DRAWING MY PINE TREE

I'm continuing the study of my garden trees with the pine tree, planted only 15 years ago but already looking old and gnarled. This drawing from last year was done in black ink in my nature sketchbook.

The drawing is a perfect subject for handstitching in black thread on white organdie.

These two trees are in the east corner of our lot, a cedar tree and a very tall, very old pine. I have counted 38 or 39 trees in our yard. Compare that to only one original tree left in our Kansas yard plus two trees we planted. This cedar tree was crammed full of cedar wax wing birds in the spring. Baby fox squirrels sometimes play in the tree house or sit on the top ladder step.

Spring Azaleas

 At long last we have warm weather in the lowcountry of South Carolina.  Just last week the azaleas popped.

I didn't have to go far to find a scene to paint.  This is right in our neighborhood near the golf course.


This spread is in my 'Book of Trees' - a Stillman and Birn Zeta Series journal.  Love this paper!

The challenge when painting plein air is remembering the lighting that first caught your eye.  Two and a half hours went by before I had a completed page to photograph.  Oh well, you get the idea....

Pine tree grove- Concetta Flore

Back from a working holiday on the Tuscan coast and with little to show- I was studying and tutoring most of the time- but this one watercolor I produced in a well-known place called Feniglia, one of the Isthmus (?)  that conects the Argentario mountain with the mainland.
The song of cicadas was deafening but the light poured into the large walkways and the sky reflected on the tree trunks made the simphony of shades just too tempting.
As I lately love to do, I painted direct with no pencil. I ruthlessly "logged" some trees that were in the way- no worry, only on my sheet of paper! and enjoyed every minute of it.