Join me in Drawing the Beauty Around You

I’m really excited to join artist Shilpa Agashe in a challenge next week. But before I talk about the challenge and ask if you will join in, if you don’t know this artist’s work, head over here right now, because you are in for a treat!

Next week, I’m joining Shilpa in a project she works on all year round. I’ll be drawing the flora and fauna I see around me. That could be as simple as sketching what’s growing in my backyard: the trees, the fruit, the flowers, the veggies… any of it. And when I post it online I’ll tag it with the hashtag #2022inbloom.

Here’s my kickoff image, from last week when I was in India. I’m back now, so my images and posts next week will be what I am seeing around me in San Jose, California. And when I post, I’ll perhaps share a little bit about this flowering tree, where I am and anything else I can think of that’s interesting.

These five-petalled blooms are from the tropical gulmohar tree, also known as Flame of the Forest. Most varieties have 4 orange-red petals and a differently colored fifth petal patterned in red, white, and yellow. The flower blooms through the summer, sometimes so densely that you can see no leaves, just a canopy of orange on a tree trunk.

I love the idea behind this challenge in so many ways: It promises to make me be more aware of my surroundings, to stop and notice and draw (or take a photo to draw from, that’s fine too). It’s also the sort of challenge I’d love to keep in my back pocket, to work at over the seasons, so I notice little changes as they happen.

If you’re not inspired to join in yet, here’s an image from Shilpa’s sketchbook.

Isn’t it gorgeous?

So draw what’s blooming around you, share it and tag it #2022inbloom.
I’ll post my sketches on Instagram through the week and here in a blogpost at the end of the week.