Plants in Paint and Pencil

The past couple weeks, we've had a glimpse of spring to come with temperatures hitting the 70's, and I enjoyed several afternoons sitting in the sun on the balcony. Alas, winter has returned with its cold and rainy days, and I'm back inside with hot drinks and school.

Those sunny afternoons outside gave me the chance to paint some of the flowers on our balcony and enjoy the weather at the same time. I had really been wanting to do some flowers in watercolor, and this was the perfect opportunity. So I took my paints and water and brushes outside and sat down in front of a pot of flowers and got to work. I did them in one sitting, both so I would learn to simplify it and not draw the entire plant, and because the sunlight was changing. I took my time, slowly building up layers and adding details, so they each took around an hour and a half.

First though, this little plant is an exception to most of what I just said. I didn't have my watercolors with me, so I worked with graphite pencils, and I drew the whole plant since it was so small. It was also several weeks ago when it was cold and I drew it inside. Nevertheless... it's a plant! And I thought the texture was interesting.

Now, for the flowers in watercolors. The first is a yellow flower, I believe called a coreopsis. We have two, one yellow and one orange, and they're very bright and cheery when they fully open in the sunlight.

The second flower is a cyclamen, a bright pink flower with an interesting look—it's upside down. Its stem bends over and ends in a bud facing downward, and the petals from the bud stick up.

The last flower I painted was a light pink mum. After it bloomed in the fall, we thought it had died over the winter. It had lost all its buds and didn't look so good. But lo and behold, a ton of buds popped up recently and started to bloom! So I picked this nice fully bloomed one to paint, and added a couple of the little buds just starting to open.