A Bit Too Forward...

Please pardon me, if lately, I appear to be a bit too forward with my nuts. Can you blame me? Look at them? It is my great luck that I happen to love the genus Quercus and Cyclobalanopsis, and to be gifted by the diversity of these beautiful members of the Kingdom Plantae. Sigh! What glorious nuts!!! I delight in squiggling them everyday. It is my desire to draw as many species as I can this year. Therefore, I don't blame you of you run out of things to say. After all, a nut is a nut, right? Maybe. But if you just take a look...these are oak leaves and pubescent and mature acorns!!!

Quercus mysinifolia

Cyclobalanopsis fleuryi

Cyclobalanopsis hui

Cyclobalanopsis litoralis

Cyclobalanopsis albicaulis

台湾窄叶青冈

Cyclobalanopsis stenophylloides (Hayata), 台湾窄叶青冈,  wan zhai ye qing gang, also known as Cyclobalanopsis stenophylla(Blume) Schottky var. stenophylloides (Hayata) J. C. Liao; Q. salicina Blume var. stenophylloides(Hayata) S. S. Ying; Q. stenophylla (Blume) Makino var. stenophylloides (Hayata) A. Camus. Pen and ink drawing on ATC-sized Bristol board.

This is an oak from Taiwan; up to 17 meters tall (55.77 ft) with grey slender branches. This is the description of the leaf and acorn from http://www.efloras.org: "Petiole 1.5-2 cm, glabrous; leaf blade oblong-elliptic to lanceolate, 7-12 × 1.5-3.5 cm, leathery, abaxially farinose and with prostrate simple hairs but usually glabrescent, adaxially green, base narrowly acute to rounded, margin with short, awnlike serrations, apex acuminate to caudate; secondary veins 11-13 on each side of midvein, extending into serration; tertiary veins abaxially inconspicuous to obscure. Female inflorescences 2-2.5 cm, cupules 6 or 7. Cupule cupular, 1-1.5 × ca. 1.2 cm, enclosing ca. 1/2 or less of nut, outside and inside grayish velutinous, wall less than 1 mm thick; bracts in 6 or 8 rings, margin dentate. Nut ellipsoid, 1.7-2 × ca. 1.5 cm, glabrous; scar ca. 5 mm in diam., flat; stylopodium persistent, conspicuous, 3-ringed. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Sep-Oct of following year.* Broad-leaved evergreen forests in mountains; (500)1100-2600 m. C to N Taiwan"

One of the reasons that attract me to the literature of science (Botany, Zoology, Anatomy, or just every professional endeavor) is the terminology. I am constantly forced to open the dictionary. Take a look at my simple illustrations. They are described using the following terms: glabrous, lanceolate, abaxial, farinose, prostrate, glabrescent, adaxial, acuminate, awn, caudate, velutinous, dentate, ellipsoid, stylopodium...

Whew!!! Then I look for the meaning and I picture this beautiful oak and my illustrations look like weak attempts to capture its essence. Sigh*

At any rate, my sidebar contains a Glossary of terms. Oh and one more thing, doesn't the cup of the acorn remind you of the cups at oriental restaurants? :) Of course I have several of those cups. I keep thinking of rice while drawing these acorns. I think, if we look around, we can emulate nature in designing our wares.

P.S. It is Saturday in Kirimati, Kiribati

Lithocarpus densiflorus

Lithocarpus densiflorus, Tanbark oak. Pen and ink on 3.5"X2.5" Bristol board

Lithocarpus densiflorus, aka Tanoak or Tanbark-oak is considered a link between the chestnut (Castanea) and the oak (Quercus). It has flowers like the chestnut and acorns like the oak. It is found in Oregon, California and Nevada.

Quercus dunnii - Dunn Oak, Palmer Oak

Quercus dunnii, Dunn Oak, Palmer Oak. Pen and Ink on 3.5"x2.5" Bristol board

Quercus dunnii is a native of California, Baja California and Arizona. It is usually an evergreen shrub.

The leaf of the Quercus dunnii is 1.2-5 x 1-3 cm; elliptic or rounded; leathery; not convex; with wavy margins , sometimes rolled backward or downward or rolled at the tip of the margins (revolute). It is the spiniest of the oak species with 3-9 sharp teeth each side. It is grey green and glabrous adaxially; yellowish green tomentose abaxially, with prominent veins; no stellate hairs below; 3-8 vein pairs; petiole 2-5 mm, round in cross section;

Acorn 2-3 cm long; oblong to spindle-shaped; having an abruptly projecting point (mucronate); enclosed 1/4 by cup; cup sessile or nearly so, thin, wider than nut, scales covered with orange tinged glandular hairs; maturing in 2 years, from August to October

Ref: http://oaks.of.the.world.free.fr/quercus_palmeri.htm

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEAUTIFUL!!!

Sarah Ebarkins swinging through the vines, a ballpoint drawing study on my Moleskine notebook for a story my daughter wrote when she was 5 years old. I love this story because she then gave me strict instructions to type the words exactly as she wrote them. Here is the original post.

The Adventures of the Blue Ring
By Em

One day a little girl named Sarah Ebarkins bought a blue ring. The next day she swung on a vine. While she was swinging her ring came OFF! It dropped into a river into the waterfall cascade. In the waterfall cascade there were vines hanging in the cave. The ring got caught on a VINE then a big wave came and SPLASH! making the ring drop into the river again PLOP! Then a light shone on the ring and there shone...the sun! Then Sarah Ebarkins went out and ran to where she had swung and lost her ring. But she decided to make her own ring by her talent and put insects on it. But when she wore it outside her house a bird snatched it right out of her hands. But when she went to her house and went to her bedroom she saw the ring sitting on her table.

Happy Birthday to my beautiful, intelligent, wonderful, bright, charming, talented, funny, terrific, awesome daughter!!!

We love you!!!

 

My daughter used to sneak notes on my Moleskine notebook when she was in grade school. Later, I would respond to her notes by drawing around her messages. My daughter is 16 years old today. She is a beautiful, smart  and talented young lady. She has been twice a recipient of the President's Academic Award; a member of the Junior National Honor Society and now the National Honor Society. She loves history, literature, theater, music and art. She is an avid reader. As much as she tries to escape Science Fair and science projects (she does not like it with a passion :)), she gets selected to represent her school every year. Again this year, she has been selected to the district competition. She came home with a frown on her face saying "Mom, I got selected to represent the district." I replied "Aaaawwww, I am sorry." (but I am also happy and proud of her being selected and so I just had to giggle.) We both laughed. I told her to just have fun. I do not understand her grades. She gets 103% grades, huh? Per centum is per one hundred. It cannot be 103, but there it is. Oh, and she is even on the Spanish Honor Society. What?! There is a Spanish Honor Society? Do you think I am proud of her? Can you blame me? Ah, she makes life beautiful! I love you Em. Tsup!

Do Not Judge An Oak By Its Leaf

L to R: Cyclobalanopsis chungii; Cyclobalanopsis phanera; Cyclobalanopsis stenophylloides

L to R: Cyclobalanopsis chevalieri; Cyclobalanopsis morii; Lithocarpus densiflorus

L to R: Cyclobalanopsis astro-glauca; Cyclobalanopsis lamellosa; Cyclobalanopsis fleuryi

Coming tomorrow, their acorns...

Quercus falcata - Southern Red Oak

Quercus falcata, Michx. 1801.  Southern Red Oak, Spanish Oak, Swamp Red Oak

Literally, thousands of twirls and rotations of my pen nib create miniature circles and swirls to complete this illustrated 10"x8" double cut board, matting the 3.5"x2.5"ATC illustration of the Quercus falcata acorn. This is the second oak decorated mat I have drawn. I did the first one last year, also on January, 2011, shown left. 

Quercus virgiliana - Roverella

Quercus virgiliana, Ten. 1835, pubescence, acorn, leaf.  Pen and ink on 3.5"x2.5" Bristol board. I had a difficult time capturing the scales of this acorn; a lot of patterns and texture.

I chanced upon this almost perfectly ovoid acorn, Quercus virgiliana because I made a typographical error in searching for interesting facts about Quercus virginiana. What a magnificent discovery! This acorn is produced by the most beautiful and largest heritage oak trees in Southern Europe, East Corsica, Italy to the Black Sea. Quercus vigiliana or Roverella. There appears to be quite extensive documentation of heritage specimen throughout Italy. Check out these beautiful acorn images here and the majestic  1000 year old tree, the largest in Italy; a 250-300 year old specimen here and an estimated 400 year old tree here.

The leaf of the Quercus virgiliana is broadly oboval, 10-16 cm., flat with a rounded or cordate base. It has 5 to 7 pairs of often rounded lobes. It is woolly beneath. The petiole measures 1.5-2.5 cm.. The acorn is 3-4 cm in diameter, on a short peduncle, almost sessile; the cup has flat , lanceolate, reflexed scales. Ref: Oaks of the World