of whom happened to be her husband, printmaker Julian Trevelyan (JT works means Julian Trevelyan, all the other works in this post are Mary Fedden - from the books mentioned below)

I was able to get my hands on a couple of books to look at her works - one of them, "Mary Fedden: Enigmas and Variations," is now in my collection (thank you for the great birthday present, you know who!), and is filled with many color reproductions of her works. The second book, "Mary Fedden and Julian Trevelyan - Life & Art by the River Thames," is filled with interesting works by Julian Trevelyan (see below) but, most importantly, contains quite a few pages from Mary Fedden's Travel sketchbooks!

Mary Fedden lived to be 96 (here is her obituary in the Guardian from 2012), and I see some of her works online dated 2010. That is truly one of the longest painting careers - though my other art hero, David Hockney, is definitely working on similar results!

There are different ways to learn, and one of them for me is watching people paint - seeing their brushstrokes and choices - without any commentary. Though the commentary in this video is rather interesting too: her love for gouache, working in series, and drawing in a sketchbook everywhere she goes are things that I definitely relate to.

An interesting article to read more about Mary Fedden:

Mary Fedden: the pleasures of life after privation and loss

https://artuk.org/discover/stories/mary-fedden-the-pleasures-of-life-after-privation-and-loss

Ackerman Pen Revival and Dry Flower Bouquet

I thought I would write a few words about the recent revival of my Ackerman pen. But there is not much to write. I left it without cleaning and with ink inside, some months ago, in a little ziplock bag. I took it out, put it in a water jar for a few minutes while I gathered my supplies. Then I took it apart to refill and just dragged my paper towel through the parts. Re-assembled with ink. And then spent some time coaxing ink out (by gentle tapping and writing - you can see the page where I was doing it on the sketch below. Then I sketched this lovely bouquet of dry flowers collected on my neighborhood walks. And that's basically it. My fingers were very inky after this.

Agave Americana takes time to bloom.

Some time this spring, I noticed that a large Agave put out a flower stalk. And by the end of June, it was very high (I estimated 30 feet based on the first sketch). And it was amazingly interesting to draw: the explosion of leaves at the base was overshadowed by the intricacy of all the curly parts on the tall, strong stalk - that signals the end of this plant's life.

Agave Americana has a common name "Century Plant" which comes from the fact that some plants flower only once at the end of a long life, monocarpic plants. Agave does not live a hundred years - more like 10 to 30. I did not notice this particular plant until it put up a flower despite drawing by it for many years. But I am noticing changes weekly now. It will bloom for quite some time, and then it will put out lots and lots of offshoots. Last week, there were many open flowers, and bees were having a party way up high where blossoms are.

Taking a stock of my current palette by painting an artichoke flower.

I've been on a "let's rethink the palettes" track of thinking (sub-set of "let's think how to NOT take all the art supplies you own with you when you go drawing on location"). But making it all happen required taking stock of what I've been using lately and what I want to do going forward. So I went to paint on location with my main palette of late, where I have both watercolors and gouache. This little artichoke is what I ended up with. And below is an older sketch record where you can see what's in this palette (helps me as a reference). And I ended up keeping the same set of colors for now - just refilling some that were used up.

Seattle 2025: Part 5 - Touristy Things in Seattle

Sometimes, taking a ferry and spending a day in the forest and on the beach during a tide-out is a way to vacation. And sometimes doing touristy things is a way to go.

Under the Seattle Needle, there is a wonderful museum and garden filled with the glass sculptures by Dale Chihuly. I enjoyed the vases more than the abstract compositions. Reflections created by black postaments and dramatic lighting were cool :) Looking at the tools and learning a bit about the glass and additions that make colors was interesting. Garden is always fun (this is my third Chihuly exhibit - I saw one in San Francisco and one in Botanical Gardens in New York quite a few years ago). The best part was watching a demo! (and sketching it:)

A visit to Pike's Market, a walk through the underground part of downtown Seattle (aboveground too), and a quick visit to the zoo - before a run to the airport. Seattle is definitely a city on my list to visit again (and soon!)

Seattle 2025: Sketcher Fest Edmonds - Part 4: Sketching Across the Water

Watching the ferry go back and forth became such a part of my days during Edmonds Sketcher Fest that I just had to get on it!

Ferry is a beautiful boat designed to be double-ended (meaning there is a propeller on each side and the vessel does not need to turn around), is a part of the public transportation system of the Washington State, and is a wonderful way of getting around!

I went on the Kingston Ferry two times: once as a part of the post-Sketcher-Fest outing with a bunch of people who were sketching too (Thank you for driving and conversation, Nishant!). I got to see Port Gamble and enjoyed a wonderful walk from the church to the water and back.

And second time with the family - to explore forests on the Olympic peninsula, flip some rocks on the beach at the tide-out, watch people and dogs, and eat a crepe lunch. Here are some sketches from both outings.

Seattle 2025: Sketcher Fest Edmonds - Part 3: The experience (in sketches and IDEAS for the next time)

I just posted an attempt to summarize my experience at Edmonds Sketcher Fest in words and photos.

And these are my sketches made during all the little and big things that happened during the weekend.

I wish I had sketched more! Next time I will:

- do a portrait party with all who could be persuaded;

- find a way to attend more artist talks (can we have a volunteer man the table from time to time during the sketchbook fair?)

- Find a company to draw sunrises and not only sunsets.

- bring some stickers to share (I got a collection from other artists!)

- petition for a "private viewing" hour before the sketchbook fair opens up to go and flip through sketchbooks of other artists;

- ask people all the questions I was shy to ask :)

Seattle 2025: Sketcher Fest Edmonds - Part 3: The experience (in words and photos)

As I look back at my experience of being part of the International Festival of Travel Sketchbooks (Edmonds Sketcher Fest), I think that what made it super special was the many opportunities for connecting to people in so many different forms.

I lead a wonderful group of 15 people on a workshop, but also:

- had a chance to present an art talk (more below);

- I attended a couple of art talks by other guest artists between all the other activities;

- spent a whole day at the sketchbook fair sharing with attendees my actual sketchbooks, tools, and process, answering questions, and collecting interesting insights;

- participated in a dinner event where people had a chance to share both meal and conversation with guest artists and with many guests of the Sketcher Fest;

- went on numerous outings to draw a sunset, or morning swimmers in a fog, or to grab an ice cream, lunch, dinner, nightcap - all while sketching, looking through sketchbooks of other people, and talking about all sorts of things, life- and sketching related.

Here are some photos from the sketchbook fair and other outings - on them you will find all the guest artists though I have to admit some were present only in the form of their elbow or sign - I will try to make better photos next time! :) A list of all the artists and information about them can be found here:
https://sketcherfest.com/sketchbook-fair/sketchbook-fair/ I salute and thank every one of you - and I am very grateful for an opportunity to meet, connect and sketch side-by-side!

Image above is how my table at the sketchbook fair looked like.

My art talk was on a subject that is one of my favorite topics: extreme sketching. I gathered examples from my experience in all sorts of situations. From kayaking to skiing, from riding a horse to taking care of humans ages 0 to 96, and of course, sketching while scuba diving! My talk covered both what to bring with you on an adventure like that and how to survive it. And I enjoyed answering many questions and receiving lots of great advice as to where to go scuba diving next!

Thank you Laurie Wigham for making this wonderful sketch of me giving an art talk! (photo above).

Lastly, this was a chance to meet many new people, make great friends, and also connect in real life with many online sketching friends whom I've known for years now! This connection to the community was such a luminous gift!

It would be impossible for me to list all the encounters and thank all the people that I was so happy to connect with - so I will just say a huge THANK YOU to the organizers of Sketcher Fest and all the volunteers, and Gabi Campanario in particular for support throughout the preparation and during the event. Here is to sketching together more!

On My Table: Beginning of August 2025

August began for me at my kitchen table - trying to sort through all the sketches and notes I brought with me from the trip to Seattle. My sketchbook was at the very end, and I decided to somehow fit everything from the trip in the last few pages. Now that I look back at my reasoning, I understand that I wanted to have a whole trip in one place, which future me would appreciate. But it made for some extra work figuring out how to glue and tape a lot of things in some sort of coherent way - which is why it stretched for several days, and I got to August with this not completely resolved.

This is why the main tools you see at this table are my scissors and glue stick. My tape rolls are somewhere buried under the sketches.