Alstroemerias: Part 2

Here is a second batch of alstroemerias from my sketchbook (first one is here). By the end of the life of this bouquet, I tried to hang it upside down to dry flowers and preserve beautiful colors and shapes, but they fell off within a few breaths. 

I Made a Set of Two Vases

I made a set of two vases. It was harder than I thought because at first I thought I made them, and then I had to make them again - they were not a set! And I wanted them to be close relatives. But very different. And these two are :) And they were a gift to two friends of mine - from two different generations, and having these friendships is a gift by itself!

My oak leaf hydrangea dry flower

A few weeks ago, I wrote that I am admiring my oak leaf hydrangea flower, and since this beautiful dry flower is still on my desk, it kept popping up in my sketchbook:

Grateful: Gift of Flowers

I recently returned home to find a beautiful bouquet of unknown (to me) flowers! They became my companion in catching special fall light in the morning and in the evening. My search for their name took me to many places online (it is Veronica/speedwell variety - Veronica spicata). I learned that there is a mystery series with the same name!  I could not puzzle out the shape of the inflorescence, but enjoyed the twisty flat end. And watched colors change with time.

Having them right in front of me resulted in playing with my materials more, with no results in mind, and it felt wonderful. I just said hi to them every day. Great gift - I recommend it for both giving and receiving! Here are some of the sketches:

Ackerman Pen Revival and Dry Flower Bouquet

I thought I would write a few words about the recent revival of my Ackerman pen. But there is not much to write. I left it without cleaning and with ink inside, some months ago, in a little ziplock bag. I took it out, put it in a water jar for a few minutes while I gathered my supplies. Then I took it apart to refill and just dragged my paper towel through the parts. Re-assembled with ink. And then spent some time coaxing ink out (by gentle tapping and writing - you can see the page where I was doing it on the sketch below. Then I sketched this lovely bouquet of dry flowers collected on my neighborhood walks. And that's basically it. My fingers were very inky after this.

Taking a stock of my current palette by painting an artichoke flower.

I've been on a "let's rethink the palettes" track of thinking (sub-set of "let's think how to NOT take all the art supplies you own with you when you go drawing on location"). But making it all happen required taking stock of what I've been using lately and what I want to do going forward. So I went to paint on location with my main palette of late, where I have both watercolors and gouache. This little artichoke is what I ended up with. And below is an older sketch record where you can see what's in this palette (helps me as a reference). And I ended up keeping the same set of colors for now - just refilling some that were used up. 

Iris Garden at the End of the Season

I made another trip up into the hills to see the irises at Nola's Iris Garden. The place was as magical at the end of the season as it was at the beginning. Different colors of irises were blooming, there were very few people, and a perfect bench for painting a whole field of flowers with the hills was found. It was quite a spontaneous outing and al always not long enough, but a perfect day. I spoke to a human organizing iris rhizomes for selling and got a couple of fry flowers to bring home and sketch later. Click on the image to see more notes from the day.

Drawing Flowers as a Therapy.

The only way to figure some things out is to draw some flowers while you are thinking about them :) 

Amaryllis Update in Nine Sketches

Growing an Amaryllis from a bulb was our first project together with my Mom since my parents arrived in California. I wrote about it in December and then in January, then Amaryllis appeared on the first page of my Sketchbook 155 and now I collected the remaining amaryllises from my sketchbook - up until the day it went to live on its own in the wilderness! Some of these were made with gouache, some with watercolors, some with acrylic markers, some with ink and flex nib pens, some were painted with fingers or scratched with knives. Some notes to accompany sketches. 

Follow-Up on my Pink Bouquet

Last week I shared my sketches of a lovely pink bouquet that my friend gave me - and later realized that there were a few more sketches I did of the parts of the same flower and branch arrangement that I wanted to share. I learned the difference between different versions of the Cercis plant that people commonly call redbud. And I tried to capture the colors of the prickles of the Eryngium. Little notes on some neighborhood colors and tools and techniques that I was trying are all around these pages.

 

How I discovered a new life hack!

The other day I felt very much disconnected when I realized that sounds of loud gardening equipment in my neighborhood are driving me nuts. No amount of noise-canceling headphones was helping my whining self and I resolved that the only way to deal with it was to take a walk and see what was going on and, perhaps, sketch this activity. However, by the time I got outside people were mostly gone. That is when I went foraging in the gardener's trash and found enough beauty for four bouquets! I am logging this as a win and a life hack :)

The Joy of Looking at Dry Plants

Dry plants have their special beauty and I find a lot of joy in the complexity of textures and lost and found contours of dead leaves, branches, and flowers. Here are two examples - with stencils and with pencils, both finished with brushpen and ink. 

Treasures: resilient hibiscus flower.

I saw an enormous hibiscus blossom at the garden center - but was on the run and could not sketch there. Luckily there was a completely dry flower on the ground which I got to draw later. It surprised me with the gentle yet bright colors and a myriad of beautiful wrinkles. 

Sketchbook #111: Tulips