past posts from the thicket
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Category Archives: trees/urban forest
Tree Portraits, Golden Gate Park
Please stop by the Helen Crocker Russell Library of Horticulture at the San Francisco Botanical Garden to see the current exhibit of pastel portraits that I have painted over the past few years of various trees throughout Golden Gate Park. … Continue reading
Metson Lake
Metson Lake, south-east of the Polo Field, is an out-of-the-way gem in Golden Gate Park. Built in 1908 and intended as a reservoir to hold irrigation water for the park, it opened in conjunction with the Murphy Windmill, a … Continue reading
Eucalyptus at Dusk
One of my favorite times to walk in Golden Gate Park is at dusk. The great, old trees stand tall, silhouetted against the sky, each one uniquely contorted and top-heavy in a delicate balancing act compensating for limbs lopped off … Continue reading
Posted in arts, plants, trees/urban forest
Tagged artists in golden gate park, Eucalyptus, golden gate park
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Some Snags at Stow Lake, Golden Gate Park
As both an artist and a naturalist I’m drawn to the dead trees on the islands in Stow Lake. Their skeletal remains stand out dramatically against the sky and they exemplify the natural life cycles in the park. Heavy with ivy, nasturtium and other creeping … Continue reading
Posted in animals, arts, birds, insects, plants, trees/urban forest, urban ecology, wildlife
Tagged art in golden gate park, golden gate park, urban ecology, urban evolution, urban forest, urban wildlife
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More Eucalyptus in Golden Gate Park: The Cadenasso Group
The Cadenasso Group, a grove of Eucalyptus trees on the west shore of Middle Lake in Golden Gate Park, is named in honor of San Francisco painter Giuseppe Cadenasso (1858-1918). Cadenasso arrived in California from Italy at the age of 9 and studied painting at … Continue reading
That bark! (more on eucalyptus)
These giants in the panhandle must be over a hundred years old. According to Elizabeth McIntock’s pamphlet, Trees of the Panhandle, published in 1973, they are Manna gum (Eucalyptus viminalis) and, in Australia, the favorite food of Koala bears. Sometimes also … Continue reading
another take on eucalyptus
I made this quick water color sketch of a very old eucalyptus in the panhandle of Golden Gate Park a couple of years ago. The bark is amazing; so hard to capture all the nuances of color and pattern. And those twisting branches. … Continue reading
Posted in arts, plants, trees/urban forest
Tagged art in golden gate park, trees of golden gate park
4 Comments
I Heart Eucalpytus
Originally posted on Seen: Archives:
There, I’ve said it. Perhaps, indeed, they do not belong in this part of the world. Perhaps, indeed, they will be tinder one day in some terrible conflagration. But I love the eucalyptus trees, their…
monterey cypress
If there is one iconic tree in Golden Gate Park, I think it would have to be the magnificent Monterey Cypress that stands by itself on a small knoll in the great oval lawn just inside the main gate of the … Continue reading
Posted in plants, trees/urban forest
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zen in golden gate park: the art of nature journaling
Recently I spent a week in the Sierras “nature-journaling” with John Muir Laws: http://www.johnmuirlaws.com If you aren’t familiar with Jack Laws, I highly recommend getting to know him. Whenever I’m in the Sierras I depend on The Laws Field Guide … Continue reading
golden gate park: views from the thicket 