Society of Botanical Artists - Assignment 2

Ahh Assignment 2, so difficult when living in freezing cold Michigan! Where to begin?

I decided to visit the grocery store in search of inspiration. It was there that I discovered a calla lily in a pot, which sparked my excitement to begin.

This is my initial sketch in my sketchbook. Upon closer inspection, you will notice that I have made detailed notes about the plant, including measurements of the stems, the flower's dimensions at its largest and smallest points, and any adjustments I wished to make before transferring it onto my watercolor paper. Subsequently, I traced over the sketch using a sharpie marker to make it visible through the watercolor paper and easier to trace.

Above is my finished drawing onto watercolor paper and ready to begin. I mainly used Derwent Graphite Pencils for this project. I enjoy the richness and darkness of colors compared to Faber Castell which are light and a harder pencil.

Starting at the top and having the drawing covered with tracing paper, i began with the leaf. So many fun details in the leaf and beautiful highlights on the left side.

I struggled with the top left flower as it was super light and even at this stage felt it was too dark. The watercolor paper that was given to us is very very soft and hard to erase so I had to pay particular attention to not rubbing to hard and blending my tones very carefully.

Here is my final piece submitted.

My second piece was stippling. I have never stippled before. The art of stippling is something that is very fascinating to read and I suggest googling it when you have time. It is the placement of little tiny dots to form form and tone. The closer and heavier the dots create a darker more depth part of the painting and farther apart dots produce the highlights and lighter parts of the drawing. Below is my second submission of assignment 2.