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

 

Drawing a favorite rose ~ adding color

The process is getting a little easier now that the desired composition is decided upon and drawn with detail and everything is transferred to the "good paper".  Now the fun part -- adding color.  

As you can see, I have cut out a rough outline of the rose in a sheet of tracing paper. I have learned that sometimes the color will travel in the process of drawing. And if I would get a crumb of colored pencil on the paper and rub over it accidentally it is very hard to erase. So this helps a bunch so that won't happen and the white of the surrounding paper will stay clean.

The colors I will be using have been chosen in my preliminary sketches and I will be using my color notes (upper right photo).  

I first use a medium shade pink to map in the shadows (left). This gives me sort of a map to follow. Then I follow with the darkest shades in the shadows slowly, with a light touch and sharp pencils, adding color layer by layer. 

I am mostly using FC Polychromos pencils with Process Red from Prismacolor and Lyra Rembrandt Rose madder lake.

 

Drawing a favorite rose ~ The Transfer

Now that the drawing is complete and I'm satisfied with the composition, it's time to transfer the drawing to a piece of Fabriano Artistico bright white, hot press watercolor paper. I like the smooth texture of this paper as well as it's ability to take many layers of colored pencil while keeping sharp details. This is very important to my technique. The paper is also acid-free to avoid yellowing. 

In this piece, I made my initial drawing in my sketchbook and transferred to a sheet of tracing paper to allow more light to come through. 

I sometimes use a "light box" that my husband had made for me. He's really handy that way and helps me out a lot. :)  But if it's a sunny day, taping it up on the window works great for me. The tracing paper goes up first with the watercolor paper over top. I'm using a Derwent HB pencil to do the tracing.

After I've finished with the transfer it's time for color! 

Drawing a favorite rose ~ sketching and color notes

Once I've chosen the flower and leaves I want to draw, I use a floral water tube to keep it hydrated and attach it to a clamp to keep the specimen upright. I have to work fast with these first steps because roses tend to wilt and lose their petals quickly. I also take many close up photographs to use after the flower fades.

First of all, I drew a detailed sketch - from the live specimen as long as was possible. I took measurements using a tool called a divider in order to make a life-sized rendering.

It was helpful to use a single petal as a guide while I worked out my color combinations. I also tried to replicate the fine details of the petal.

Here is the complete page of preliminary sketches and materials I used to make them. I have also added a detailed sketch of a single leaf. I like to draw a sphere with the lightest to the darkest shades for each color of the piece. It is helpful to make a chart of the colors and the order in which they are used. I've found that it eliminates a lot of frustration and time in creating the finished piece when I do this.

Next time, I'll show you how I transfer the drawing to the "good paper".