one more look at the Grinch tree

 

Back to LA for the Christmas break time...

 

Crescent Heights Indian fig laurel tree landscape study

 

Tree Ornaments painted in color…

 

Holiday Tree in the Metropolis

 

DREAM PALMS

 Here you can see the painting of four unique palm trees with details of the leaves, the painting was created on the iPad on site in the city of Angels. This piece is part of a series of finely detailed digital paintings depicting the palm tree as integral to the unique California landscape.

I have always loved painting palm trees and trying to capture the feeling of the slender trunks and spindly fronds.

The palm tree has the scientific term of Arecaceae and is part of family of perennial flowering plants in the monocot order Arecales.

Palms are among the best known and most extensively cultivated plant families. In many historical cultures, palms were symbols or icons for such ideas as victory, peace and fertility.

DREAM PALMS <violetquartet>

Redwood Day school drawing lessons at Gensler Oakland

Students from fifth grade class at Redwood Day school in Oakland joined the design studio of Gensler Oakland for a series of design exercises including my Tree House drawing lesson.  

Each student begins with a sheet of paper and begins to draw their dream treehouse.  

The I begin to do a drawing of a large tree and branches on the writing wall in the Scarlet meeting room. 

Then each student is asked to find a spot on the branches of the three and redraw their dream treehouse connected to the branches and eventually connected to other treehouses.

Treehouse drawing lesson from Apple store in Walnut Creek 

Santa Monica palms

West Hollywood palm

Happy Holiday greetings from a very very green building!

Lake Tahoe and evergreen tree, painted view...

One of the views from the cabin deck looking out to Lake Tahoe, digital paint view, a combination of lines, filled outlines, color shapes...

Two illustrations to signal the end of the year of 2014 ...

Cubing the Christmas tree, 'tis the season ...

Lichen in Lake Tahoe

Bound and Tied Palms

Notes about the bound and tied palm trees that can now be seen at the Bay Bridge approach from the Oakland side.  I could not resist trying to capture the unique image of those towering trees. 

Palms have a relatively shallow root system for a tree their size. The leaves or fronds are tied up after transplant with biodegradable material to prevent the wind from knocking them over (the overall surface area is larger for untied palms than tied palms).  Once the roots become more established, the ties can be removed and the fronds/leaves can be free.

In addition, the tied up fronds/leaves lose less moisture than freed ones. Water is very critical right after a palm is transplanted, and leaving the leaves tied up helps to conserve the palm's moisture levels.

The ties rot after several months, by which time the tree has established enough roots to fully supply its water needs.

Early days of June and the blossums of the Jacaranda tree, a drawing study