West Coast Brushstrokes

Some garden and plant news, motivation, and my art progress.

Another plant! by Lorraine Sawicki

Barometer Reading

Atmospheric Rivers are bounding through the west coast waters like great big puppies running through grass. Full of power and rain, these forces of nature saturated the landscape and drive people indoors. But while indoors, I’m planning for the spring. I applied for and joined a 4th place called the SF Commons and I’m really excited about the people I’ve met and events planned so far. Where are you gathering to meet people and get your fix on community?

Gardening and Plant News

• The LA Times Plants section was affected by their layoffs—their newsletter person Jeanette Marantos was let go. I am sad.

• The USDA just changed Seattle’s Plant Hardiness Zone to 9a from 8b (evidence that temps really are getting warmer!). San Francisco’s stayed the same at 10a/10b.

• What Makes a Garden a work of Art? (NY Times subscription needed) Piet Oudolf fans, plan to gawk at some amazing photos.

Art Progress

I just finished week 3 of the Nature Illustration for Morning Larks meetup. I went from 1, to 6, to now 11 people signed up for my early (6:30am) morning art session! That’s exciting. So far it’s a healthy and pleasant chat session while everyone works on their own art. I encourage people to show what they’re working on but if they don’t want to participate (or even talk at all) that’s fine. I’m curious about whether or not I’ll have some kind of growing pains with that many people.

Wacky Dreams & Get Moving

There was dream I had last week where there was a scary but attractive man waiting on the other side of a glass door. Staring at me with flowers in his hands, what the hell?? As if he was reading my mind, or I was talking to myself through that other body, he said “well how else are you going to start your romance novel?” For the record, I never thought about writing any kind of romance novel, but I did read (again) that it’s the best way to make money with writing. What is my subconscious telling me? My simple guess is, get moving.

It’s the second day of February so all the New Year’s initiatives are technically well under way or just about forgotten at this point. I was at a coffee shop last week and overheard a conversation.. there woman saying to a friend, “Oh you’re so good at knitting. I want to get into knitting this year.” (More chat.) Then she continued, “Last year, I wanted to get into guitar. But I didn’t. This year, I want to start knitting.”

Let’s all make to get the energy to start and make progression (even the tiniest progression!) on our goals, desires and dreams.