Day 7: Himalayan Pine

I was met with a light drizzle this morning, so I stayed in the studio to complete the Oriental Spruce piece. I added a photograph of the final piece to the blog post HERE and added a few notes.

Later, I visited the Himalayan Pine, one of Rhode Island’s Champion Trees. Honestly, I was surprised to learn that this particular tree holds such a title; at first glance, it looks a bit scrawny. But Alan, Wilcox Park’s superintendent and arborist, explained that it’s actually a remarkable specimen. It was gifted to the park by the United States National Arboretum in Washington, D.C., a detail that adds even more significance to its presence here.

I am continuing to use a simple pencil and paper for these meditative drawings. The act of this kind of slow looking has me wondering about all the twists and turns of the bark, the shape and direction of the pine needles, the tiny dots within the needles that I believe are pollen, and the dripping sap. The more I look, the more questions I have. So, this tree became more interesting after all.