Magnolia Trees Give Me Gifts Twice a Year

Magnolia Trees gift me two seasonal pleasures every year. There us time to draw their Flowers and then there is time to draw their Seed Pods. 

Magnolia Seed Pods are gorgeous and complicated, they can be a reason for a walk (and walking at unusual times means I might need a reason, and my reason this season is to find "my new magnolia seedpod tree). They are familiar, yet never the same, hence can work both as a comfort sketch (when I have very limited time and/or attention or ability to draw) or a reason to experiment (when I have some time and capacity to try materials and ideas). So here are some of the pods that I drew and decided to save in my sketchbook:

A Perfect Day in The Forest

I took my pocket gouache palette and small sketchbook on a hike. It was a perfect forest hike in the mountains with temperatures changing quickly. I saw lots of banana slugs, all sorts of mushrooms and many signs that this forest is shared by many creatures. 

Experiment Result: Changing my Schedule to Get More Walks During Daytime Results in More Sketches! (and a happier me)

I actually like when time changes twice a year, but not in a rational way. 

I like lights everywhere and special baking projects that I start when this time arrives. I like that mornings are lighter (at least for a bit), and I like that later I can track changes in the light as the day begins. 

Rationally, I know that this sudden change is a cause for a lot of stress to a lot of people, including me! In reality, I am unhappy that it gets dark so early, and my evening walks are a struggle, a fight with myself that I start to lose. So this year, to get a cure for my struggles, I decided to embrace morning or lunch walks - and this brought some sketching opportunities!

 

Fall in the Garden

The fall in our little garden was abundant! First of all, an ipomoea (aka Morning Glory), which I've been trying to get to bloom for quite some time, suddenly decided that perfect timing is in... November!

Chrysanthemums got super leggy, and I even cut some to put in a handmade vase.

And our eggplant-in-a-pot pushed out two more fruits! (They were tiny but very pretty and tasty).

Reading Notes: A Graphic Novel Adaptation I Loved!

Three things will help you with the background on how I chose this book: 

1. I read many books simultaneously, and one of the categories of books that emerged relatively recently is graphic novels. I do not have a comics-reading background to lean on, so this is a new way of reading that I am embracing as a part of my kaleidoscope of consuming stories. 

2. When I encounter a new topic that I would like to familiarize myself with or when I am having a hard time reading a book (or finishing it), one of the strategies that I've found helpful is to look for a kids' version on the same topic. 

3. The "Hidden Life of Trees" by Peter Wohlleben is a very interestingly titled book that came highly recommended, and I really wanted to love it. I checked out of the library several times, but somehow never finished. So when I saw a graphic adaptation by Fred Bernard, I had to check it out, and now I am happy to report - it is a glorious graphic novel!

Benjamin Flao is a comic artist with a fabulous line of a dip pen in a flexible ink who did all the illustrations. There is a lot of light in this book! It is filled with trees and plants and all sorts of creatures. I especially enjoyed pages where the artist used a scale distortion! (see below how our main hero is crawling inside the tree to explain the parts of the bark?) I used to own a book on human anatomy where the main character was traveling through the body - I cannot find the name of the book, but it was a real thrill to follow through the adventures. Our protagonist has a companion with a great grin and a happy tail. There are four seasons, which are illustrated with such care! And through all the ups and downs of this story, I felt very much invested. This kind of feeling is something I treasure.

And it was obvious that the artist loves to draw. I am sure that by the end of drawing 235 pages on the same subject - and in a multi-panel comics structure to boot, anyone would be really happy to do a different project. Yet the line is alive and playful. It reminded me of a "Carnet de Voyage" graphic novel by cartoonist Craig Thompson in the way he enjoys building compositions of amazing humans, architecture, and animals intertwined on a page made with the Pentel pocket brush (my love for this tool is abound). I love "Carnet de Voyage" more than "Blankets" - possibly because the subject is much closer to me, and possibly because it feels like it was drawn in a much freer way - the way "Hidden Life of Trees" is drawn in.

On My Table: Beginning of Dovember 2025

Today is actually December first - and this mess needs to be sorted out before I start my "first day of the month" list of things, so I'd better post this quickly! 

I am in the process of sending a whole bunch of holiday greetings out. They are printed in a batch, but then each card gets a custom layer of paint - in addition to the hand-written greeting on the back. That is a big part of what is going on here. I am also planning a trip, so there are quite a few tools for pen and palette refills.

African Violets getting ready to winter.

Things in front of me on my drawing table are what I draw when I have a new paint to test, a new idea to try, have no clue what I should be doing next, and just want to draw, or have only two minutes and a ballpoint pen. Hence, my African Violets Series.

Update on my Parents - Refugees from Ukraine - November, 2025.

You can read a whole story about these series of portraits here: War in Ukraine: Guide Through Posts on this Blog.

We recently celebrated Mom's 85th birthday with ice cream and a lemon pie. Lots of phone calls from all over the world and some good presents made it a good day. I got Mom an illustrated book about trees, and she is reading one little chapter a day. Her potted plants are doing great, and I think we need more pots :)

In October we had a great time visiting the pumpkin patch, where Mom got to draw with me (something that I've been trying to introduce back into her life). I think the pomegranate tree was almost as big a hit as the variety of gourds and squashes with their varied colors and textures. 

Dad got an electric wheelchair now and can get to more places around the neighborhood, which has led to some discoveries and adventures - mostly of a good kind. He plays chess with the neighbors, and we are working on getting his cataracts removed so that he can go back to playing on the phone, too.

Both my parents are watching the news about the Atlas comet with a lot of interest, which helps with my attempts at limiting their exposure to the news. However, they are staying on top of everything that is happening in Ukraine and are in touch with many friends and family members both in Ukraine and around the world. 

Drawing at a Rally in Support For Ukraine

Another protest, another rally for Ukraine. Drawing in San Francisco on Sunday, while a very one-sided 28-point plan for peace is hanging in the air. So-called peace plan demands Ukraine give up territory (including not currently occupied), limits the size of its army, and agrees not to pursue russia for the war crimes. Nobody wants this war to end as the Ukrainians do. But this has to be a lasting solution made with Ukraine and not dictated by anyone! 

Visiting a Magical Forest

Every year, Suhita Shirodkar and I make a pilgrimage to the Santa Cruz Mountains to see our friends in a wonderful community surrounding Gay Kraeger. And to draw an astonishing view of glowing persimmon trees. This time, the period between our last visit and this one was so packed with events for everyone that we ended up coming two weeks in a row to cover all the stories, share new materials, plans, and projects! One day was gloriously sunny, and we had a chance to draw persimmon trees, and another was magnificently foggy - so we ended up trying all sorts of art toys in a cozy, warm studio with a cup of tea while fog slowly melted around redwoods, which we drew. Click on the images to see larger version!

A New Chisel Pen I Tried

I am a big fan of drawing tools - and some version of a chisel pen is almost always in my tool kit. (for example, my latest travel sketching kit had one, and I missed having another). So when I saw that a new type of chisel tip pen appeared on the market, I had to try it - especially since it came in 4 different widths and several colors!

This pen is made in the EU, and is called "Manuscript Callicreative Italic Markers" and the nibs are:

Fine Point (1.4 mm)

Medium Point (2.5 mm)

Broad Point (3.6 mm)

Extra Broad Point (4.8 mm)

Below is a page from my sketchbook where I wrote my impressions. I got only black color, but did not read the description well enough to see that it is not waterproof ink. Which is a lot of fun by itself - if you are planning for it! 

The range of widths is a welcome thing for me compared to chisel nibs from Faber-Castell. But because of the way the pen is built, I was having a hard time placing the nib intuitively - and had to look at the page more often. The barrel is a little too slippery for me - in a photo below you will see that I put some tape to remedy that. But the ink is flowing generously and is really lovely, solid black, and you can move it quite a bit - especially if the paper has good sizing. And if it does not have any - the pen is almost waterproof!

You know November is Here When...

In the San Francisco Bay Area, Fall is a slow-moving season, and everyone navigates it differently. For me, when I see some maple trees worth sketching (they come before the Chinese Pistaches that put fire in the neighborhood and before ginkos that make you wish for 100 different shades of yellow pencils), and when you draw your first persimmons of the season, the fall is really here!