Trees, Seedlings, and Tongues of Flames

Yesterday I did some sketching.  I first tried to sketch the sunroom where I spent so much time last week (I have even dreamed of that room).  But I couldn't get the perspective right.

I couldn't decide what to draw next, so I looked back through some of my sketches from the online journaling class that I took.  I felt drawn to the pine trees I had been sketching, but first I drew a vine-like line.  Later, I added trees.

I often try to create a haiku for my sketch.  But yesterday, I couldn't get the syllables right.  I thought about a longer poem, but I was running out of time during my lunch hour sketching, with the hard deadline of a 1:00 meeting.  I thought about how the leaves of the vine looked like the tongues of flame I had been sketching, the tongues of flames that we think about during Pentecost.

Later I thought about the larger world context, the fires that are scorching so much of Australia.  I didn't have those kinds of flames in mind when I wrote the poem.

This sketch makes me happy, and I'm not sure why.  I love the colors and the idea of the forest it inspires.  I love the colors in the vine and leaves.  But most of all, I love that I seized some time to sketch.