Another Apricot Orchard - Another Remedy

After a week of drawing lots of people (aka #oneweek100people) I needed a break in the chase after human bodies to sketch and I knew that Suhita Shirodkar (who organized a whole bunch of super cool events for the #oneweek100people this year - from short morning sessions to guest artists to a marathon session) was even more ready to draw something other than humans. And that is how we ended up in one of our yearly sketching locations - Apricot orchard at the Saratoga Public Library. Only the trees were almost done blooming... unseasonable heat pushed blooming time at least 2 weeks ahead, said the caretaker of the orchard (before warning us that sprinklers would be tested soon, so we'd better move to the other side of the library, where there are some blooming nectarines and plums and where sprinklers were not scheduled to go off any moment).  And that is how I ended up with one view of an apricot orchard and one view of what I think is a plum tree ;)
P.S. This is a second Apricot Orchard Outing that saves my sanity this month - here is first one. 

Apricot Orchard in Bloom as a Remedy for My To-Do List

At the end of a long day, I felt like the more I crossed off my "to-do list," the more I added. This usually puts me in a procrastination mode, out of which I get by asking myself, "What if you did not have to do anything at all - zero obligations - what would you do?" And the answer often prompts me to grab my sketching bag and head out. Which is what I did - because a couple of days before, I saw that this apricot orchard was about to bloom! 

When I got to this sketching location I had little time and felt rather tired and wound up at the same time. My rules for such a situation are: 

1) start drawing as soon as possible

2)  get the first sketch out of my system as quickly as possible with a minimum amount of materials.

So I planted my folding stool within 10 feet of the boundary of the orchard. And I started the warm-yellow line for the roofs behind the trees, because the yellow marker was the first thing I blindly pulled out of my sketch bag. After the yellow, I pulled out the black chisel pen and drew the hero of this sketch: an apricot tree. After that I added details with the purple pencil. That is how the sketch below came to be. And then  I was able to get my gouache pleinair box out and paint the view a little slower - that is the first sketch in this post.

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!

An Orchard Past Its Prime: Saratoga

For several years now Suhita Shirodkar and I have made a pilgrimage to paint at the orchard by the Saratoga Public Library. Knotty, shapely, dark silhouettes of fruit trees covered in gentle white blossoms, lots of space between us and Santa Cruz Mountains, and yellow mustard fields are what we are after. This year we were joined by Laurie Wigham whom we promised all the things we hoped to see. However, the orchard was quite different. It was an unusually hot day for March (it reached 83F where we were located), a few days prior we had a storm, and most of the blossoms were gone. And on top of it, all the ground was thoroughly plowed - there were mustard plants here and there but no feeling of a "carpet". Our reality did not match our expectations, to say the least. 

But a huge oak tree had a very dense shadow, and the gnarliness of the trees could not be erased by wind or tractor! Plus all sorts of creatures came over to be with us while we painted - and by the end, it was a wonderful outing of talking and drawing side-by-side with great people and it filled my cup at least as much as I expected - if not more!

An Orchard is Thinking About Blooming

We had a tumultuous March - some bright sunshine on cold days, some very warm rains, a couple of atmospheric rivers, a few crazy winds, and at least one dense hail. So I am not entirely sure what this orchard is thinking - did it try to bloom and the wind got all the flowers? Is it waiting for a proper start of spring? Is it as confused about the future as I am? I passed by it a couple of times trying to gauge when would be a good time to come over and sketch it and could not make up my mind but then an opportunity presented itself and Suhita (@Suhita Shirodkar) joined me for this outing to Los Altos Hills - it was short but accompanied by singing birds and we saw some unusually large California poppies - which means we soon will be heading for the hills to paint them!

I started thinking that I would make a one-page sketch but quickly realized that I wanted to expand to a much wider view and used both pages - so not a lot of planning went into this composition but in my defense, I can say that I was too distracted by courting turkeys between the trees and dreams of bringing a concertina to get a whole horizon in. Turkeys did not make it to my sketch though. Tender pink flowers on the branches are telling me I will get at least one more chance with this landscape before a delicate monolith of leaves obscures the structure of branches that I love so much. 

There were other sketches from the same outing and I will share them too when I process them - when I figure out what bothers me about those sketches :) 

Blooming Orchard Painting Disaster.

Imagine a friend taking you to paint a blooming orchard. It is a gorgeous day and the view is spectacular - filled with white blooming fruit trees. And you sit down with your lunch and sketching gear and realize that... you forgot to pack white with you. Even your backup white (and backup to backup - which I usually also carry but that is a story for another post). 

I ended up making two sketches: one with the flowers colored pink :) And another with the naked trees - and I added white from my memory and photos when I got to my white :) I did not post these for two weeks. True story. With some continuation, I think.

A very pink farm outing

Some time in October Suhita and I drew a pumpkin patch at the Cosentino farm in San Jose and agreed to come back when the trees would be blooming - and that is what we did on one lovely March morning. These peach trees have one of the most pink flowers I've ever seen and I was overwhelmed with the pinkness so much that I started using pieces of torn pink paper to map out some of the bloom on the page! It was one of the brightest days this year after lots of rain and all the sun just made everything pop up more! The bees were all over the place, farm workers were doing their thing, and Suhita and I followed the adventures of two little lizards on the trunk of a tree in front of us. 

Below you will find some process photos as well as a portrait of the lizards and a version of a sketch that I digitally altered - I wonder if it is better or worse - let me know!

As I was looking at the scan and all the pinkness on the page I tried adding some whine digitally - version on the right. What do you think - it is better?

I love persimmons :)

This is not a secret - I love persimmons. I love to eat them when they are crunchy (not astringent!) and when they are slimy, I love to touch their shiny geometrical shapes and look at their colors, I love how skin becomes transparent skin (very ripe persimmon) and the way calyx is made of folds and waves inviting me to experiment with all sorts of mediums to draw them.
This was a great year for my persimmon-related joy as I got to share it with many friends - painting and drawing them from October through December - and here is a bunch of persimmon-related pages from my sketchbook!

Sketchbook #101: Visiting Persimmon Orchard