The Year Of The Plant

Since my mobility is been limited by my bad knee, it seems I’ve traded in drawing architecture for drawing plants.  I can’t say that’s a bad thing exactly but it sure is different, putting me in unfamiliar territory.

I was at another Artistes dans les parcs event, this time at the Domain Maizeret Arboretum.  Lots of trees, lots of grass, and a wonderful pond and creek, though this time of year the later is mostly hidden by tall foliage that surrounds it.

Having no imagination at all, I found it difficult to find something to draw.  But where there’s a coneflower, there’s something to draw.  Better yet, two coneflowers.  A botanical artist I am not, but I really had a good time drawing these. For some reason it was very relaxing.

It had become quite hot and I wasn’t in the mood for a complex subject.  I got the idea to try to do a very quick sketch attempt of a ‘landscape’ to see if I could manage a minimal ink, mostly color sketch.  I drew some steps and then picked up a big brush and started placing blobs of color around them.  Near the end I went back to the pen to add some structure.

Mostly I think I failed at this because all my foliage lacks texture and depth.  It was an interesting experiment, though, throwing detail to the wind and just capturing the structure of the scene.  I post it here because I’m not easily embarrassed (grin).