Long Leaf Pine Cone Study - Three for the Sketch of One by Linda C. Miller

A few months ago I finished two drawings, one in Graphite and the other in Pen and Ink of a Long Leaf Pine Cone.

Pine cones have this wonderful spiraling pattern know as the Fibonacci Number-- which means that as the cone grows -- each ring will be made up of segments that equal a number from adding the last two segment numbers from the previous two rings.  For example the first ring is one - so the next ring is one plus one, which equals two.  The following ring is one plus two which equals three, then two plus three, which equals five.  This also occurs in the sunflower disk, pineapples, artichokes, thistles and may other wonders in nature!

To create the two studies, I first completed a detailed Contour Drawing (outline) which took two hours to finish.  Now having the drawing, I transfered it to a piece of Transfer Paper and created a graphite transfer by simply rubbing a 2B pencil on the back side. 

Now armed with my Tranfer Pattern Template, I can easily lay down the wonderful detailed drawing on my artist quality paper.  This simple step allows you to make any additional changes, but saves the sizing on the paper from too much erasing.

I also started a watercolor painting too - three works for the sketch of one!

Linda C. Miller  - Williamsburg, Virginia USA

Pine Cone - Teri Casper

Blooming Pine Cone
Originally uploaded by Teri DC

When we returned to Wisconsin we had a million pine cones all over the yard and they had to be picked up or they wreck the mower. Needless to say we were so sore from raking and burning them that it only seemed appropriate to paint the biggest one I found.
I had a hard time scanning it because I did it on 10x14 inch paper.

After the wind blew and it rained for two days guess what we did again?!!

Mt. Lemmon Pine - Teri Casper

Mt. Lemmon Pine
Originally uploaded by Teri DC

Easter Sunday we drove up to Mt. Lemmon just for the heck of it. It is more than 8000 ft. in altitude and there was still enough snow for skiing. I brought my painting supplies with big plans to paint, but unfortunately I only painted this pine. The altitude got me--headache and feeling punk, so this is all I have to show for the trip.
I recognized the symptoms because when we were in the volcano on Maui I had the same thing happen, only worse, the altitude there was over 11,000 ft.
So I guess I will just stay away from high mountains.

Remains of summer - Elizabeth Smith

Remains of summer, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

Well, I guess I should say that these are remains of a southwest Florida summer. Our few deciduous trees don’t usually lose their leaves until sometime in November or December, and we don’t have the grand color change of more northern areas. Instead, our changes are subtle.

The Live Oak trees in our neighborhood are producing a healthy crop of acorns, and soon we’ll be seeing pockmarks in the dirt as the squirrels stock up for lean times. They’ve been tearing off the scales of the Slash Pine cones to get at the seeds, leaving a bristly inner core of a rich burnt sienna color.

More and more bird flocks are traveling in the skies, the goldenrod is blooming on the roadsides, and the wheel turns once more.

You can click on the image above to see it larger on my Flickr photostream.

~ Elizabeth Smith, Naples, FL, USA

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.