This week I have been playing around and creating botanical art in my new Windsor and Newton Watercolour visual diary. I also bought a pack of 18 Gouache paints and combined them with watercolour, watercolour pencils and a black pen to bring my back garden and front garden to life.
Below are two of my botanical compositions. The first one is a representation of the plants in my back yard. I think the part I love most about this artwork is how I’ve captured the aloe vera leaves in the terra cotta pot. I thoroughly enjoyed creating this artwork.
Below is a short timelapse video of how I created the botanical composition above.
This image below is a selection of the plants in my front yard. I enjoyed putting the deep red on the page. It’s a lovely contrast to the green hews of the other plants. And I love how lively the other plants are too.
Below is a short video of photos I took from the concept drawing of the plants through to the finished art piece.
I’ve also been learning more about crosshatching lately. The three images below are a potato, a nose and a sphinx cat. They are all in my visual diary. I had a great time learning to cross hatch with my retractable pencil and focusing on the light and shadow in these images.
Art is all about observation and enjoying the process of playing with marks on the page.
I’m so pleased that my art mojo has come to life again. It’s wonderful to be back in the flow.
I’m off to do my second life drawing class since 2005 this coming week. I hope I’ll have some images to share. We’ll see.
In the meantime, I’ll keep drawing and editing my novel. Writing a novel and editing it is a long term game for me, so I am very grateful to have art flourishing in my life again.
I hope you have a great day and do something creative that nourishes you too.
The Creative Life 