Sun, rain, sun, rain… though Spring is a week away, it’s making the garden pop with fresh colour.
My starting points for this week’s sketches are natural ink washes.
It’s interesting having a base note of the main colour in the plant I’m sketching – it frees me to look at the stronger colours that sing out, at structure and texture.
The first two-tone narcissi have little frilled bowls of orange-yellow and petals that are green in shadow.
The first tulip buds show their colours at the tip, a hint of colour spreading like lip stain, the buds curled and folded inwards. The grey-green, yellow-green, blue-green leaves are striped smartly, edges furled.
And the sedum, cupping raindrops, brings soft-coloured, deckled leaves like perfect, expertly-assembled porcelain flowers.
The garden moves quickly now. As I draw, I can see the next story. Better limber up, then…
Ballpen, natural ink, watercolour and fineliner on old paper swatches and waste paper.
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