I love summer!

I love the fruits of summer! Last week, I had a juicy pineapple, lychee, longan, and some of these strawberries from Waimea! My friend, Ron of RYH Pottery, made the bowl. He's such a talented ceramist who lives in Volcano. I drew this with my Prismacolor colored pencils on some Strathmore bristol vellum paper, which I find is nice and toothy and takes colored pencil extremely well. This is my homage to the tasty treats of summer. 

Whew, I finally redid the strawberry drawing. I wasn't happy with it but I couldn't figure why I didn't like it. I finally darkened the entire thing and feel much, much better. Now, I can move on to the next one! :)

Top 100 Botany Blogs

Dragon fruit ... sounds and looks like famine food that is roasted over open flames and eaten by medieval beasts doesn't it? But on the contrary, dragon fruits are sweet, succulent fruit that tastes a cross between strawberries and prickly pears! No wonder they are called Strawberry pears in some parts of the world. They are so juicy, the nectar drips down my chin every time I eat it. I found these at the local farmer's market and they are still in season. Dragon fruit (Hylocereus undatus of Cactaceae or Cactus Family, for those botanists out there), were probably imported from Taiwan so no, not medieval at all. : )

I felt inclined to add its scientific name here to justify the honor of being included in Top 100 Botany Blogs in the Online College Blogs. I'm down there at #76 in case you're looking. It really is an honor since I'm a botanist and well, the resources they list are great : )!

Orchid Isle

I live on the "Orchid Isle". At least that's what the tourism authority says. To tell you the truth, there are only three native orchids in Hawaii and all of them are pretty rare and not very showy. So, I suspect we're called that because orchids from all over the world grow really well here.

I was feeling a bit nostalgic tonight. This type of cymbidium flowers grew in the front lawn of a house I rented in Volcano and they always take me back to a simple time. What better medium to capture their simplicity than a plain ole pencil.

More cymbidiums here.

Rooting around

I had been "rooting" around the pantry for some tea (sorry, couldn't help myself) and found some ginger and decided to make some ginger tea. For some reason, it settles my stomach and after two weeks of holiday feasting, I really need it! Plus, it is supposed to be good for motion sickness and to ward off colds.

If you'd like to make your own tea, just slice up an inch or so of ginger root and boil it in a couple cups of water. I drink mine plain but you could add honey and lemon to taste.

This is my pen and ink tribute to my favorite cure-all.

Pepper Study

Tonight, I celebrate my almost-completed chicken coop (stay tuned for pics) by getting back to my drawing! It feels so good to have my pencils between my fingers again! So this evening, I busted out my colored pencils and took a stab at creating shadows using complementary colors. Mheh, it's okay, I guess. Gotta love goofy shaped peppers!

Yep, it's stew

Mom and Dad's Beef Stew Recipe

1 lb beef stew meat
2-3 cloves garlic
1 medium onion
3-4 russet potatoes
3 celery whatchamacallits
3 carrots
2 small cans tomato sauce
2 bay leaves
optional: 2 beef bullion
salt, pepper to taste
sugar to offset acidity of the tomato sauce
2 T flour

Brown meat with smooshed garlic. Add chopped carrots and celery and cook a little but not too much. Add onions and cook some more. Add water to 3/4 to top of stuff in the pot and bring to boil, cover, and simmer for an 1 hr 30 min. Sometime along the way, add the potatoes, tomato sauce, sugar, salt, pepper, beef bullion cubes and cook a bit longer, say, for 30 min. Make a paste and slurry with the flour by adding water. Add to the stew to thicken. Dat's it!

Dinner time!

Hmmm ... can you guess what I made for dinner last night? It's not quite done but I think you might be able to guess what it is. I'm drawing this for friends of mine who tried to make it themselves but felt they didn't quite get it right. So, when I finish this drawing, I'll include the recipe for them ... and for you. :)

Pupster

Just a quick Saturday morning sketch of my friend's pup. I love his shape ... such a cute, compact dog that followed me around when I was at her house. I hope she recognizes him. :)

Hippos in graphite

Finally, a post after over a week! Thanks everyone for being so patient and many hugs to those who have sent me emails wondering if I'm okay. I've been out of commission ... sick with the flu with barely enough energy for my "real" job! But, I'm healthy and happy now and aching to draw! After the hiatus, putting pencil to paper felt like quenching an intolerable thirst with an ice cold Corona ... with a lime twist!

Special thanks to Ali Stewart from Scotland who graciously allowed me to use a photo from his amazing collection. Thanks Ali!

R for Rain ... and Reprieve

We got a reprieve from the rain today long enough to draw some rain drops still clinging to leaves of my Surinam cherry plant. I drew this with a 2B and 6B Faber-Castell graphite pencil on Strathmore Bristol Vellum paper.

Everyday Matters Challenge #112 - Something Fresh

I went to the grocery store last week and for some reason, the store sold out its eggs! I mean, how does a grocery store run out of eggs? So, this week, I visited again and found a carton of these beautiful local, fresh eggs. I knew I just had to draw them. I tried out a new charcoal pencil (Prismacolor, soft) and combined it with some graphite and used some blending techniques described by J.D. Hillberry in his book, "Drawing realistic textures in pencil." If you love graphite like I do, you must check out J.D. Hillberry's web site!