It has been waaaaay too long since I have done any botanical drawing. But just this morning, I took some time to grab my pencil and some paper to do a little sketching.
I can thank my older daughter, who is 5, for this for two reasons, 1) she loves to have us pick up a bunch of flowers at the store every so often so we bought a bouquet of spray roses over the weekend, and 2) they are starting to shrivel, so she asked to take apart some petals this morning before school.
I
trimmed off a few flowers and buds and my little scientist (or budding
botanist?) started peeling away the petals into a pile. The resulting
stem, sepals, stamen and pistils were brought into the light of day and
were begging to be sketched.
I love the curve of the sepals and the sharp point they come to at the tips. Although I am out of practice (my shading ended up a bit heavier than I intended...) it felt terrific to finally get back to it.
View from underneath the stems and sepals.
View from the side of the sepals, with some beautiful curling as well as a great view of the cluster of stamens and pistils at the center of the blossom.
The holidays and winter colds can really put a dent in any available creative time. Have you had any projects you have been away from and returned to recently?