Monday, August 23, 2010

Soccer Mom Drawings (again)

Not everyone can see the slide show in the previous post, so I'm putting the same images here (but without the snappy background music).

During the spring soccer season, I used the time during practices to work on my drawings.

In the above sketch, I have a detail of a lady's thumb stem, some lamb's quarters in flower, and an English plantain. I found all of these along a fence in the park.

Above is a lady's thumb. The chevron on the leaves gives the plant it's name. The mark is said to have been left by a lady when she touched the plant with her thumb. Not all leaves have the chevron, but the plant is easy to identify by the small pink flowers.
The taste of wood sorrel reminds me of childhood. We snacked on it as kids when playing outside. Did anyone else nibble on shamrock as a child, or now? So tasty! (Note to self: sorrel has two r's.)


This white campion is a champion. I picked it in a neglected stretch along a road when I visited a place on the border between Queens and Brooklyn (Queens and King counties). From there, I traveled to the soccer field by subway - which took forever - and this white champion didn't wilt. I'm quite fond of this plant, and I discovered that carrying a weed on a crowded subway at rush hour is quite a conversation starter.

I don't know what this weed is. The flowers were white and the plant was very short. I found it in a crack in the sidewalk.

Here's another lady's thumb (no chevron but distinctive pink flowers) and some sort of grass.
This fall I'll be back on the sidelines several times a week as both my kids play in the fall league. I'm hoping the warm weather lingers all season so I can draw during practices and not huddle with fingers wiggling in mittens to keep warm.

5 comments:

  1. These are so worth getting up at 2:20 in 'night middle' to see----they charm me with their wonderful line qualities and the information is precious to read. Your treatment of weeds etc is to be commended and certainly inspires !

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  2. These are just wonderful. I love how you framed them and added little touches here and there. Your narrative is so interesting - I have many of these weeds right here in my "garden" and now I see them in a new light! nancy

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  3. Nice sketches! I agree with nanke about the frames, and how it makes it more than "just" a sketch (not that a sketch is ever just a sketch, hope you understand what I mean).

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  4. Wonderful sketches and stories! And yes, I nibbled sorrel, and also we had honeysuckle.

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