Trees #119–124

Low foliage at the base of the trees. 6-13-12

Those same sapplings I sketched before at the base of

our Silver Maples in our backyard. 6-15-12

Just playing again with wet-into-wet watercolors

followed by colored pencil. 6-16-12

The view from our sunroom window of the

neighbor's backyard. 6-19-12

This is a tree across the street in a neighbor's side yard. 6-21-12

The middle portion of tree trunks in our backyard 

I can see from my upstairs window. 6-26-12

Tree #114–118

 A cluster of leaves on a low "tree" at the base

of one of our Silver Maples. 6-2-12

Layered tissue paper, matte

medium, and matte medium tinted with

water color. It was fun to play! 6-4-12

 Just a quickie, still playing... 6-5-12

These are trees I could see across the street from the

VAAM gallery window. It was almost dusk, no customers,

almost closing time. 6-7-12

After a great day looking at fine arts and fine crafts at Smoky Hill River Festival in Salina, I was so hot and tired, I sat down to rest. No sketchbook with me again, but I found a piece of goofy paper and a ballpoint pen, and did this of the tree across from where I was sitting. 6-10-12

Tree #109–113

I took a walk to Lakeside Park and after

walking completely around the lake, I found

a bench by the water and sketched the tree before me

that was hanging over the water. 5-24-12

Just a quickie of the view to the northwest

of our backyard. 5-28-12

I walked around Lakeside Park lake almost at dusk, and

again sat on a park bench, but didn't take my sketchbook.

When I got home, I did this from memory. There are a few

ripples in the water I could put in....5-29-12

I was "in" all day, working at the VAAM gallery,

no sketcch book again, so did this from memory

later in the evening... 5-30-12

Another tree at Lakeside Park. What a resource

Lakeside Park is! I'm glad I live so close! 5-31-12

Trees #105–108

 A tree. 5-18-12

 A dead tree in our backyard. 5-21-12

 Another tree in our backyard. Good thing

we have a lot of them. 5-22-12

 This was done at bedtime, by memory, of a flower bed

that I had weeded late in the afternoon. 5-23-12

Trees #100–104

 Just scribbling trees at Wall Park Lake. 5-6-12

 This is, again, the small branches at the base of one of

our Silver Maples. I finally had the nerve to wet the

watercolor pencil-ing with a paintbrush of clear water. 5-9-12

 Looking up at one of the branches of our pear tree–

the promise, once again, of pears if we can get them

before the squirrels do. 5-14-12

This is a tree I could see from my seat accross the lake

at a picnic table in Wall Park. 5-15-12 

I stopped on my bicylce ride through Walnut Park

to "catch" the trees and bushes on the bank accross from
where I sat on a bench next to the opposite bank
of Turkey Creek. 5-16-12

Trees #97–99

 These are bushy, tree-like plants in our backyard—lots of

"unauthorized foliage" like this grows out there. 4-29-12

 That pine tree that died late last summer from the drought

 and anohter unknown tree with reddish brown leaves. 5-2-12

Small branches that grow out of the main trunk of one

of our 50+ foot Silver Maples. I like the low brances

growing there, as they soften the view of the

bare fence behind them. 5-4-12

Tree #96

As you can see, I'm having trouble getting the sketchbook

to lie flat enough on the scanner plate. This is the south

side of the yard with one of the Silver Maples, with the

English Ivy-covered trunk, in the foreground. I spent about an

hour clearing tall weeds, some very prickly, out of this area

and my arms are all scratched. The ground is covered by the

same English Ivy that grows up the trunk of the tree. 4-28-12

Trees #91–95

 This is an old crooked Elm in the backyard with
sprouts near the base. 4-18-12

This is just playing around—I made it up. 4-20-12

 This is a "white-line print" done in a big hurry in the second

session of the Block Printing Workshop. It was close to

the end of the session, and so I was just slinging paint

on as fast as I could, so I could do a printing before
the end of the class. This is based on a memories
of Wall Park Lake and Lakeside Park Lake. 4-21-12.

 This is the base of one of our Silver Maples in the backyard.

It has a several branches coming out of the base, but

I like the leafy-ness in front of the back wall of the yard. 4-22-12

This is that same knarled Crabapple tree in the

backyard, but looking at a different angle. 4-25-12

Trees #86–90

 An elm in our backyard. 4-11-12

 Silver Maple trees and (?)-tree along the

back fence in our yard. 4-13-12

 This is a collagraph print I made in a

Block Printing workshop, sponsored by the

Visual Arts Alliance of McPherson, Inc. 4-14-12

Another tree in the back yard as seen

from our upstairs window.  4-16-12

One of the Holly trees in our backyard. 4-17-12

Trees #82–85

 This is certainly not in our part of Kansas... This tree
was outside of our hotel in Escondido, CA. I just had
a few moments to try to "get" it. ...probably first time
I have sketched in public. 3-30-12

 These potted palms were outside the lobby window of
our hotel in Escondido. A couch with cusions inside are
in the foreground. 4-1-12

This Sliver Maple is back at home, in the backyard. Small

branches growing down at the base of the trunk. Things got

a little crazy trying to catch up at work after our trip,

so I missed sketching some days. Maybe, I'll be able to

make it up, or my year-2012 will be have to

have more than 366 days... 4-8-12

Our Japanese Maple in the backyard. At least I think it is

a Japanese Maple. Deep reddish leaves. 4-9-12

Tree #81

A tree across the street from our house. Some branches

have leaves, and other don't yet. I sketched this while

sitting up in bed this morning just before the sun came up.

What a way to start the day! Ah, the good life! 3-27-12

Trees #77–80

Our Redbud in the front yard. It has lost several

big limbs and this is what is left. 3-24-12

A tree across the street from the VAAM Gallery. It was my

turn to work in the gallery that day, so I tried to "get"

this through the window glass. 3-24-12

The seed pods we call "helicopters" are just abought to drop from

the branches of our Silver Maples in the backyard. 3-25-12

A different view of the same knarled and twisted Crabapple
tree in the backyard. Now, it's in bloom with lovely fuscia
flowers. I should go back and add color. A few of its branches
are dead and its bark is peeling. Poor tree. 3-26-12

Trees #75–76

This is a bush of some kind in our backyard. If it blooms,

which I think it will, it will give me a clue to its name.

All these years, I haven't paid much attention to the flora in

the backyard—I was always too busy and/or away at work.

The combination of semi-retirement and this tree "project"

has really opened my eyes. 3-21-12

Just scribbling with a box of 40+ year-old Sakura Cray-Pas

that I used in college. I used a few from another one that my

mother used, even before that. These are trees in bloom in

Wall Park several blocks away. 3-20-12