Sunday Sketches

Still focusing on the subject of trees...

Again here is the Lucuma tree in the background with the Nuqchu flower at its base. This is fuchsia-like flower which blooms year round in the Sacred Valley of Peru.

The Nuqchu is the main plant of the Earth Garden at Willa T'kia. Carol relates that the cascades of flowers portray abundance, not just material abundance but also love. Their powerful spirit is believed to bring love to the base chakra. You can find out more about native flowers of Peru and Carol's chakra gardens in her book, Chakra Gardens.

First painting is a watercolor and ink sketch.


This painting is an oil on 12" X 12" canvas.

Sunday Sketches

I have been on retreat this week........at home!

An idea that formulated over breakfast with a couple of my creative friends. Today ends our "seven day at home retreat." The basic rules were: to spend at least 3-4 hours a day creating and meet together one or more times during the week to process with a final session this evening.

I have six water-based oil paintings and three watercolor & ink sketches! What could I accomplish if I kept at this pace?!?!?

The Lucuma tree which I first saw at Willa T'ika in the Sacred Valley of Peru was the inspiration of the first paintings.

This watercolor and ink sketch shows the branches, leaves, and fruit in the foreground with the shape of the bark in the background.


And the oil painting.....

Sunday Sketches

In Peru at the Willka T'ika Guesthouse, I became fascinated with flowers of the Ruda plant also known as Rue.

Carol, who created the fabulous gardens and guesthouse, says that the it is an important protection plant and one of the native Andean medicinal plants. Because it is the "golden light of life" she planted it abundantly in the fourth chakra garden relating to the sun and the solar plexus. Each day Carol adorns her hat with flowers and Ruda is one of her favorites.

I sketched the flowers of the Ruda plant one day while enjoying the gardens.



The bright yellow fringed flowers with protruding stamens are star-like, and grow in clusters, facing straight up. The central flower has five petals, while all other have four. The rounded petals are initially curled around the center and slowly open up, forming a protective shield for the light green, four/five-lobbed ovary, which gradually swells up, until the petals are no longer necessary and drop.

One of the most striking features of this plant is the strong, aromatic, bitter or acrid scent, but once you get used to it, it can be very soothing and comforting.

Here are a couple of photographs of Ruda.

Sunday Sketches

I just returned from incredible adventures in Peru and managed to create a few sketches along the way.

I spent several days at Willka T'ika Guesthouse in the Sacred Valley which is a charming and lovely place full of beautiful gardens, fabulous vegetarian food which was grown there, and filled with 18 wonderful women to share experiences.

I became very fond of the thousand-year-old Lucuma tree which called Carol, the inspiration behind Willka T'ika, to this piece of land for the setting of the guesthouse. As she explains, "In the crown chakra garden, a thousand-year-old lucuma tree connects guests to the energy and wisdom of the ancient Inkan civilization. The grassy area beneath the lucuma tree is a perfect place for meditation." The tree has these wonderful, bulbous appendices of bark. One evening for desert we were treated to a wonderful dish with the lucuma fruit......yum!

Here I am painting the first sketch of the Lucuma tree.


This is the first sketch.


I had to get closer to really capture the bark.


Here is that rendition of the Lucuma Tree.


And here is the beautiful tree.



I will be painting more of this tree!

Peru Adventures

I did it!

Yes, I spend time at Machu Picchu, traveled the Amazon River and explored the rain forest, as well as many other Peruvian adventures.

The first two days I was in Cuzco getting acclimated with the help of altitude medication and coca leaves. The colors and people were amazing. Gabriella, our guide, was a delight with her knowledge of the area and sense of spirituality and sacred space. Along with several other like-minded women, I spent a week at Willka T'ika in the Sacred Valley near the Urubamba River. The gardens and food were fabulous! We took day trips to sacred grounds, Inca ruins, and a local school which was at an elevation of 14,000 feet.

Along with a reverence for Pachamama (mother earth), Peruvians live the word, ayni where all beings are recognized and appreciated for the good of all. Peru is a joyous place filled with love and colors.

I did find a little time to sketch and paint, but will rely on photos from friends to share. This month I am participating in an art challenge where I will create 30 paintings which will become a part of an art show in Seattle. I have decided to paint images from Peru and at the present time have finished four paintings.

Stay tuned.......