It may be that I’m not meant to draw flowers, but I love them enough to be persistent. This first one was done with Tombow markers, which I find work well if you want to keep your painting loose.
This one was sketched with Derwent watercolor pencils and liquified, as was this next, which I sketched quickly over top of a pencil drawing, thinking I could get rid of that pencil smudge….which was not to be. Oh well. Onward. Of all of the flowers, I like this one the best. Smudge or no smudge.
I’m determined to be happy with my floral creations by the end of summer. You know, like a hundred drawings or paintings later. Hopefully this isn’t too unrealistic of a goal! We shall see.
Spring is opening up all of my pores and I can’t wait to get into the woods and breathe the trees in. Is anyone with me? The moss and damp grass and old leaves and twittering birds and … space to think and be. If work wasn’t so crazy, I’d have stolen half a dozen chances by now. Maybe by Sunday, I’ll have a chance to hit the trail. With sketchbook in tow! I can only hope. Gotta enjoy these gorgeous spring days while we have them. Carpe diem! Not a moment to waste!
Happy Friday! If I could draw from my imagination, I’d be *inserting image of dancing birdie tail feathers here*. Have a great weekend, everybody! Ciao for now.
YAY! It is flowers! I love the middle pansy! And yep – I am with you – can’t wait to breathe in the woods! Needs to quit pouring down buckets of rain here first though! Hey – If April Showers Bring May Flowers, what do May Flowers bring?
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That’s a great question! June cowers? lol I hate the heat like some people hate the cold! I’m hoping for another mild summer like last year’s. I actually tend to feel sick in the heat, which is why I avoid it. Apparently intolerance to food can also mean intolerance to heat. I don’t think I’ve found all the foods my body hates yet. And not really looking to give any more of them up! Sorry for the long answer to your short question. What do you think ay flowers bring? I bet you have a much more upbeat response! :))
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Pilgrims of course! ๐ LOL!
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Great answer! *applause emoji* ๐
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and sorry about all that food and heat “crap!” ๐ฆ BOO!
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lol, no worries. It was much worse before. Improvement is good! ๐
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Then again – I may like the first best – love the VIVID bright colors and all the contrast. ๐ Just love your work and your spirit and You. ๐
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Thanks, my sweet. Same goes back to you!
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Love this post, Laura!!! Itยดs so full of positive energy, I was smiling the whole way through reading it! Your plan with drawing flowers is realistic, I think, they look already quite nice! I also like the last one best – itยดs always that the one with the least efforts or done the most quickly gets the best, isnยดt it?! Itยดs really cute, light pink and green go together so well!!!
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Thanks, Ann. I’m not at all happy with them, except as you say, maybe the pink one. I agree, fast is best. Otherwise there is way too much fuss. Do you have an easy time with flowers?
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By now yes, Iยดve been practicing them over and over again. But there are still days when nothing really works…
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Did you initially draw from sketches, trace, or none of the above? Any tips? Why are they so hard? *whines* *tries to fling joy, but it bounces back and splats on my face*
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Youยดre so cute!!! ๐ I used photographs of flowers and tried to copy them. What helped me a lot: try not to draw a flower! Sounds maybe funny, but when I tried to draw a flower I was following more a picture in my head than the picture on the photo. I always try to only see light and dark and the forms (some look like a triangle, some like a circle…) and copy those. What comes out in the end is the flower as it looks on the photo and not the imagination of it I had of it in my head… But I donยดt know if this is working for everyone – for me it does (not only with flowers). ๐ Have fun drawing flowers and a nice weekend!!! *flings joy*
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Thanks so much, Ann! Sounds like great advice. It definitely helps when I draw faces, but I think in my mind there’s so much pressure to make the drawing as beautiful as the flower that I get stuck in it. Thanks for the help. I really appreciate it.
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Oh and thanks for the joy! *catches it*
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I love the look of water colours (done by other people) and have tried the watercolour pencils too. I think it will take several THOUSAND attempts for me to end up with something good using that medium. But yeah! Let’s not give up! Happy Friday to you too. ๐
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Thanks! We shall keep flinging paint to paper! :)) Your work is v beautiful. If I could do stuff like that, I’d forget all about watercolor.
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I’m with you – there is nothing like the fresh pine smell of the forest. Lovely flowers! Like the face on your pansy and the last one looks like a carnation to me. I took a class where we made a hundred drawings on tracing paper. And instead of drawing flowers, we drew ocean life. Then when it came time to draw a flower, it was less difficult. Sounds weird but it helped me a lot. And something about drawing on tracing paper since it wasn’t “good” paper, helped free me up to draw. Oh, and we had to draw fairly quickly too. I got most of my images off the internet. I think I drew seed pods too. Happy Friday Laura! ๐๐๐
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Thanks, Jill! That does sound like an interesting way to tackle the subjects. Gee, I hope I remember these great tips later lol. Thanks as always for your encouragement and help.
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I think they look great! Have you tried sketching from other sketched images? Sometimes flowers seem so detailed when you view them naturally, but I have found drawing from a sketch helps to train your eye and hand to be more relaxed and to create detail with lines, shapes and shading. It takes away the pressure of perfection and gives you some ideas as to how to create the detail when you return back to the real thing. Does that make sense? I hope so๐ enjoy the process! -mj
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Thanks so much! Yeah, that makes great sense. I’ll have to try it. Thanks for taking the time to help me out! I really appreciate it.
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I just know it’s helped me. I get so caught up in the details and then end up being to hard on myself when it doesn’t turn out like I visioned it. Happy to give you a hand ๐
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Boy, you sound just like me. I’ll have to try this. Do you go to google images and search for flower sketches? I’ve never searched for sketches or drawings, I’m only after photos. People I follow here do beautiful work, but they’re mostly botanical artists and their drawings are as detailed as the flowers! Argh lol. I so admire them though.
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You could for sure use google images. I found a book of flower sketches at a local book store. They were small pictures grouped together on the page. I would find one I liked and copy it and then enlarge it and use the enlarged image to draw from. I haven’t done this in a long time but I got the idea from a watercolor class that I took. The instructor did the same thing but to save time she had us trace the image onto our watercolor paper first before painting. The book I found was a botanical clip art book. I have seen some beautiful pictures too and I know what you mean by the Argh!
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Thank you! Terrific tips there. I’m gonna try this! (haha re: the argh, nice to know you understand….I feel I’m the only one with major floral suckage lol)
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I’m not fond of drawing flowers but I love them. ๐ Good for you for persevering! It’s such a nice way to show off the colors of the Tombows especially.
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Thanks. I’ll keep trying. What better way to express beauty? Although almost anything in the natural world does that, I guess.
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I really love the pansy. I think you are doing fine with your flowers.
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Aw thanks. I appreciate that. :))
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Very pretty ๐ Thanks for posting!
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Thanks for reading! ๐
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