We walk a lot while we’re in Sweden, usually 5 to 7 miles daily. I’m always looking on the ground for interesting stuff and picked up this pair of little cones. I spent awhile Googling to identify their species, but not much luck, maybe some sort of Piñon. If anyone has an idea, let me know. Thanks.
Pollards in Sweden, watercolor, 9×12″, 2023. Copyrighted with all rights reserved by Jean Krueger
Ted’s on sabbatical and I’m with him in Sweden, Stockholm mainly, for now. I like it here, clean, civil and non-confrontational. We catch weekly pipe organ concerts, walk a lot, the foods quite flavorful and chocolate’s cheap. It’s seems to be a very cool society. But the climate’s cold…much too cold for me, it’s mid-April and still wearing 4 layers, hat, scarf and gloves.
I’m hiking as much as I can while I spend a few weeks of winter in Arizona. Each hike I determine to see at least one wondrous sight. Sometimes I see the rare desert pool of water, sometimes I see a herd of deer, perhaps a lizard or an early blooming of cactus. Most frequently my wondrous sight is the composition of the desert landscape all by itself as its many elements arrange themselves into intricate layers with lines and swirls of light and color. This painting is of a wondrous sight I witnessed while hiking at the end of a day.
The San Pedro Cactus is a gorgeous plant. They grow tall and wide and have straight regular columns or can be quite gnarly and contorted, depending on the growing environment and genetic mutations. The one I’ve painted is of the gnarly type. It grows at altitudes of 2-3,000 ft and is a known hallucinogen. What’s not to love.
While in Arizona I try to hike every day. The temperature is still below 70 degrees F. during the day, perfect for walking. I walk in one of the Maricopa County Regional Parks, a wild and varied landscape with lots of rocks, animals and plants. I’m always looking for my next painting when I’m there.
The Eastern Bracken Fern is found in the Adirondacks of New York State. It’s a deciduous rhizome that appears in spring, lives and spreads in the summer, looses its fronds in the fall, winters underground and then starts it all again when the earth thaws. This painting shows the fern in early spring.
I painted a masonite board with QOR watercolor ground which allows me to paint on a surface that, untreated, will not absorb the watercolor pigments. After an under painting of watercolor, I filled in shading and detail with casein, a more durable water media. Usually I use 140 or 300# watercolor paper. Comparing the hardboard ground to paper, I like the masonite a lot as and alternative. I can frame this without a mat or glass and still have a perfectly displayable watercolor. I may add a semi-gloss coat after the painting dries or gently buff the surface for dull shine,
Desert symbiosis.
The Buckthorn Cactus, botanically known as Cylindropuntia acanthocarpia, is a native of the Sonoran Desert. It’s flowers are yellow or red with shades in between that bloom in spring. The cane-like stalks are covered with thorns and grow in tangled clumps in dry, arid landscape. The flowers are quite showy and bees love ’em.
We go for walks in the desert. Now that spring is warming everything up, all types of desert inhabitants start to appear. Heat loving cactus are blooming, cold-blooded lizards bask in the sun and rabbits forage fallen seeds. I love the desert.
A couple months ago, I got a bunch of Sea Holly from Trader Joe’s with the intention of painting the whole thing. Time went by, the flowers dried, wilted and I threw them out, saving this one blossom to paint. Here it is, still thistley blue, green and grey. I planted these in the yard in New York last fall and will find out if they survived the winter when we return this spring.
Chollas are botanically in the subfamily of Opuntioideae, the same family which includes cactus’s with broad, flat leaves. The leaves of the Cholla are round-ish and really spiny. They quickly become stuck to any object that comes close to it. Their spines hurt and aren’t easy to remove once impaled in either fabric, fur or flesh. When backlit by the setting sun, their branches look like bright torches of white gold.
Oh, Garlic! What a gift thou art!
Hear, I shall tell you why.
You heal the heart, relieve the fart
Repel possums and flys.
The genus Allium is a fabulous species. It includes the garlics, notably the Elephant Garlic as celebrated by this painting. When in bloom they are showy beyond words, when roasted with olive oil and on sour dough, well, you’d think you’d died and gone to heaven. Enjoy!
In praise of the lowly but lovely onion.
Nature and realism as abstraction…go figure.
https://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/jean-krueger/agave-arizona/853595
Drawn to scale, the cone of the Sugar Pine shown here is in the medium range in size. These cones can grow to over two feet in length. They are superb in their symetry and the rythmic spiraling of their woody scales.
Victor alla Prima, sold.
Butter and Eggs was painted on site in Victor, CO. It’s a snap-drangonish perennial that stands 18-24″ and seems to love poor soil. It is delicat and detailed.
https://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/jean-krueger/butter-and-eggs/778422
Painted for shape and complexity.
This cone is a lot larger and harder that most of the ponderosa cones I’ve painted. We found it in Southern California. I wonder if I identified it correctly although in searching for visual info on it, it most likely resembles the ponderosas. I may have to re-title it someday if I find it’s a different species.
Jean Krueger Fine Art 