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Tag: flowers

April 14, 2013
Kathy
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Daffodil Drawing, Part 1

Posted in Art Work, and Peeking Behind the Easel

The daffodils are in full bloom here in Pennsylvania! I love watching them open and turn up towards the sunlight. I had to stop and grab my pencils and capture their simple beauty.

The weather is still iffy with rain, so I took some photos as references to work from.  I start my drawings with  a very loose sketch with a HB graphite pencil of the basic shapes of the flowers and leaves.  For a small drawings, a clip board is a great tool to mount the paper on.

daffodil drawing
Starting of the daffodil drawing

I worked with 4B, 5B, and 8B soft graphite pencils. 4B is my favorite because it is just dark enough to get great contrast in the details and still be able to lift it off with an eraser to create lighter areas.  I started in the negative space between the leaves to establish the darkest parts of the drawing, and began laying in the stems and leaves.  Stay tuned to Part 2!

 

April 4, 2012
Kathy
4 Comments

Looking at Forsythia

Posted in Peeking Behind the Easel, and Reference Photos

I think it is so interesting that many of the first spring flowers are pink or yellow.  I have daffodils planted near forsythia in the yard. It was not done intentionally, but I love that they both bloom roughly the same time. The big burst of yellow shouts out Spring! like nothing else. Here's burst of yellow from the Forsythia:

Forsnthia in bloom

You can see each flower is held onto the branch by a little bit of green stem and four petals.

Yellow Forsythia in bloom

Inside each flower, there is also a touch of green near the upper base of the stamen.  Each flower has 4 petals with a faint raised line down the center of the petal. 

I like painting then with  any shade of blue background  – my preference is a grey-blue or a cerulean blue, depending on what mood Iam aiming for.  A  painting with single branch loaded with flowers makes a statement. But I also like painting them as a peek into the entire bush ,like the left side of photo above, where the flowers seem to go on and on.  No matter what the composition, they are just fun to paint for the sheer joy of burst of yellow color and the sign that spring is on it's way.

March 26, 2012
Kathy
7 Comments

Even More Daffodils

Posted in Reference Photos

I never get tired of seeing blooming daffodils in the spring. Aren't these white ones beautiful?! 

Daffodils in bloom sibstudio dot com

  All the daffodils in the yard are in full bloom.  

Daffodils on the hillside SibStudio dot com

Each year the clusters get bigger and fuller.

Two tone yellow daffodils at sibstudio dot com

These two tone yellow daffodils are nestled under a bush that is just starting to bloom. You can really see how the six petals are arranged as two sets of three – three below and three above like pinwheels.  I am painting daffodils on wine glasses this week.  I'll have photos of them posted later in the week.  Enjoy your day !

March 12, 2012
Kathy
4 Comments

A Patch of Cone Flowers

Posted in Art Work

There is a house nearby that has the most beautiful patch of cone flowers.  They grow  on a raised mound, surrounding her mailbox. Her mailbox is next to a stop sign, so you get a just few seconds to admired all those lovely flowers.

What is fun about this patch of flowers, if you are in the passenger seat of the car, you look right into the patch of flowers instead looking down at them.  So for a few seconds at the stop sign, you get  a child like view point into the sea of flowers.  You could touch them as well if the windows are down. That is the image I had in mind for this painting – a few seconds glimpse into the cone flower patch.

SibStudio dot com cone flowers

You can find this small painting, matted and ready to go at my Etsy shop.
 

March 8, 2012
Kathy
4 Comments

I Spy Daffodils

Posted in Reference Photos

The first daffodils in my yard have bloomed. It's officially Spring at this house.  🙂 

  Daffodils SibStudio

 These guys are a lemony yellow. The deeper yellow as well as the pink and orange varieties bloom later in the spring. I enjoy painting and drawing daffodils, so I try to get photos showing the flowers from all sides like this photo.  Hope you are having the warm, sunny weather that is already there in Pennsylvania this morning!