HOLIDAY SKETCHING AND STITCHING

 

My drawing skills need polishing and some spare time on holiday comes in handy.

 

I love to draw what I can see from my sun lounger,

But best of all my new passion for embroidery is inspired by my sketching!

Plein Aire Desert Sketching - Teri Casper

My husband went golfing and I went sketching in a nearby park.

The top painting is how barrel cactus get hidden among the bushes and other plants.

The lower one is a more formal planting of Saguaro and an Ocotillo tree with  random agaves.

One thing about painting on a hot day in the desert is how rapidly the paint dries!  But always a joy to be painting out there.

Prickly Pear in Sedona - Teri Casper

Prickly Pear in Sedona
Originally uploaded by Teri DC

Painted this from a photo I took in Sedona. The Prickly Pear was tucked into a crevice in the red rocks of Sedona and was so eye-catching.
I just never tire of painting cacti!

Cactus Monday - Cactus Tombstones - Teri Casper

I was walking the other day and noticed that a neighbor had taken single prickly pear pads and stuck them in the ground to grow.

As I looked at them, I thought how much they looked like cactus tombstones....thus, another Cactus Monday sketch was born. lol

Happy and Spooky Cactus Monday!

Wisconsin Prickly Pear Cactus

I was weeding the garden and realized a couple of things about my Wisconsin prickly pear cactus:

1. They have not bloomed yet or I missed it
2. Their spines are very small at the top and non-existant on the rest of the pad
3. They cannot be weeded for obvious reasons
4. They have a symbiotic relationship with the pine needles that fall on and around them thus making weeding unnecessary
5. They thrive on neglect (and I do that best)
And they are definitely survivors!

I sketched the way some of the pads lay on the ground, get covered up with pine needles and still develop new pads. They are in a small garden near the front porch facing south where you can see the fencing in the background.

Prickly Pear Cactus grow in many non-desert parts of the country.