We arrived home from Arizona in the early days of April. Trees dot our landscape, both evergreen and deciduous. The prompt this week on #ScribblePicnic is TREES. Perfect.
We live about 3 hours north of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Snow still lay in the bush for the first few days after our arrival and in piles as a result of the snowplows.
It rained. It felt cold. No more blue skies every day.
No colourful flowers. Bare trees. But spring is coming. (click to tweet)
But the grass was green. The evergreens displayed their uninterrupted colour.
The deciduous trees are still bare. Some buds have begun to peep out.
I look for buds every day. I took my camera and went hunting for spring. You can see the results below.
I used watercolour pencils to paint the large pine in our side yard.
Then I used water to make it look like a watercolour painting.
I sketched in pencil our bare wild cherry. 
We went to an Earth Day Event in the park put on by all our local churches. We were given gifts of tree shoots from Haliburton Forest.
We live on the Canadian Shield so we have rock – lots of rock. Mostly granite.
Join us at Scribble Picnic.
Check out I Remember – The Seasons, written by Brenda Poulos and I did the illustrations.
Found at amazon.com and amazon.ca
Building snowmen…going for hayrides…raking leaves. These are just a few of the pages in I Remember the Seasons that will bring fond memories to life for those affected by Alzheimer’s. I Remember the Seasons is a simple and effective picture book containing lovely illustrations by Janis Cox. Poetry, and discussion questions will set the stage for meaningful conversations between people with Alzheimer’s and their caregivers.
You live in a beautiful surrounding, Janis. So much inspiration for creativeness.
Arizona is one place I’ve always wanted to visit. We don’t have noticeable season changes in the sub-tropics apart from winter, of course…which would be very mild to you. We are currently in our autumn months. Love your tree sketches, particularly the wild cherry tree. I always feel happy when I see new growth/buds on plants in our garden. 🙂
I think it’s lovely you get to experience both climates as such, Janis. Thank s for showing us your lovely backyard and those lovely trees you captured in your sketchbook pages. Thank you for adding this to our picnic! Enjoy those blooms as they surely come, even up there further north!
I love to go in search of the signs of spring. Bare trees have a beauty all their own, but sometimes we do tire of it. Hope Spring springs for you soon!
Lorraine,
I think that’s what my minister meant when he said on Sunday that I wouldn’t feel the same about waiting for spring. We had beautiful flowers, trees and weather in Arizona. It is a shock to come back to … prespring. But I do enjoy looking for the signs.
Blessings,
Janis
Your spring looks very much like mine. Slow in coming to life this year.
I think it is fun that you did a couple of your trees. Such a great way to get to know them better and they turned out charming. Lovely also that you did illustrations for a book.
Tammie,
Where do you live? And you are right – the more I look, and draw, the more I learn about creation. And I love illustrating. I did my two children’s books and have another one in the works too.
Thank you,
Blessings,
Janis
I’m so glad you’re finding signs of Spring now!
Love the trees you’ve done. Drawing all those bare branches, and deciding when you’ve added enough of them, is a challenge, isn’t it?
Yes I agree – not wanting to put in every single branch – that would drive me right round the bend. I think I stopped when the tree felt balanced. Love finding the signs of spring.
Janis
I like the bare wild cherry tree sketch, looks so simple and yet a bit intricate with the tree branches.
have a lovely day.
Lissa,
It took more time that I take to paint for sure as I am a loose painter. But I liked looking at the details out my window. I am getting better drawing what I see.
Blessings
Janis
Love your sketches! How nice that you got some starter trees for Earth Day!!
Sue,
It was a really surprise and blessings to get those cuttings. I popped them in the earth and hope they take. Thanks for the compliments.
Blessings,
Janis
You have a wonderful array of pictures and stories. And your sketch of the tree looks like one to have a picnic under. Have a great week.
Wanda,
What a great idea!! A picnic beneath the tree – when it’s in bloom maybe with the grandkids. We don’t do that enough – of course the bugs will be coming next. YUCK.
Thanks,
Blessings,
Janis
Beautiful pine and cherry painting and sketch Janis, welcome spring!
Christine,
Welcome spring indeed. I even podcasted about that topic for next week’s Hope Stream Radio. It’s good to watch for changes. I will be taking my camera out again and see what “pops” up next.
Blessings,
Janis
I love, love, love that wild cherry tree. But, then I have a ‘thing’ with dead or bare trees.
Somehow I like the bare trees for sketches especially – you can see the uniqueness of each branch. And I love the shades of the bark.
Blessings
Janis
I’m enjoying the story of your trees and garden Janis – far behind our area regarding spring bloom but still beautiful as only nature can be. Lots to look forward to in the coming weeks.
The large pine done with watercolor pencils (I love them) is I’m sure a home for sheltering birds.
Your sketch of the still bare cherry is lovely – does it flower?
Amazing to think those little trees from Earth Day will someday be tall pines. I also noticed the white birch in the second photo – lovely trees all.
Happy day – Mary
Mary,
In the last few days a few buds have popped. Hurrah. We went up to 27 degrees C today which is 80 degrees F. Now we are expecting a thunderstorm. Our wild cherry flowers a little – I will keep a watch this spring. It just started to bud. Fruit is not edible. Birds don’t eat it.
I planted the pines.
Time to sketch the pine.
Blessings,
Janis