Why palm trees get a haircut?

I love unkempt palm trees and never understood why people insist on this intrusion into the life of a tree. Recently I found out that the reason is that rats and raccoons live in those crazy trees and I loved it. Though now I think twice before I park myself to sketch under one of them :)

I saw a group of people singing while trimming palm trees once. They were working in harnesses, using large machete knives and were laughing and keeping the rhythm of the song with their work. I hope all of the palm trees are getting a haircut with songs and laughter.

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A post shared by Nina Khashchina (@ninaapplepine) on May 6, 2019 at 9:29am PDT

New Workshop: Gouache Your World!

I am honored to announce that I will be teaching gouache workshop this April as a part of series of on-location sketching workshops through The International Urban Sketchers organization and San Francisco Bay Area Urban Sketchers Group.

This workshop will give participants basic tools needed to use gouache successfully. It is geared toward people who struggled with gouache before but also to those trying this medium for the first time.

Joint me on April 7th on Stanford Campus for three hours of instructions and painting. I am assembling a little kit of materials for all participants (there will be additional $15 fee for these). I will share additional materials and of course my sketchbooks during this workshop.

But wait - after my class, there will be NINE MORE amazing classes - all of which look like I want to take them at least once! Click here to learn more about them all and let's sketch together!

Workshop link:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/gouache-your-world-tickets-43685058185

Sketchbook #12: Lunchtime Mini Gouache

I paint tiny gouaches. Not because I don't want to paint larger ones but mostly because I end up not finishing them or not even starting them. These tiny paintings are hard to NOT finish :)

Spring in California - Magnolias and Google Construction Site.

Sketchbook #112: View of a sketchbook spread with mini gouaches.

Sketchbook #111: Gouache Evening.

One evening - tulips from life and trying to figure some limited palette color combos from photos.

Tulips took quite some time. I was trying to use all my low-quality leftover paints before the shipment with fresh colors arrived and yellow was just not working in mixes - mostly disappeared or made mixes dirty. I ended up re-painting greens several times, lost the light and patience in the process. Ordered some new yellow right after this experience.

What are your favorite green mixes?

Sketchbook #106: Last of the 30 gouaches.

Sketchbook #106: Gouaches #27, 28, and 29

Sketchbook #106: Gouache - Tea

Sketchbook #106: Gouache #25 and other sketches in the forest

Sketchbook #106: Gouache

Sketchbook #106: Gouache

Sketchbook #105: Gouaches

30 Gouaches of June

well, it's the last day of the month and here are my 30 gouaches - roughly in calendar format. It was a fun little project and I will gladly do it again. I learned a lot but I am not sure I improved - it's more that I learned what I like and do not like to do and what I want to learn to do and what makes the process simpler for me and what steps I ignore and hide from.


Next time I will keep a detailed journal, will outline my goals better and try a bunch of things I did not get to try this month - I think I will like it even better next time :)