Trichocereus ~ Painted with my Teeny Tiny Watercolor Palette
—and Episodic vs. Serial Storytelling
Back in May, before the furnace-that-is-June-in-Tucson started blasting us with temps over 100° F. each day, I joined my art peeps at Tohono Chul for more plein air sketching, utilizing my new teeny tiny watercolor palette that I wrote about a few weeks ago.
This time at Tohono Chul I was attracted to a Trichocereus that had bright red flower buds and was growing in a large (3’ diameter) saucer-shaped planter. I completed my initial pencil sketch and some of the pen on site, and made use of my teeny tiny watercolor palette to add color swatches, incorporating the swatches into the layout of my art. Here’s what I completed while at Tohono Chul:
After I got home, I finished the art using the colors from my teeny tiny watercolor palette, added more pen, and created the planter’s texture by spattering a few different colors of watercolor on that part of my art. Here’s my finished piece!
Episodic vs. Serial Storytelling
I recently saw an episode of The Ready Room (a show about all things Star Trek) during which host Wil Wheaton & his guests compared episodic storytelling (in which each episode is a self-contained story) to serial storytelling (in which a storyline plays out over many episodes or even many seasons). Some Star Trek series like The Original Series were episodic, while other newer series (like Picard) have been serial.
This reminded me of my blog and how some of my posts are episodic (such as my Purple Mat Gallery) while other posts are serial (such as my 3-part series about Watney the Queen Butterfly: Watney, the Death-defying Caterpillar; Winter Snow and Spring Wildflowers (which included a time-lapse video of Watney pupating); and It’s a Girl (Go Girl) AND It's a Boy (Watney)!).
Today’s post is episodic and serial—it’s a one-off “episode” about painting a Trichocereus and also continues the story of using my teeny tiny watercolor palette. From a storytelling standpoint one could say my blog offers The Best of Both Worlds (ha ha—that’s a little Star Trek humor for the Trekkies amongst us!). 🖖
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It seems as though all the streaming services seem to push the serial approach so you feel more obliged to binge, but then feel deprived when they cut the series short. It is interesting how entries in your ongoing journal are episodes that also form a longitudinal series.