Fresh Greens

There's plenty of green all around. The yard is full of trees leafing out, particularly the grapefruits with bright shiny leaves, the apricot that just finished blooming, the mulberries and mesquite are starting to cast shade (and catkins! Ah-choo!).
From every window I peer, I see green! I am blessed to have such a residence, as most homes in the desert are surrounded by various shades of beige or perhaps, block walls.
And of course, EVERY one is Irish this week! My own heritage is heavily influenced by the English isles, but my children can claim their paternal great-grandfather emigrated from the Emerald Isle and other ancestors that resided in Ireland for a time.
In that vein, the various challenges have themes of green. Break out the crayons and markers!

Last week, the IAST had a shamrock string. I have a pot of shamrocks, indoors, natch, and the leaves are quite angular and oh, so petite. It just helps to explain this one:

Colored Pencils

This other one was drawn first with watercolor crayons. The waxy surface was tough to make marks with my Sharpie. The more water I added, the less trouble I had.

It's a learning curve of sorts, isn't it?

Then I wanted to see if I could get Sharpie marks to run and blur. They're alcohol-based, so alcohol must do the trick, right? I finally got real action with 97% isopropyl:

Then I played with some water-based markers. I should have known the colour combination would yield mostly browns, but I was trying to use colors of my shamrocks (they're magenta on the underside of the leaves). This is for this week's Diva and I call it, "Losing my Marbles," as I've been having "fun" with my health insurance:

Note: I still have some marbles left!

These itty-bitties are for the EIM. I'd love to visit Tahiti and live in a tiki hut over the aqua water, been to Nevis, which was delightful and still undeveloped when I was there, we'd like to have our own Florida Key and Gil has been known to fly an ultra-light plane and that would have to be our mode of transport.
Cue Wagner's, "Ride of the Valkeries."
While drawing the deserted island, I was reminded of Yosemite Sam, "I HATE coconuts!"
Alas, there's a Four Seasons hotel there now.

And last, but not least, my offering for next week's Two by Two, "Zodiac." The twinchie challenge marks it's first birthday this week! YAY! I'm grateful to have the opportunity to create and publish that blog and for meeting participants from all over the globe.
My birthday is in September, I'm a Libra. I was always kind of annoyed that I wasn't associated with one of the cool animals or creatures, but rather the only inanimate object of the Constellations. I've come to terms with that and for it being an "Air"sign. I thought hard about this and I love the billowing thunderheads in summer. They form out of nothing, create drama in the skies and nourishing rain when the mood suits. My "air" drawn with watercolor pencils:

Thanks for stopping by and looking! The hand is healing nicely, BTW.
Perhaps stop by the 2 x 2 and create something different there?! It's a birthday party!