Bits and Pieces~

Between working on other projects I have been working on a sketchbook page of "bits and pieces" from my early autumn garden, field, and woods behind our home. It's been a relaxing project, both in the drawing and also in the gathering of pieces to draw. It's also great practice in observation and drawing skills. I hope to have 30 small drawings to fill the page when I'm finished.

The three I have completed so far are, a rose hip from a rugosa rose, Blanc Double de Coubert, balloon flower bud (Platycodon grandiflorus) and a pink pelargonium (geranium). All are drawn in colored pencil.

The Zinnia ~ a happy summer flower

Don't these flowers just make you smile? :)  I always like to plant zinnias in our vegetable garden each summer. They provide many sunny bouquets for our kitchen table and windowsills as well as attracting the bees and butterflies to pollinate the plants for a good vegetable harvest. This summer has been a good tomato year so while the zinnias have been blooming, I have been busy making spaghetti sauce to freeze and yesterday canned a few jars of San Marzanos for a "taste of summer" during the winter months.

Though I am very thankful for a productive garden, I also know that tending garden produce will be my first priority and I have little time to draw the flowers that also come and go so quickly these days. A sketch here and there is about all I can have the time or energy for. But I've had my eye on these these pinky-purple beauties, Benary's Giant zinnas, all season and decided it was time to cut a good specimen to study. After taking lots of photos and making sketches and color studies deciding on the right color "recipe", I hope to be able to complete a botanical portrait after the garden is put to bed.

Fine Art Ceramic Tiles

I am trying something new this year with my botanical art drawings. Fine Art Ceramic Tiles. This is the latest in the experiment ~ Tulipa "Apricot Parrot" and bulb.

The image becomes part of the tile by a heat transfer process. It comes with a D-ring attached to the back, ready for hanging or, if you wish, may be displayed on an easel.

The tile measures 6" x 8".

The tulip joins 2 others in the series ~ a pine cone and hydrangea on 4" x 4" tiles. These come with a cork backing and may be used as coasters or displayed as a work of art.

Pink Geraniums ~

I've always enjoyed this old-fashioned flower that stirs up memories from my childhood. One of my earliest memories is of my mom and grandma taking my younger brother and I to the local greenhouse. We each came home with a geranium - my brother's was red, mine was pink.

Last fall I brought several geraniums inside to overwinter in the house. It was nice to see something growing on my windowsills through the long, cold winter that we had this year. It will most likely soon be on the drawing board as a new botanical drawing. I'm in the mood for something pink!