Trip to Bonaire: Plants

Before my trip, I thought, "I am not entirely sure how anything grows on Bonaire, so I do not think I will need to worry about greens. I was so, so wrong! Even these few sketches of plants will tell you a different story, and they do not do justice to the greens you might see on the island! And there are regular rains and a forest on the island! The sounds of palm trees were one of my favorite sounds during this trip, and they were the only plants with adequate shade to sketch :)

All Posts re: Bonaire 2025:

1. What I Packed for a Trip (An Interesting New Brush)

2. What I Packed For A Trip (Underwater Sketching Kit)

3. Trip to Bonaire: Plants
4. Trip to Bonaire: Underwater Sketching - Turtle City

5. Trip to Bonaire: Almost Domestic Animals

6. Trip to Bonaire: Sketching and Scuba Diving - Oil Pastels and Salt Water Mix Nicely

7. Trip to Bonaire: Sketching and Scuba Diving - Remainder Sketches and a SURPRISE

8. Trip to Bonaire: Sketchbook Video (Flip Through) and Additional Sketches - from the "On the Spot" Article

A Blooming Cacti!

My friend found some incredible blooming cacti and we had a lovely lunch & sketch outing drawing them! 

Surprising for me was the length of the flower itself and how much space you can see. Star-like stigma was especially beautiful! Also - how much fragrance do these flowers carry! (still sneezing :) I did not see bees but I believe they are the main pollinators - though judging by the amount of space a small pigeon also can be tempted. 

The most challenging part was judging colors in a very bright sun - so I picked a few markers and pencils and was disciplined about not using everything I had. I really liked little super-furry cacti babies on tops of the plants - they looked like a good reason to come back to this corner :) 

Gouache on toned paper and blooming san pedro cactus.

The other day I found a blooming san pedro cactus - It was over 6 feet tall and had dozens of flowers (mostly closed during the day).

I had just a few minutes but toned paper allows me to paint with gouache very quickly.

Wonderful Nova paper from Stillman & Birn is now my standing choice for the toned paper and I had some black pages tucked with my pocket gouache kit.

Later at home I taped the sketch in my main sketchbook with some washi tape and added a protective layer.

I often add a layer of tracing paper over my gouache sketches because of two reasons: it protects the sketch and also semi-transparent surface allows me to have a second take on the composition or just plain doodle some more over existing sketch - in this case I drew a few flowers with a brush marker.

Sketchbook #91: Agapanthus (African Lily) and Cactus

I found two amazing plants to draw: african lilies (agapanthus) of two different colors and a huge cactus! The owner of the cactus was concerned that I am an inspector of sorts - standing there "with the ledger, looking at our plant". Bus I showed him a spread and a smile appeared - together with the joking: "my wife told me to plant this a year ago - not it's taller than me!"


p.s.Still catching up on June-July sketchbook - but closing the gap!