Schematic

I was so tired that I fell right into bed, planning to post this in the morning. But morning was busy and I forgot all day. So here is yesterday’s tree, immediately before I draw today’s.

Something I find endlessly fascinating about nature is the way things are patterned but never quite completely regular. What I loved about these needles, in addition to the little twist at the base of each one, was their pattern of alternating short and long, and the zigzag rhythm formed by their placement on the twig. But once I looked closely enough to draw them, the irregularities in the pattern became evident. Drawing them as a schematic seemed like a way to highlight both the pattern and the deviation from it.