First things first.

Siddy, William and Me

As I mentioned yesterday, the kids have arrived. The Chicago and LA contingents converged to celebrate William’s first birthday. We’re having a great time. William is wandering all over the place, touching everything. He is curious about everything. Sidra and I had a little drawing session – we postponed the rock-painting session for another time.

Reunion

It is a full house. The living room houses four people; two people are on the pull out bed in the dining area; three people were sleeping in the bedroom that normally accommodates one person. Then the company arrived.

Today’s experiment

As everyone caught up with the news of everyone else, I took the opportunity to make a quick sketch of Arthur, my pet avocado tree. He seems to be fading… literally.

Bedraggled
12″x9″ 140# Cold Pressed Watercolor Block

I captured the general shape and essence of the droopy forms of the leaves as the become more and more desiccated. However, I did not capture the fading colors accurately. I can describe it in words better than I can match the actual watercolor color with my vision of the leaf color. I was trying to capture the dusty-ish sage-green color of the backs of some of the leaves. Other leaves were fading to yellowish green, with darker green surrounding the veins. Apparently, the area around the veins are the last to dry out.

There was also more texture in the crispy-brown edges of the leaves than I was able to capture.

Arthur looks as bedraggled as I feel.  However, unlike Arthur, my bedraggledness is life affirming.