Northern California artist Marianne Bland of Truc d'Art is on a mission; she is creating a new piece of art every day for an entire year. All of this effort is being documented in her blog, Art Project 2010, in which she dishes up "fresh art (& snark) daily!"

Since I love me some good art, and some good snark, I decided to check it out. Marianne employs a striking variety of style and texture, and the year is just beginning...

Of all the posts so far, my favorite is Day 36. I have spent many days contemplating the twisted, stately eucalyptus trees of Northern California. Each time I return, the smell of "euks" (as I call them in my head) brings me back to memories of warm days surrounded by the trees that seemed always green and always brown at the same time.

I find it interesting then, that the opening lines of Marianne's description of the day so closely reflect my own feelings about eucalyptus trees and returning to a place in which I spent so much time.

An artist is, of course, entitled to feel anything they wish about their own art, but I think this one is a winner, and not "meh" at all.

Here is Marianne's original post:

It’s a weird feeling to drive down the streets of your hometown after a long time away. Routes I used to take every day are both familiar and odd at the same time. It’s as if I can feel the space of time, as if it’s palpable. Being here made me think of the things I used to do here. When I was upset or frustrated, I cherished my alone time in my car. I didn’t have to deal with crowds or lines or traffic or anything, it would just be me and my CD player and my sketchbook. I used to drive out to Ohlone, the community college in Fremont, and park in front of a eucalyptus tree for hours. I’d draw and write and sip coffee. I always wanted to do a nice watercolor of the trees, the way the bark falls away in strips and leaves unexpected colors in lines wrapping around the trunk like brushstrokes.

But watercolor and I have a rocky relationship. We go through phases. Sometimes it’s all movies-and-dinner and fabulous conversation, and other times  it’s walking on eggshells and constant arguments that end in walking away from each other.

Yesterday’s painting took so long that I wanted to do something faster today. I drove out to some of the giant eucalyptus trees near the sushi place at 5:30 with about 25 minutes of light left.

I did a quick charcoal sketch, then came home and picked a palette of the secondaries and abstracted it a little. I feel “meh” about it, but they can’t all be winners.