Finding the sacred everywhere. Thoughts on religion, art, books, politics, philosophy, and life in general from a Unitarian Universalist minister.
I took a break from this one (MacKenzie willow) about 2/3 of the way through, then liked it so much when I opened my sketchbook again that I didn’t add another mark. Nor did I look back at the reference photo to see what I was leaving out by stopping. I like the spirit of it, and isn’t that the aim?
And here is yesterday’s leaf, from a peach tree.
Criss-crossed by shadows, this bonplandiana leaf, of all the ones I saw online, said “draw me.”
This willow goes by many names: Pacific willow in my field guide, but also red, whiplash, and shining willow (the translation of the scientific name). What I’ve drawn here is not a leaf, strictly speaking, but a stipule: a little quasi-leaf that grows at the junction of a twig and the stem of a leaf. And the ones on S. lucida are fuzzy and shiny, which is more than I care to try to get across in my drawing tonight. It’s been a pleasant, but long and full, day, and one steeped in art. Earlier, I drew a copy of a self-portrait from one of Cezanne’s sketchbooks, and a clandestine portrait of an old man on the bus.
Drawing six leaves takes six times as long, but sometimes I just can’t resist the shape of a whole twig of them falling like this. And I’m on vacation.
Tomorrow we go to the Art Institute of Chicago, the home of so many works of art that I have seen only in tiny little reproductions in books. Hopper, Cassatt, Seurat, Monet. So much inspiration in one building!
This is a weeping willow leaf, and its scientific name is Salix babylonica. That has to be a reference to the beginning of Psalm 137, right?: “By the waters of Babylon, we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.”
The willow may weep, but it’s hard to be sad when you’re looking at one, or sitting under it. It’s such a lovely, sheltering tree.
Having gone into such delicate detail with the previous drawing, I tried to do the opposite with the interesting light on this leaf. How quick and rough can the marks be and still get the shadow across? I’m not so good at quick and rough, and immediately started refining. An old story, and not only in visual art.
With Salix exigua, we enter the category of toothed simple leaves!
Sermons in Stones 
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