Hyacinths of Knowledge

I dug this one up from the archives. Not that it's particularly old, but its been out of sight for awhile. I sent this watercolor home in a document box when I said my goodbyes to Israel for the first time. I had it hanging in my cubicle there, and it would receive compliments from time to time when people stopped by to ask questions or have a chat. To me it was never quite right visually, the greens particularly, but still people liked it. My interest was more in the quote "... Sow the seeds of divine wisdom in the pure soil of the heart, and water them with the waters of certitude, that the hyacinths of knowledge and wisdom may spring up fresh and green from the holy city of the heart." I like the imagery of the heart being composed of pure soil from which things such as wisdom can grow like beautiful flowers. However, it takes a certain attitude to cultivate it.

I think we can all do with a little tending. May our hearts spring up with good things in 2013 (and forever and beyond).

Junayn Gardens

The days are getting busier as the month wears on. The end of next week I trade Israel for Australia, so my schedule is blowing up just a bit. In between everything else is packing and updating my resume. This weekend I went to the Junayn Gardens, one of the places Baha'u'llah would frequent, which was in the 19th century property acquired by the Bahai's and used for farming. The land used to extend much further but at the moment there's a lot of development going on around the property. Besides that I don't know too much about this place.


I figured I would have trouble scanning the drawing so I took a photo of it instead -- pre fixing up and erasing.

Oh, I recently ordered and received the book The Art of Urban Sketching.  I've read most of it so far. It makes a nice reference!

Succulents

Went out walking during my lunch hour. I've since moved from the Midwest to the Middle East, temporarily at least. Back in Haifa, Israel to serve at the Baha'i World Centre. Interestingly enough it's warmer back home than it is here at the moment. Still, I'm glad to be back close to one of my favourite seasons--Spring. I passed by a stretch of various succulents and decided to spend some time sketching a few of them. If you're not familiar with them, they're basically fleshy plants that retain water, like the aloe. There's so many different kinds of these plants and other wildlife in the area, it might be interesting to make note of as many as I can during the few months I am here.