Red roses climbing

By Marcia Milner-Brage, Cedar Falls, Iowa

Steps to garden

Every year I attempt to express the beauty of my Iowa, May garden in a painting or drawing. The climbing roses on the arbor are usually the impetus to see if I can convey what I feel and see in my backyard paradise. Once again, I'm afraid I've fallen short. Nothing from my hand approaches the reality. l enjoyed trying though. May 30, 2016

Here's another attempt that includes our rose trellis from six years ago, shy two days. Note that the roses had not yet climbed over the top. May 28 2010.

Back patio roses

April's Sketchcrawl drawings

We had intended to meet up at Case Park in Kansas City, but the rain defeated us...it's been a REALLY rainy spring in our corner of the Midwest.  So we met at the Nelson-Atkins, one of our favorite places, and enjoyed the quiet...and dry!

This young man was there sketching the whole time I drew the chimera...

I've always meant to sketch the chimera at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of art...these are Derwent Blue Grey, the one on the right wet with clear water, the other left as it was.

Of course I did my usual sketch of Quan Yin...

And one from our "virtual sketchcrawl!"

I forgot I hadn't posted these...siiiigh...I've been swamped with other stuff!

Some coffeeshop time in Pre-Xmas Salina

I had the good fortune of having time on my hands while Wilma attended an activity of her own. That gave me the chance to find a neat little independent coffeeshop in Salina. Had some sketch time while I took in the local scene.

Greenwood Cemetery

It was a blustery late afternoon at Greenwood Cemetery. Unusual for Halloween, the leaves, still in their peek autumn color, have barely begun to fall. Today, I was prompted by Urban Sketchers weekly theme: cemeteries. Not unusual is that this and the other times I've drawn there, I've never seen another human.

But there are always crows:

And from the cemetery bluff, looking across the Cedar River and its watershed to the vast distance of farmland, is one of the best views in town.

An Iowa lowlander visits the Mojave High Desert of Joshua Tree, California: Part II

                          

The morning of the first full day of our week long stay in Joshua Tree, I woke to dawn, framed by the silhouetted, jagged, boulder ridge, across the dry wash from our rental house. Affected by the change of altitude (3,800 ft above sea-level to Iowa's 810 ft), I slept poorly for the entire stay. The vastness and predominance of earth-tones of this stark landscape is awe-inspiring and daunting to my green-hungry, Midwesterner eyes.  Drawn from inside on Fabriano coldpress watercolor block with soluble 9B graphite stick, watercolor, and white Derwent colored pencil (7"W x 10"W). February 26, 2012.

Me on a hike on the other side of the ridge, pictured in the drawing above.

A 5B pencil sketch in my my pocket-size Moleskine of the Wonderland Ranch ruin in Joshua Tree National Park, February 29, 2012, while hiking the Wall Street Mill trail:

We saw lots of wildlife, both from the house and on hikes. Gambel’s Quail skittered around within view of our windows. A bobcat slunk by everyday and peered in at us. We saw coyote, jackrabbits, and kangaroo rats. On one hike, I came upon a paw print of a mountain lion in fresh mud.  My husband crossed paths with a fox carrying a freshly killed rabbit in its maw.  But the only record, either drawn or photographed, of fauna was this quick 5B pencil sketch in my carry-everywhere, pocket-size Moleskine.

Gambel's Quail

(misspelled in my pocket-size Moleskine and wrong date year!)

This ends the second installment of my Joshua Tree adventure and set of drawings. Still more to come from the High Desert.  Then onto what I drew the following week while staying in Venice Beach, a quaint corner of the Los Angeles metropolis. 

An Iowa lowlander visits the Mojave High Desert of Joshua Tree, California: Part I

My husband and I had visited Joshua Tree National Park two years ago. Again for a week, we stayed near the  northern part of the park, which is the southern Mojave High Desert.  On the first trip we did lots of hiking; I took photographs, but did no drawing. I've been yearning to return. This time I drew.

Rocks--Joshua Tree

Our rental house was surrounded by a jumble of  rocks. Their forms are endlessly amazing. Late in the afternoon, I drew from inside the house. It was cold (40F-50F) the first several days.  Also, I was feeling the affects of the higher elevation. The older I get, the more sensitive I have become to changes in altitude (~3,800 feet compared to Iowa's 810 feet). The drawing above was done in a Canson, sand-colored, archival sketchbook (9" W x 8" H), using Derwent earth-tone colored pencils that I had acquired especially for the trip.  The photograph below, which included the house, shows the larger landscape.

Joshua Trees are another distinctive feature of the landscape. They are a form of yucca. They remind me of something from a Dr. Seuss storybook!  This is the time of  year that the Joshua Trees flower. If they do flower, which is not every year and dependent on rainfall. The average annual rainfall in the Mojave Desert is 4.5 inches (compared to Iowa's 33 inches!). There has been even less rain than usual, so unlike our previous visit, we saw few of the large gaudy, white flowers at the ends of the limbs.  I drew this in the Park from the protection of the car--again, too cold and also windy. The same Canson, sand-colored, archival sketchbook (9" W x 8" H), this time using a 9B water soluble graphite stick and a white, Derwent colored pencil.

There was fabulous landscaping close-in to the house--plants requiring some, but minimal watering. From the kitchen window, in the morning, looking west, the sun coming up over the roof of the house illuminated this paloverde tree.  The zingy, green bark against the blue sky and the distant mountain grabbed my attention. It also was an opportunity to add to my inside-outside series.

I used my Neocolor II water soluble wax pastels in a Canson, black, archival sketchbook (10" W x 12"H).

This is the first installment of my Joshua Tree adventure and set of drawings. More to come from the High Desert. Then, I'll show you what I drew while in Venice Beach, a quaint corner of the Los Angeles metropolis, for the second week away from Iowa winter.