The Herb Garden - Rosemary

 

Rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus)

Rosemary is an herb I have grown for many years. I love the way it looks and its piney, woodsy, minty scent. Great for sprinkling on a beef roast as it cooks. I've tried to overwinter rosemary plants in the garden but we just don't have the right climate for them to survive. So, I pot them up and put them in a sunny window in the basement where it's cool. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't but it is very much worth the try. Rosemary has pretty little blue flowers that might make an appearance on an older plant. I have one that I've kept for several years. Maybe this year she will bloom!

Rosemary in my garden

For this drawing I used 2 different plants for my models. My potted plant which had sprouted new growth over the winter and I was happy to also find a plant in the early spring offerings at the local greenhouse. This was important to get the color just right. Always better with a live specimen. 

I start with color notes and sketches then move on to the life size compositional drawing. I use tracing paper for this because it is easy to erase. This eliminates the possibility of damaging the good paper as I work things out.

I sometimes tape the sketch onto an outside window to transfer/trace to my good paper over top. This time I used Strathmore 500 plate 4-ply. I had used this paper for another project and really liked it. It worked well for printing the images and I was able to build up multiple layers of colored pencil which doesn't always work with a smooth paper. 

When it was time to start adding color I referred to my color notes I had made in the beginning of this process. While the basil was more of a bright green and the sage leaned toward bluish green, the rosemary was sort of a mix between the two. The colored pencils I used most were - Earth green yellowish, Permanent green olive, Juniper green and Pine green. For the shadow areas I used Chrome oxide green, Red-Violet and a little Cold grey VI. On the undersides of the leaves I added a bit of Sky blue and Ivory for burnishing. All of these colors were Faber Castell Polychromos.

As usual, I really enjoyed getting to know this plant. There is so much we miss because we don't take time to really look.

 

I hope you are enjoying this series! The third and last article will feature the Sage drawing. 

You can find my artwork at ~ TwigsAndPetals

 

 

 

The Herb Garden - Basil

Basil (Ocimum basilicum)

Basil is a favorite herb both for it's beautiful, fragrant leaves and for it's many uses. It is a symbol of "good wishes" according to the language of plants and flowers of the Victorian era. It grows very well here and is very easy for me to start from seed. You want to plant it in a sunny spot and keep it watered but not soggy. I have grown it in a pot on my kitchen windowsill and it does fairly well. Just enough to give us a taste of summer in the dead of winter. 

I have grown 2 varieties of basil this summer. The Genovese, a sweet basil with a strong aromatic flavor. It's great for using in pesto, that wonderful pasta sauce with olive oil, garlic, chopped walnuts or pine nuts and parmesan cheese. Other summertime treats we enjoy when there is an abundance of basil and tomatoes to be harvested are Caprese salad and Bruschetta. You can find the recipes for these dishes with many variations online and in cookbooks dedicated to cooking with herbs. 

Another basil in the garden this year is Dark Opal. It's a beautiful dark red-violet in color with pink flowers that makes a wonderful herbal vinegar. I love it on a green salad with olive oil and a pinch of salt.

So, that's a little background on why I enjoy this herb so much. A great plant to spend time with and draw. 

(First, I must say, this is really not a complete "step by step", I'm just sharing a few notes on how I came to the finished drawing. Maybe more detailed process posts will be something to think about in the future.)

I decided on a bunch of 3 stalks for the composition - one facing upward, one toward me and one facing away showing the underside of the leaves. I learned a lot about mixing greens in these drawings. Basil was the brightest of the three. First, I started mapping in the shadows with FC (Faber-Castell Polychromos) Permanent green olive. Then impressed some FC Cream in the larger veins to help resist color in these areas.

I applied a layer of FC Earth green yellowish next and then started darkening the shadows with FC Red violet and FC Chrome oxide green. I use these two colors a lot for my dark green shadows. I believe I used small amounts of FC Dark sepia and FC Dark indigo as well.  

I added a bit of FC Light yellow ochre on the tips of a couple of the leaves and highlights to give some variation as my specimen showed. Also a little FC Sky blue added to the backs of the leaves that were turned away from me. 

There were quite a few layers of these colors, as always in my work, and this is the finished piece.

The next herb featured in this series will be Rosemary, the herb for remembrance.

You may visit my Etsy shop if you like for note cards of the 3 herb designs.  

And, the project that started it all, pillows from TheWhiteCottageCo.

The Herb Garden Assortment
2 each of 3 designs

 

The Herb Garden

This past spring I spent an enjoyable couple months working on a project for Mary from TheWhiteCottageCo.  The design she had envisioned was a pillow with 3 herb plants in a row as well as smaller pillows illustrated with each individual herb.  It was so much fun working on this with her. She was so nice to work with.  They turned out great!  It's so gratifying to see my drawings made into something that people can use and enjoy everyday. (You can see the pillows HERE if you like...as well as many other lovely things Mary  has in her shop.)

Another reason I enjoyed this so much is because herbs are one of my favorite things.  From growing them in the herb garden behind our house~

to preserving them by drying, freezing or in herb vinegars and, of course, using them in tasty recipes.  I have many books I go to for inspiration, with well-worn covers torn and pages stained by ingredients used in the herbal recipes within.  Two of my favorites are The Pleasure of Herbs by Phyllis Shaudys and my favorite from the very beginning, Herbs Through the Seasons at Caprilands by Adelma Simmons. 

So, this all got me thinking.  Why don't I do something a little different and combine my love of art, gardening, cooking and herbs and feature each of the plants I had drawn in the next 3 articles? I am by no means an "expert", I just would like to share a little about my drawing process as well as some info on how I grow, preserve and cook with these wonders of nature that give us so much pleasure. 

I hope you will enjoy! 

 

 

New Projects

                                         

        I have been thinking about adding more items to my shop featuring some of my botanical art. I've decided on flour sack tea towels for a start. Having a love for baking and cooking and also being a big fan of fine teas, teatime, tea parties...then there's gardening and botanical art, well, this seemed like a perfect fit for me. Canvastry.com  has done a great job with the colors, definition of detail along with a nice quality fabric. They have been tested and they machine wash and dry very well. There are also no problems with ironing. 

    

     In doing some research I've found there are many uses for flour sack towels~

           

          -They are lint free so they're great for drying glassware and dishes.

          -A gift of bread or baked goods would look lovely wrapped in a floral towel featuring the recipient's favorite flower.

         

         -So pretty lining a tea tray for afternoon tea

     Well, you get the idea. I'm sure you can think of many other uses as well. 

      I will be adding more items to join these towels in my Etsy shop TwigsAndPetals in the near future. Coasters and pillow covers are coming soon~   

  

Returning to Unfinished Projects

 

                                    

Pumpkin - colored pencil on Fabriano Artistico h/p watercolor paper

Two years ago during an Autumn trip to the local apple orchard I found this very interesting pumpkin. I loved the bluish-green and pinky-orange skin with its craggy stem. Throw in a few bumps and scratches and you have one pumpkin overflowing with character.  

I did, with good intentions, start drawing, making color notes and taking photos. But, as 'life happened', I had to put this one aside for awhile.

A couple of weeks ago as I was cleaning out the studio, I found him again and thought it was a good time to finish. There are others as well in my files that I will be working on before summer gardens, fields and woods put forth a bounty of inspiration for future works. 

An Article in The Botanical Artist

In the summer of 2020 I was surprised (and a little nervous) when contacted by Laura Bethmann from the ASBA (American Society of Botanical Artists) who wanted to interview me for an article in The Botanical Artist, a quarterly publication of the organization. I so enjoyed the lovely conversation we had. And this was the result. Just thought I'd share. :) 

 

Adding an amaryllis to the accordion sketchbook~

I'm still plugging along with my sketching. I shouldn't really make it sound like it's a chore, because it's a very relaxing way to spend a Sunday afternoon, which is what I did here. I've added an amaryllis flower, leaf and bud to a large space in my accordion sketchbook. 

This flower was especially beautiful in form and color. My son-in-law had given me several bulbs last summer which I left grow outside, cured in the fall and took in this winter. It was a fun project, one I had never tried before. I've had several that have bloomed so far, and several that I don't think will flower this spring. Maybe in the summer? maybe next spring? With gardening--as with making art--sometimes surprising things happen that we don't expect.