Plein Air in Big Bear- Desiree Habicht

Hi everyone, hope everyone is having a great summer so far. We took my daughter water skiing and jet skiing for a few days in Big Bear, CA, a local mountain resort. It was beautiful for most of the time with weird bouts of thunder storms and lightening and rain. The skiers were pulled out of the water a few times over the two days to wait out the storms that blew through. The last day after lunch we spent a few hours trying to wait out the storm in a restaurant in hopes it would pass over and everyone could resume their skiing. While we waited I passed out paper and intense sticks and everyone had fun sketching the marina or whatever they wanted to help pass the time. As the weather cleared they all resumed but one person slid his picture under the glass cover on the tables of this small town restaurant to leave for others to enjoy. I loved that idea and did the same. If you happen to be in Big Bear at B's Barbecue Restaurant next to the lake I hope you will find our plein air painting representing our painting adventure during an August storm in the summer of 2012! I love the idea of leaving small gifts of art in different places and would love to hear if anyone else has done this. We could start a Geocaching art movement! Sharing art across America!

Casualty of War- Desiree

Today as I was sitting outside enjoying the beautiful morning and sketching my husband found a dead baby bird. It was laying on the concrete sidewalk, not close to any tree or nesting area. Another victim of the attacks that the crows have waged on the smaller birds in our area.  We have recently been overrun by a huge flock of crows and I often see them flying over head carrying off baby birds. I sadly documented the latest victim of our neighborhood war

Sketching Nature is sometimes happy, sometimes sad, sometimes hard but always amazing!
Desiree

Hollyhocks are blooming by Desiree

With the garden tour finished and finally home from vacation we are able to just enjoy the garden. Everything is in bloom and I am overwhelmed with painting and sketching inspiration. I belong to an international postcard exchange group and we send each other a monthly sketch of something we have sketched while exercising or walking. Gardening definitely qualifies as exercise so I thought I would send a sketch of my hollyhocks to Liz in Australia. I planted them last year and they are finally blooming. They must be 7' tall and bloom all the way up their stocks with these huge double blooms, resembling peonies. The flowers start at the bottom of the stock and then move up, blooming as they go, the stocks continue to get taller as the flowers advance. This is causing the stocks to now lean from the weight of the flowers now approaching the top third of the stock.  Hollyhocks are definitely an old fashion cottage/english garden flower yet I still love them. As do the snails. The bottom leaves are completely skeletonized, leaving nothing more than some veins.

Garden Tour 2012

Our house is on a Garden Tour this year to raise money for the Child Abuse and Neglect Unit at our local hospital. I also donated a painting for their fund raiser as all the funds raised will benefit the kids. I have been crazy busy getting everything perfect as they expect 1200 people to pass through. I can't believe how fast the weeds have been growing, I know its because they know its coming this week. I have had the best time observing the garden, painting, sketching and taking some amazing photos! I have so much to share but not the time to post! LOL Here is a page I am getting ready to journal on, I am doing some pre-painted pages in anticipation for lots of journaling about the day and the wonderful dinner we will be attending. The best part of having a garden is sharing it with other gardeners. Same holds true with art, its best when shared. I am working on a whole series of these "Macro pages" I call them. Wonderful color, a bit abstract journaling pages. More later.

More sketches from my moms property- Desiree

It is my birthday and I am feeling sad that my mom is recovering from surgery so far away. I had a glorious week with her before this big event so I am thankful for all of those wonderful moments together. This first picture is the view down the valley from her livingroom window. You can sit on the sofa and look all the way down the valley towards the ocean. On many days the marine layer lays low in the valley and the foothills and redwoods peek through . These days were glorious, bright and sunny.

This was done on my very large moleskine sketchbook as a double page spread. You can see some of the trees and vineyards in the foreground are beginning to change into their autumn apparel. In northern California, they do get the seasons but rarely have snow. The nights begin to turn chilly but the sun still warms the grounds during the day. The vineyards are busy testing the sugar content in their grapes to assure that it is right before picking. For many of the specialty growers this time of year is very stressful. If the rains come too early the grapes will not produce the sugars needed to become wine. Last year the rains came around Oct 20th and many late season varieties were lost. 

The hydrangeas are still blooming although looking faded and spent, their bouquets of flowers are beginning to look like they are starting to dry on the vine. My mom has many varieties of hydrangeas, lace cap, snowball, annabell etc. This first variety is called Limelight as the blossoms are a lime green and white. The huge, cone shaped heads are almost a foot long and stand in an arrangement for along time, they will even dry in place and still hold their shape and a lot of their color. The next variety is a lace cap, this variety was still blooming under the redwoods and is a wonderful mix of blues, lavenders and pinks. I brought home cutting from most of the varieties to start my own plants from, they root easily.

The backyard continues to bloom

These Helenium Autumnale or common sneezeweed is in full bloom. The days are still hot and these beautiful yellow and orange flowers are like a bright light in a dark flowerbed. I love them, standing about 3' tall they are covered in blooms until the frost. This is such an exciting time in the garden, and in the yard. Things are blooming, the garden is producing and we are weeding and trimming like mad! It seems to be the year of the bugs though, I have been fighting things like spider mites, and tomatoe worms along with silverfish and bunnies this year. Gardening isn't for the faint of heart! Thank goodness Fall is almost here!

Crystal Cove- Scotty's Cove by Desiree

With the heat threating to melt us in the valley at 109 degrees we decided to escape to the ocean. I dragged my new easel and paints and pastels down the hillside to the beach. At 74 degrees I was able to relax and enjoy the day, the weather was perfect and the sound of the waves and the people milling about was so wonderful. It made me wonder why I don't do this more often! We ended up at Crystal Cove a State beach open to all. Beautiful rocks, tide pools and cliffs makes it a favorite for artists in the area.

Eucalyptus Trees in the California sun

I had the opportunity to visit one of the people in my International postcard exchange and have lunch with her. It was so beautiful outside that we walked over to the park across the street and sat under some trees to paint. The sun was shining through the trees creating wonderful shadows across the grass. There are many types of Eucalyptus trees, they grow very fast and some have beautiful blooms. Their bark peels off the trunks to reveal a white base creating wonderful colors up and down the tree. Living in California, along with palm trees, these are painted almost as often. This is a cropped version of my two page layout in my sketchbook painted ala prima.

Echium- Desiree

I hope I didn't post this already! I wanted to share it with this group. I was out at the golf course for a plein aire paint out I saw these beautiful blue echium, clusters of purple and blue flowers stand on tall stalks. The plant can stand about 3-4 feet tall when it blooms but can become woody and not very pretty if left unattended. Best if planted in background or on slopes away where they have room to grow. They are so showy when they are blooming though!

Eating all the pedals then going for the heart!

LOL, I knew that would grab someones attention. The artichokes in my garden have taken over! Standing at about 4" tall they are loaded with the yummy tidbits. I have cut about a dozen so far and more are coming. Lots of fun to add another page to my garden sketchbook.

My Rose Garden-Desiree

I have been working in the yard and enjoying the explosion of color this time of the year. This is part of the joys and rewards of working outside! Before I started today I had my coffee outside and painted a little piece of my world.

Happy Mothers Day

I wanted to be the first to wish everyone a Happy Mothers day!! I hope you all do something special for yourself!My yard is a explosion of blooms, from my trees to my shrubs and then add to that my annual and perinnial flowers! I love it.  5"x7" watercolor.

The Descanso Gardens

About an hour and a half from our house is the Descanso Gardens. These amazing gardens were the home of Boddy, the editor of the Los Angeles Daily News back in the day! In 1953 he gave the gardens to the city and they later opened it to the public. Along with all the acres of camelias there are rose gardens, a Japanese Tea house and much more to see. Today with the weather perfect we went and enjoyed the day, Randy with his camera, me with my sketchbook. The Camelias were all in bloom littering the walkways in thousands of colorful petals! Here are a few sketches.

Vasquez Rocks

We had a fun day painting and sketching at Vasquez Rocks which have been used for many movies, videos and advertisements. Looking like a different planet, these huge mountains of sandstone have been thrusted out of the ground by earthquake activity. Pastel 5"x7"
Desiree
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A seat at the coffee shop

We started walking again, the weather being so perfect I can't wait to feel the sun on my face in the mornings. We took the baby with us and as I sipped my coffee and sketched at the coffee shop I saw this poor orange tree trying to make it happen in the sea of cement that surrounds it. I also cannot seem to resist collecting leaves from the Red Oak trees that line the street. The trees have finally started to drop them and so as the wind scatters them along the sidewalks they are easily gathered.

Chinese Pistache

With hope and anticipation for fall color, again, my husband and I watched our chinese pistache tree turn brown and drop its leaves within two days. These trees are known for their beautiful fall color and in California we don't get lots of that so I planted some trees just for their that purpose. This one was bought during the spring so we never saw it color up. It is a big tree, brought in with a crane so I can't rip it out. Every year for the last 4 years we hope but nothing. This year I noticed that my leafless tree was dropping these nasty hard peppercorn shaped things on the grass and walkway. I bent down and grabbed some of them and they were really beautiful. I did a sketch as I sat outside on this glorious morning thinking about how I need to not expect more than it is able to give and be thankful for what it does provide which is also beautiful. I need to apply that to my personal life also. So this is my sketchbook entry and was my prayer for the third.

I wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year and tell you all how much I enjoy getting comments and hearing from everyone. I love visiting your blogs and getting inspired by each of you. Although we have not met in person I feel as though we have been friends for such a long time. Thank you again for brighting my day and making me feel connected on those gloomy days.

'shrooms

I painted this and can't remember if I already shared, apologies if this is a repeat! With the heat and the water our beautiful lawn started to get clumps of these mushrooms. Never a good thing my husband was ready to start his assault on them when he thought, hmmm, Desiree may want to paint these. So with camera in hand he layed on the grass and got some great shots. I painted these with watercolor over a green primed paper and got a very green mushroom painting. Although I could see them as I painted I appreciated his efforts in providing me with a close up and much better angle!

Rubeckia- Cherokee Sunset by Desiree Habicht,

This Rubeckia in my garden screams fall with its yellows, oranges and golds. Hopefully the weather will follow suit! It is totally different from the common Rubeckia that we all know with its yellow, daisy like flower. This variety is double maybe triple the pedals. I hope it comes back next year!

Fallen Gifts - Desiree Habicht

On our walks I have noticed that the pine trees have started to drop their holiday gifts of pine cones. These newly fallen cones are a beautiful burnt sienna color that reminds me again that fall is on its way. I am sure they are not much more than a nuisance to the gardener's who work so hard to keep those grassy knolls mowed. I think I will begin collecting them early this year, before the big rush right before the holidays. Before the mowers and cars and kids have run them over or crushed them underfoot. I will collect a few everyday and once I have enough I might even paint the group of them. What a challenge that will be, I find them a bit difficult to capture for some reason.

Seeds and Pods--Desiree Habicht

I have been collecting pods and seeds from trees as I do my daily walks. I love the shapes and colors. The way nature has wonderfully constructed each pod uniquely for its purpose. The first is a Eucalyptus seed pod, E. ficifolia (done in colored pencil), which produces wonderful, showy red pom pom type flowers. The other is a flowering Magnolia, (done in watercolor) the seed pods are a explosion of shapes and colors when you really start to examine them.