Tree Story: Always Caught My Eye When I Drove By

Always caught my eye when I drove by.
Drawing by Carlos P.
Camphor Tree (Cinnamomum camphora)
Riverside, CA
2011

When my girlfriend mentioned my "Draw Me A Tree" project to her family, much to her surprise her dad, Carlos, said he had a favorite tree. He used to drive to her house to dog sit her Rottweilers and along the way there was a tree that always caught his eye because it looked different than all the other trees along that street. Cataracts have since clouded his vision and he no longer drives, so we set out one day with Carlos to find his tree. Block by block we would drive and Carlos would repeat, "No, not that one - a little further." Finally, he chimed, "That's it!" "It" being a lovely Camphor Tree on a corner that took up the entire front lawn of someones home. We set up the camera across the street and Carlos got busy making this great drawing despite his failing vision.

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Tree Story: From meeting in the movie line to walking down the wedding aisle.

From meeting in the movie line to walking down the wedding aisle.
Drawing by Rachel B.
Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Los Angeles, CA
Monterey Cypress (Cupressus macrocarpa)
Image by Dan Shepherd, 2011

Four years ago today, in the tree lined front lawn of the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Rachel and Brad just happened to meet. During the summers, people line up in droves here waiting to get in to the Cinespia movie screenings. Rachel was waiting for her blind date to the movie and Brad was not that date but wished he was. Her blind date was a dud but there was spark between Brad and Rachel. The following week they had a date of their own, now they are happily married with two beautiful children. Sometimes cemeteries are also great places to celebrate life and love.

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Tree Story: My Clean Car Nemesis

My Clean Car Nemesis
Drawing by Shawn R.
Deodar Cedar (Cedrus deodara)
West Los Angeles, CA
Image by Dan Shepherd, 2011

When Shawn heard about my Draw Me A Tree Project he told me he didn't have a tree that he loved but he had a tree he would shake his fist at and wished was chopped down. A tree that elicits that much passion needed to be documented. So, we visited a big Deodara Cedar in the front yard of a house he used to live in. He told me how maddening it was when it always dripped on their car when they parked in their drive way. This is LA and parking is always at a premium and cars are king so I am sure you can empathize when the tree becomes your constant clean car nemesis. Shawn scratched out his drawing with the same hand shaking zeal the tree deserved.

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Tree Story: Here I Found a Dead Woman

Here I found a dead woman.

Drawing by Lisa B.

California Sycamore (Platanus racemosa)

Broadway Park, Santa Monica, CA

2011

Lisa took me to a tree near her community garden plot where she happened upon a homeless woman who had passed away in her wheelchair at the base of this sycamore last year. If you were to die homeless, you could do much worse than this serene grove of trees in Broadway Park. Rest in Peace.

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