A leaf

The workshop had two parts.  One was to learn how to identify trees, which requires some basic knowledge of dendrology.  The other was to learn how to draw and paint trees and their parts (leaves, fruit, branches, bark, etc).  At the intersection of these two are the journals we would be starting.  I say starting, because we only had a week and it will take a lot longer then that to fill the journals.

We started by looking at leaves.  The part of a tree that collects sunlight and converts it to energy for the tree.  A part that we see a lot of.  A part that can be used to help identify the tree species.  We learned about the pattern of leaf arrangement, their shapes, margins and venation.  We also learned how to use leaf characteristics to identify trees.

Even though it was October, the daytime temperatures were still more like summer most days.  We did have two cold nights (31 and 34 degrees) that prompted the leaves to start turning color.  Some of the first leaves to turn were the Sassafras, and so one of these colorful leaves became my first journal entry.