strength

I think I finished this piece today - sometimes it's not really apparent and it needs some study and waiting to see -

From the time I took this image it just said "strength" to me. Not strength in the big muscular way, but in the standing the test of time, persevering way. This tree is just strong and solid, a port in the storms of time, just slowly but steadily growing larger and stronger every day.

It's an inspiration to me - I want my faith to be this kind of strong and steady thing - I already know that God is rock-steady, even more than the tree, but it's hard for me to stand firm in my belief sometimes.

I took this image after a big series of storms had gone through the area and I was eager to see if the trees had survived intact - life has certainly dealt us enough storms of our own, so I felt a little like the tree at the time - battered but still standing -

spp.

It's just alot of unknowns at this park - I'm at Arroyo park now - Rob has even come out to the park to see them for himself (it's a good excuse for him to get out to the park... ;)

So this one had me first thinking cherry by the fruits but the leaves didn't have the gland at the leaf base that true cherries have, so I wasn't sure. It also doesn't have the typical cherry bark, so I was stumped. (No pun intended, really!)

Turns out it's just some unknown (to us) prunus, so we call it "prunus spp." and call it good for maintenance purposes. It's nice to know that I was at least on the right track.

not-a-tree

Today's not-a-tree tree is an elderberry bush -

Easily identifiable (now that I know) by these big berry clusters on the end of the branch.

unknown

Sometimes when I'm trying to identify a tree, it turns out that it's not a tree really - sometimes it's just a big bush that has to be maintained like a tree & then it just gets recorded as "unknown."

This one even had some pretty little fruits to help identify it, and Rob had some guesses, but he wasn't too concerned about it - sometimes unknown is okay -

new canvas piece

Got started on a new canvas collage today - it's nice to get some art-making in after all the business work.

I transcribed some of my journaling from the day I shot the black & white onto some parchment paper and collaged that under the image, then included some valley oak leaves, which is what the tree is - you can see the matte medium is still wet...

back at kings beach

I went back to Kings Beach for another art festival this past weekend - this time Michelle and I got to be right next to each other and do our double-booth thing - it's so much fun to do a show this way, we get to just hang out together & help each other out, too.

Michelle's end of the booth faced the street, so drivers-by could see her big colorful works.

This is the booth from my end, showing off a big Spring Oak framed print.

The front of both of our booths on Saturday -

Then on Sunday, after the usual re-arranging. Seems we always want to do things a little different for the second day, after looking at it for a full day, it generally seems like there's some tweaking needed to make it better.

Close up of my side of the booth after that second day.

Seems I can't help but notice trees and try to identify them now - this pretty tree was in several spots. A few young trees were growing naturalized at the state park where the festival was, and there were larger ones planted at the grocery store parking lot. So I had to take a few shots and look them up to identify them...

Commonly called European Mountainash, the scientific name for this tree is sorbus aucuparia. It's also called a Rowan, and doesn't like the heat, so it's no wonder I've never seen it in the valley.

pitch pest

Discovered a new (to me) pest on a pine today at West Manor Park -

I didn't know what this was on the tree when I found it, so I had to ask Rob when I got back to the office -

It's sequoia pitch moth - the larvae ooze this out, makes a real mess - I stepped in the white pitchy stuff that had dripped on the ground and got it all stuck on my sandal, had to scrape it off with stick & scuff around in the grass to get it all off - ick!

But I'll not likely forget this the next time I see it...

first park finished

I finished my first park inventory today - ta da! - took a couple quick shots to remember it.

Westwood Park in Davis, CA - a very pretty place - I'm so blessed with this job.

new hope

There's been a half-finished piece sitting on my home studio wall, just waiting for me to finish it. I had started on it really quite some time ago - it was a new experiment, taking a hand-colored black & white to a mixed media collage on canvas - and it just hadn't been the right time to finish it, until this past Saturday.

Artwork in progress can be like that, sort of stuck, or waiting, or something, but not quite ready for more until all of the sudden. I guess you could argue that it's all in my head, but it's really the same thing - waiting for the right time to finish a certain piece. I suppose it could be called a creative block, but I like to think of it as just waiting for all the pieces to fall in place.

Anyway, Saturday was the day - I took the canvas & paint to my SAC studio, went out with my ArtQ group to Kanika's open studio, then had lunch, then came back to the SAC studio, then visited other artists a bit, all the time knowing it was coming down to the moment, sort of like a pregnant mother knowing the time is coming.

Finally I sat down and just started painting - not really knowing what was going to happen, but just feeling it and letting it happen - and then it seemed done - I did fine tune the edges just a bit later that night, and I've waited and watched to be sure, but it was really done right that afternoon and like a new mother, I'm so proud of my new baby, I just have to show you pictures.

I've titled it "Hope." You can see the hope breaking through like sunlight, which is how hope is sometimes, not all bright and flooding you with it's light, but just shining through around things, so you have to stop and look at it to realize it's there. Just peeking through a little at first, then it grows to something that lights your way and you know you'll make it all right...

To learn a little more about it, you can see my Tree Stories blog.

tree survey

I've actually been working on the tree survey project - started at Westwood Park yesterday, did more today, hope to finish that park tomorrow -



Found a whole bunch of Strawberry Madrones along the perimeter of the park, but didn't recognize them until John found some fruit, so I thought I'd take a leaf sample to help me remember the next time I see some. Must be close to thirty or forty of them, so I'm getting pretty familiar with them anyway...




Another big shrub, really, that we had to bring back a leaf sample to Rob to tell what it was - Cotoneaster, of some sort - not really a tree, but good to know regardless.







I knew this tree but I wanted to get a leaf sample because I like their simple grace - South African Sumac.

2nd sat at the sac

A few weeks ago I mentioned the new color that I painted the studio doors on my email newsletter, and that I would post it on my blog, but then I got a little sidetracked with trees and art fairs and fun stuff like that...

By now the truly curious have actually come to my studio to see the doors, but I know there are some for whom that would be a mighty long drive, and I managed to remember to photograph my door on Saturday night, which was 2nd Saturday, and thereby my studio was invaded by hordes of art lovers - but I love it, too, so I didn't complain.

In fact, I actually invited people in and talked art and trees and we all had a generally good time - if you do live close, it's plenty of fun getting to midtown for a Second Saturday. But you can come down to the SAC (Sacramento Art Complex) pretty much anytime - okay, there are regular 10 to 5 Monday through Friday hours, which are catch as catch can for some of us and then Open Studio Saturdays noon to 5 p.m. when there should be alot more of us around - come on by this week, I'll actually be there!

So how do you like that green? And are you really surprised?



And finally, fellow Viewpoint member Truman Holtzclaw came by and caught me on film, so to speak...

notes & leaves

8.6.08

Pine notes from Rob

Canary Island - longest needles around here, shaped like triangle at top

Italian Stone Pine - rounded top, "pom pom" shape, even when young

Aleppo Pine - starts as a triangle, then grows to rounded top with age, very large, you can tell it grew from a triangle shape

Monterrey Pines - shelf -like, does poorly in Valley

Later in Sac -

(click on image to enlarge)

kings beach cool

Another art fair this past weekend - this one in Kings Beach, on Lake Tahoe's north shore - couldn't ask for a better location to hang out. Kept the booth open to take advantage of the lovely surroundings and to be more wind-resistant for when it kicked up in the afternoon.

This was the view I had sitting in my booth and looking toward the passersby - the fair itself sort of wanders along the pathways in the park here, probably the prettiest fair site I've ever worked at.

Standing just in front of my booth, and looking toward the lake - I didn't take the time to walk to the water's edge, even at the end of the day, guess I'll have to do that when I go back up in a few weeks!

Just to show how close we really were to the water - you can see my booth to the far right & my neighbor's booth next, then one more and the beach...