remember the roses i gathered in my hat last week? i sat down at the kitchen table to draw them all in one fell swoop.
the next day i watercolored them mostly using my small winsor newton set, but also a couple of my ph doc martins radiant watercolors. i have a very limited WN palette and can't make a brilliant pink or coral.
i played around with different shades of green for the stems and leaves.
tomorrow i'll show the shadows and the completed pages!
last night while sitting at my art table surrounded with the boozy scent of roses, I began to unpeel the petals of a rosebud that was nearly black. it was deep red last week when i plucked it off the bush. with each layer, the scent grew stronger, richer. the petals were black and velvety with a bright spot of yellow on the very tip.
so i drew those too.
it’s all so beautiful and lovely – you’re so talented! thanks for sharing, love the colors, and the little shading you add
Mary Ann,
Somehow I stumbled on your blog a few weeks ago and I am hooked. I love your sense of humor and your artistic skills. Also I appreciate your can do approach to painting, you just do it. thanks for the entertaining and inspiring posts.
This is SO BEAUTIFUL!!!
Dang! better and better and better Mary Ann!!
I love dried roses – maybe as much as the fresh ones. I kept the ones hubby bought me for several years, I just stuck them into some silk vines that wrapped around a thingamajig (I think it’s a phony metal butchers rack or something). After seeing the photo on flickr, a friend asked how I kept the flowers clean and dust free. I couldn’t enjoy them after that!
Lately he’s been buying carnations, but I think I’ll try to draw whatever he gets me, with your examples as a guide – you are so good!
I absolutely LOVE your drawings – you’re so clever Mary Ann. Love all your pages ?
Those rose sketches are yummy! I love the look of each individual flower and the double page spread as a whole. Wonderful! Seeing your sketches is making me hanker to get on with my India journal preps. (Just as soon as I finish baking all these cookies for the grandchildren’s upcoming visit….can’t go to Grandma’s and not get cookies!) Please keep sharing your daily sketching. You inspire!
XO
I love the way you drew these roses. You never fail to inspire me to draw more, capture the everyday more, savor more.
Thank you!
Love seeing how much drawing and watercolor painting you are doing!! Your travel sketchbooks are changing so much and I can’t wait to see one from your next big trip! Your comment re: a pair of minky pajamas made me laugh.
Every time I visit your blog, my heart just swoons!!! I am so very inspired here… Such amazing work, and inspiration. Thanks so much for sharing.
I think that watching your growth as an artist is most inspiring…..thanks and Merry Christmas.
Missy from the bayou
some people would have tossed those roses away…thinking that they’re too dry….
you, however, saw their beauty & shared it with your internet friends….
such a beautiful set of photos & drawings….
happy December count-down continues.
Holly
Beautiful! I love that little yellow tip on the petals in the last picture. I don’t know why, but it just makes me swoon.
As for a bright pink, I found out myself how impossible it is to mix if you don’t have a…well…bright pink in your arsenal of watercolours. So of course I immediately went out and got some. 😉
Lovely.
I, too, see a difference in your sketches. I really enjoy your nature sketches. I have loved every sketch you’ve ever done (enviously) but those rose sketches are very special. Not sure why…they just seem to call to me! Can’t wait to see more!
hi diana – i rarely buy anything in sets. i like to pick my own. same with the PH martins. so many luscious singles to choose from and they last forever!!!! i have about 10. relatively inexpensive i think.
love the roses, I can almost smell them…so very good indeed. Your sketching skills are growing by leaps and bounds and it’s easy to see how much you love doing it…all those happy paints, pens, brushes….loving being loved and handled… ah it is so very sweetly delightful for your allowing us to peek shyly over your shoulder… 🙂
I love your rose pages! Makes me wistful knowing it will be at least six months before my roses bloom. (But I do like the snow, too.) Did you get a set of Dr. Ph Martin’s or buy some singles? I’m thinking of trying these because I cannot mix the correct pinks or purples (or probably corals) with my WN set either.
They just keep on getting better (and they were already darn good) 🙂