sketch – Page 11 – Pencil and Leaf

Staring at Weeds

By Val Littlewood November 14, 2009 January 25, 2020 Uncategorized

I took some time this week to go and and watch the few bees that are still flying. It’s completely fascinating, I have never before really observed bees with anything but a passing curiosity.
I circle the lake on the bike and screech to a halt at any patch of flowers that might yield up a few bees.
The joggers and dog walkers give me a wide berth and look away, not wanting to make eye contact with a mad woman who is standing transfixed, staring at weeds.
I have my obvious camera with me which helps but you have to be patient, stand still, watch and wait.

But I have been rewarded with sightings of a million more green and stripy Agapostemons and another beautiful blue/green metallic bee which I think is an Augochlora from the same Halictid family.
I have seen tiny Mining bees with yellow pollen laden legs on matching Indian Blanket flowers and the huge Carpenter bees who ponderously drift from flower to flower, making them easier to photograph than many

At Leu Gardens, it is more acceptable to stop and stare.
I have seen a honey bee taking time out to clean itself from an overload of sticky pollen. I have watched bees of different species disputing the nectar of the big hisbiscus flowers.

Here two fighting Agapostemon bees tumble out in a tangle of legs the metallic Augochlora in the background.

I spent a good hour in front of the Michaelmas daisies, watching bees and flies and beautiful thread waisted wasps.

I sat in the butterfly garden mesmerised as I saw this lizard leap from its lookout post onto a nearby flower and devour one of my little stripy friends..but that’s life..

You can just see the body of the bee in the lizard’s mouth.

….and I did get some initial sketches done of my elegant little model from earlier in the week .. I hope he has not suffered the same fate.

Halictid bee: Agapostemon splendens

Waking up after chilling in the cooler..

Floral Larceny and Nectar Robbing: Laziness and some Bad Behaviour in the Bumble Bee world.

By Val Littlewood November 8, 2009 January 25, 2020 Uncategorized

Bumble Bees steal nectar.. yes, it’s a shocking fact. I had no idea such underhand behaviour went on in the seemingly righteous world of the busy bee.
Bumble Bees need nectar for flying fuel and as the different species of Bumble Bees have foraging ranges of between 5 and a tiring 20 K, if a bee takes a bit of short cut for refueling who can blame them.
They do this by cutting small holes with their strong mandibles in the base of tubular flowers which would otherwise be difficult for these bulky bees to access.

This is good for the bee but not good for the flower. The point of having nectar for a flower is to lure the pollinator, bird, bat or bee, to seek it out and get a good dusting of pollen from the anthers in the process.

The pollinator then moves on to redistribute pollen and fertilize the next flower. Not much of a problem for a little patch of clover but on a grand agricultural scale, non fertilization of a crop could be disastrous.

So it was because of this nectar robbing behaviour that Thomas Belt in 1878 was moved to recommend sending Bombus lapidarius rather than Bombus terrestris to New Zealand. Both he and Darwin had noticed the lazy behaviour of Bombus terrestris…again from “Science Gossip” in 1878…

I once watched a small patch of red clover for upwards of an hour. Both of the above species came to it; Bombus terrestris, without exception, buried its head amongst the flowers, and made holes at their base, or sucked the nectar from those already made.

Bombus lapidarius just as invariably went to the opening of the flowers, although the most of them had holes made by the other species.
Bombus lapidarius has a longer proboscis than B. terrestris, and this is probably the reason for the different way in which they go to work. Early in the summer I have seen young individuals of B. terrestris sucking the nectar from the flowers of the scarlet runners in a legitimate manner, but they soon learn to make by preference the holes at the base.
The successive steps in their education may be watched from their first hesitation, awkward attempts to do this to the instinctive-like facility they attain later on in the season.

For me the most interesting aspect of this account is that the Bumble Bees seem to “learn” this behaviour.
On discovering flowers with holes, they will copy and start to bite similar holes allowing them to “steal” the nectar.
Darwin had observed that “all plants must suffer in some degree when bees obtain their nectar in a felonious manner by biting holes through the corolla.”
However more recent research has found this not to be such a huge problem.

Photo from the very excellent site Bumblebee.org from which I keep quoting. It is the very same Bombus terrestris caught in the act, stealing nectar from a snapdragon.

Do visit the site and read the best explanation of nectar robbing I have seen at the above link.

Bumble Bees to New Zealand 1885

We are now used to hearing reports of bees being transported huge distances to aid in crop pollination but I had no idea that this was happening quite so long ago.

¨In 1885 liberation of bumblebees in Canterbury (New Zealand) specifically to pollinate red clover made agricultural history: it was the first time an insect had been deliberately released to pollinate a particular flower. “

This is from a completely fascinating article by David Sheppard at Bumblebeeconservation.org, read it here.

He tells the sometimes poignant story of efforts to send the little hibernating queens out to fertilize the clover crop. Although clover was growing well, there were not enough local pollinators to fertilize such large crops, so costly new seed was having to be bought from the UK each year.

The first attempts at transporting the bees failed and they died, unable to survive the heat and humidity of traversing the tropics. Eventually, with a bit of bribery, they succeeded.

“Mr Nottidge, a banker of Maidstone in Kent, offered a bounty to workmen who were cleaning out ditches for every bumblebee they could find. These 282 fertile hibernating queens were shipped on board the new iron steamer ‘Tongariro’ which was one of the first steamships to be built with a refrigeration unit.

The voyage departed from London in December 1884, calling at Plymouth, Madeira, Capetown and Hobart, arriving at Wellington in January 1885.
The consignment was taken to Lyttleton by coastal steamer and arrived at the Canterbury Acclimatization Society’s gardens on January 8th. 48 bees were still alive

The hazards were not over for the bees as local hostility to the new immigrants caused nests to be destroyed, and as always the introduction of a new species can have its problems.

However there are now 4 Bumble Bees species busy helping with the crops in New Zealand. Bombus hortorum, Bombus subterraneus, Bombus ruderatus and even the nectar stealing Bombus terrestris.

Bumble Bees back to the UK 2009 The rather neat foot note to this is that the short haired Bumble Bee, Bombus subterraneus now extinct in the UK is to be brought back from New Zealand to boost our native population.

“If we’re successful, this will be the first time a species has been reintroduced to the UK by bringing back direct descendants of the extinct population.”

The Beautiful but Grumpy, Bombus lapidarius

By Val Littlewood November 5, 2009 January 25, 2020 Uncategorized

Number three of the four Bumble bees is Bombus lapidarius, the (other) Red Tailed Bumble Bee, or the Stone Bumble Bee after its name “lapidarius”. Called this because of its liking for making nests under stones or in stone walls.
The one I have sketched is the female, all black with the beautiful flame red tail. Below is the male with similar colouring, but with a yellow band on the thorax and a tuft of yellow hair on the face.

Photo of Small male Bombus lapidarius by Nigel Jones for BWARS ( Bees Wasps and Ants Recording Society) here.

The facts CLASS: Insecta
ORDER: Hymenoptera, Bees, wasps, ants and sawflies.
SUPERFAMILY: Apoidea. Bees and some wasps.
FAMILY: Apidae. Bees.
GENUS: Bombus. Bumblebees
SPECIES: Bombus lapidarius
Lengths: Queen 20-22mm, Workers 11-16mm, Male 14-16mm.

These beautiful bees are common in Europe, I saw two while I was at home in Lincolnshire in September. They make a slightly later appearance than some other Bumble Bees. and form colonies of up to 200. They are busy active creatures, visiting many different species of flowers but seem to particularly like clover and dead nettle and they apparently like an easy landing, so will also choose daisies, dandelions and thistles.

A Bad Tempered Bee

Bombus Lapidarius has a short fuse. They are known to “buzz” you menacingly if you disturb or threaten them. Bad behaviour, in the old days, was punished with deportation but it was in spite of this grumpy nature, that worthy Victorian, Thomas Belt, advocated these bees be shipped out to New Zealand to help with pollinating clover.
Thomas Belt was an extraordinary man.
This is the Thomas Belt who “discovered” the complicated relationship between the Bulls Horn Acacia and ants. (see my earlier blog entries for info about him and the twiggy home of my beloved, now long gone “Ant” here)

The following from 1897 edition of the wonderfully named “Science Gossip” demonstrates how his early childhood toughened him up for his astonishing life as mining engineer and naturalist..

I know nothing more interesting to a naturalist when he wishes to rest from more serious study than to devote a few hours on a summer’s day to watching the humble bees at work amongst the flowers.
They have been favourites of mine from early childhood, one of my first experiments being the determination of the stinging powers of the three species, and the time they might be kept between the hollow of the two hands before they got sufficiently angry to sting.

My recollection is that Bombus lapidarius, although it has the longest proboscis, has also the shortest temper and most virulent venom, and if it be not set free as soon as its first angry note is heard, it will not fail to punish severely.
Notwithstanding this trait in its character, I have no hesitation in recommending that it is the one that should be sent out to New Zealand, and that Bombus terrestris should not be.—Thomas Belt, the Cedars, Ealing.

I will explain why he does not recommend B terrestris in the next post…
But, forgive them their occasional fit of pique, grow some of their favourite plants… or rather go easy on the weeding in your garden, as weeds seem to be their flower of choice.

What could be nicer than to have these strikingly beautiful bees gracing your flower beds and what a good excuse for that neglected patch… just don’t upset them!
I have spent hours pondering this handsome bee. Its beauty is in its dense blackness, contrasted with its flame red tail. The body tends to be naturally very curved which means that seen from above its head is almost always invisible, but it does have the appealing chubby bumble bee look.

However in the end I decided on more of a side view which shows off the beautiful tail and some head features, while retaining the really furry nature of the pile…. It’s always such a compromise..

Some final pencil sketches ..

Finished one soon …

Bee No 2: Tricoloured Bumble Bee: Bombus ternarius

By Val Littlewood October 28, 2009 January 25, 2020 Uncategorized

This is the most delightfully pretty bumble bee and chosen purely because of its lovely markings, with a cream heart on its thorax and brilliant red/orange bands.
They look a bit like little fuzzy bottle brushes. The “ternarius” in its name refers to the three abdominal colours of red yellow and black.
They are also called the Red tailed Bumble Bee, and the Orange Belted Bumble Bee.

The facts;

CLASS: Insecta
ORDER: Hymenoptera, Bees, wasps, ants and sawflies.
SUPERFAMILY: Apoidea. Bees and some wasps.
FAMILY: Apidae. Bees.
GENUS: Bombus. Bumblebees
SPECIES: Bombus ternarius

They are also sometime classified in the subgenus .. Pyrobombus.. I would like to think because of their fiery colour.
This is a small northern USA Bumble Bee, a worker just 8-13 mm, which according to the books, range from the Yukon to Nova Scotia, and south to Georgia, they are widespread but rarely observed south of Pennsylvania.

They like the flowers from the Rubus family: i.e. blackberries and raspberries, and the Vaccinium family; i.e. blueberry bilberry and huckleberry and are partial to Goldenrod too.

Orange-belted bumble bee, Bombus ternarius from University of Maine

“The orange-belted bumble bee queen emerges from hibernation in early spring. She must satisfy two immediate needs. She must nourish herself on flower nectar and pollen, and she must find a good place to raise a family. Queens spend hour upon hour cruising just above the ground looking for a suitable nest site underground, often settling in an abandoned mouse burrow.”

However, Linda Robb’s bees found themselves higher class accommodation by moving into her bird house. I have seen a couple of other references to Bumble Bees taking over bird boxes. What a nice idea.

This lovely photo of the Bombus ternarius colony by Linda is from her WhatsthatBug.com,entry, read more here….

This little bee just had to be drawn from above to show off its markings. Its “pile” is shorter than Bee No1 and these are chubby, neat little bees. Some initial sketches, to look at the colouring and the pose.

And the final painting…

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Bee number 2: The Tricoloured Bumble Bee, Bombus ternarious.

Bee No 1: The Garden Bumble Bee, Bombus hortorum.

By Val Littlewood October 27, 2009 January 5, 2020 Uncategorized

More about my bee from the UK and the first of my 16 subjects, which travelled back in my pencil case and survived almost intact. These are the much loved, archetypal stripy bees which we see in the UK , the ones which usually spring to mind when thinking about a picture book idea of a Bumble Bee.

There are 3 very similar bumble bees, the B. hortorum, B. lucorum the white tailed Bumble Bee and B. terrestris the buff tailed Bumble Bee.

From the British Beekeepers’ Association site, is part of Gillian Lye’s nice explanatory guide, from a UK bumble bee nest survey.
See more here The facts:

CLASS: Insecta or Hexapoda. Insects, as the name hexapoda suggests, animals that have six legs
ORDER: Hymenoptera, Bees, wasps, ants and sawflies.
SUPERFAMILY: Apoidea. Bees and some wasps.
FAMILY: Apidae. Bees.
GENUS: Bombus. Bumblebees
SPECIES: Bombus hortorum

The Garden Bee, sometimes delightfully classified as “Megabombus” is a European bee and described as “rather scruffy” with quite long hair. It has a long head and the longest tongue of all European Bumble Bees allowing it to reach those parts of flowers which other bees cannot reach.
It likes red clover, cowslips, foxglove, vetches and lavender.
My information comes from the really excellent and readable BumbleBee.org. http://www.bumblebee.org/hort.htm which I quoted from in an earlier post.

Here is another snippet

(Bombus Hortorum).. “have a reputation for nesting in “unsuitable” places such as coat pockets, buckets and inside lawnmowers, their preferred nest sites are usually on or just below ground. They are fairly placid bees and do not have large nests, so if it is possible, it is best to leave them where they are. If you must move the nest, for example, if it is inside a lawnmower, then do so late in the evening when all the bees have returned. Get as much of the nest material as you can into a small box with an entrance hole of about 1 cm and leave it inside as close to the original spot as possible. If it is inside a shed or building then any kind of container will do. If it has to be moved outdoors then the container must be weatherproof and placed in a south-facing sheltered spot.”

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Bee number 1. The Garden Bee Bombus hortorum Some final sketches for the pose,

Of Darwin, Humble Bees, Mice, Cats, Old Maids and the British Empire.

By Val Littlewood October 24, 2009 January 5, 2020 Uncategorized

You would expect Darwin to have made some interesting observations about Bumble Bees, wouldn’t you?.. (called in his time “Humble bees.”)

Humble bees alone visit red clover, as other bees cannot reach the nectar. It has been suggested that moths may fertilise the clovers; but I doubt whether they could do so in the case of the red clover, from their weight not being sufficient to depress the wing petals. Hence we may infer as highly probable that, if the whole genus of humble-bees became extinct or very rare in England, the heartsease and red clover would become very rare, or wholly disappear. The number of humble-bees in any district depends in a great measure upon the number of field-mice, which destroy their combs and nests; and Colonel Newman, who has long attended to the habits of humble-bees, believes that “more than two-thirds of them are thus destroyed all over England.” Now the number of mice is largely dependent, as every one knows, on the number of cats; and Colonel Newman says, “Near villages and small towns I have found the nests of humble-bees more numerous than elsewhere, which I attribute to the number of cats that destroy the mice.” Hence it is quite credible that the presence of a feline animal in large numbers in a district might determine, through the intervention first of mice and then of bees, the frequency of certain flowers in that district!

from Chapter 3 “The Origin of Species” Charles Darwin

Bee on Clover by Kaspri from Shutterstock.com

Thomas Henry Huxley another eminent English biologist, and others went on to expand this idea, pointing out that the success of the British Empire really depended on “Old Maids”.
Why? .. because soldiers eat roast beef, the beef cattle eat red clover, red clover is pollinated by bumble bees which, in a round about way are protected by cats. The cats eat the mice who prey on the honey and Old Maids keep cats, therefore the continuation of the British Empire was really dependant on cat loving elderly ladies.

It’s a nice thought and nice enough for A D Hope to write a poem about it. In “Clover Honey” from “A Late Picking: Poems 1965-1975”, the narrator is concerned about the number of spinsters in the locality but a friend puts him right. Here is part of it..

“Yes, yes, poor things!” he said, You have a heart
That does you credit, my dear. But let me say
That the great chain of being has found a part
In Nature’s scheme even for them to play.

You mentioned cats, I think. Each keeps a cat?”
“Good God!” I said “they have them by the score!”
“Indeed? Of course, I’m not surprised at that;
But cats catch mice_ Well, it’s what cats are for. “

Their mistresses at night will put them out
To hunt for field-mice_You begin to see
My drift, perhaps, since as you know, no doubt,
The field-mouse preys upon the bumble-bee.

These hirsute bees, and they alone contrive
To fertilize the dark-red clover blooms;
Although it is their smaller cousins who hive
The clover-honey that loads our Kentish combs.

So when we find_ what does the Bible say?_
A land flowing with milk and honey, we do
Not doubt, we naturalists, that there we may
Expect to find old maids a-plenty too.

The state of single blessedness, you see,
Is not without its talent: indeed, you might
Call spinsters partners of the honey bee
Bringer of life’s best gifts, sweetness and light.”

To read more go to Darwin Discussion pages here

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More Sketches

I am now thinking about the pose.The size of a bumble bee is due in part to the length of its hair, the hard body the exoskeleton is much smaller. A wet bumble bee looks skinnier .. think wet bedraggled poodle. One endearing fact I have discovered is that bee hair is called “pile” as in a carpet, so is a bee carpeted with hair?

A quick colour sketch to get more of a feel for this bee.

Flying South, Bonfires and Puddings

By Val Littlewood October 14, 2009 January 5, 2020 Uncategorized

The swallows and I are lining up to leave, jostling for a slot with the warblers and the wheatears, the nightingales and chiffchaffs. It’s a time of mixed feelings.

I realise that this is the first UK autumn I have experienced for some years. Over the last two months I have seen the leaves turn and the fruit ripen, and, while I like “mists”, appreciate the “mellow” and “fruitful”, I do not really like autumn. Spring is more my season. I will not miss dark evenings in stuffy houses. I dislike having to wear thick jumpers and the word “cosy” fills me with gloom.

But I will miss the bare trees of winter, the colours of frost, chilly walks and the sheer, not ever to be surpassed, joy of bonfires.

Bonfires are, of course, frowned upon now. Laws, local ordinances, fussy neighbours, spoilsports, jobsworths and other killjoys will try to stop you, but the naughty guilty pleasure I had from two splendid bonfires was exquisite.

I am not sure what dark primeval instinct is triggered but I do know that, to many people, the mere mention of a bonfire lights up more than their eyes.In my fathers garden, the bent and shapeless wire fire basket that holds the woody garden waste is located perilously near, both the garage, and a magnificent huge and ancient box tree, whose lower branches have retreated upwards away from the singeing flames. (Dad does not appreciate the value of this tree).

So a bonfire has to be watched and tended. There has to be raking and feeding, coaxing and subduing. It is an Art.

On 2 cool breezy mornings I stood amongst swirls of smoke staring at flames and sparks, feeling my cheeks redden, and my spirits lift, mesmerised by the awe inspiring and all consuming power of fire.

The ebb and flow of a fire is an exhilarating thing to watch. Those sullen, dull red, embers can suddenly be fanned into brilliant scarlet and orange by the merest puff of wind.

Blackened twigs are rekindled and the monster, Fire, is unleashed and hunting, racing upwards and outwards with alarming speed, only retreating when its prey is consumed. Even the power of this little conflagration is humbling and frightening… but also rather exciting!

So for a while, all the frustrations and anxieties melted away and drifted along with the wonderful acrid smoke, over the neighbouring fields and the neighbour’s washing.
The garage and the tree survived, the twiggy garden rubbish and weeds were gone.
I was grubby and happy and smelled deliciously smoky all day.

An old illustration from my Scarecrow book.. Guy Fawkes, the best night of bonfires and the fate of some old scarecrows. Could that possibly be an embodiment of me on the left?

Puddings

There is some fruit growing in garden, not so much now as long ago. We live in an old part of the village and inherited some ancient nameless apple trees which unfailingly bear small bitter inedible and scabby fruit by the bucket load.

The newer, Queen of Cooking Apples, the magnificent Bramley Seedling did not do so well this year but still gave us huge blushing apples, albeit pockmarked and birdpecked.

But the plums; Oh my fur and whiskers, the Victoria plums!!

What a crop of honeyed beauties. Espaliered on an east facing wall, the top branches, heavy with fruit, peeled away from their wires and the ground beneath was sticky with windfalls.
Balanced precariously on a rickety ladder and negotiating very politely with the swarms of disgruntled wasps, I picked bowl after bowl.

The blackberries were also prolific so I brushed up my culinary skills on some of those gorgeous lip smacking, waist expanding, old English puddings.
Apple crumble, Apple charlotte, Apple batter pudding, Snows, Fools, Dumplings, Pies, Tarts and Sponges, adding blackberries and plums for flavour and colour.
All served with thick golden Bird’s custard. T

hese wonderful old puddings are something the UK can be justly proud of.
I could go on and on and ON about the joys of fruit puddings.
Apples really need another dedicated post, especially as it is the 200th birthday of the Bramley.

Sadly you cannot get Bramleys in the USA, well certainly not in Florida, for which I am truly sorry! .. Sometimes, that one beautiful big Bramley apple, cored, stuffed with brown sugar and rum soaked raisins, slowly baked then drizzled with local honey and served with cream is as close to heaven as you can get. So, for the deprived Bramley-less ones, here is a photo from the BBC which shows how big they can be.

and my only rough sketches .. all good painting intentions got lost this trip

So on a golden autumn day I am leaving the apples, the trees, the engaging rat of whom more later, the chilly sparkling mornings and the Aged P, but like the birds, I will be back in the spring.

Bombus:Humble, Bumble and Bees

By Val Littlewood July 13, 2009 January 5, 2020 Uncategorized

When last home I was exploring the old potting shed in my father’s garden. It has lain largely undisturbed, for years, wreathed in hanging spiders webs.

“Exploring” is not really the correct word, as all I do is go in, find the spade, hoe, fork etc I need and hastily retreat before being overcome by my spidery fears. However on a window sill I did see a little dead Bumble Bee. Bees are about the limit of my “dead thing” collecting and I do like to draw them so I put it in a small box and it came back to the USA with me.

I found it again while unpacking, it was a bit worse for wear but OK for a study or two. This I think is Bombus terrestris, the buff-tailed bumblebee or large earth bumblebee. I liked this definition from Collins Discovery.
“Bumblebee: any large hairy social bee of the genus Bombus”

Large, hairy and completely delightful. Much loved but endangered, see the Bumble Bee Conservation Trust for what you can do to help.
Called Humble Bees too, not as I thought for the bowing, inclined aspect of their head but because of the noise they make. R W Emerson wrote a rather odd early poem in praise of the Humblebee, here is a snippet.

Insect lover of the sun,
Joy of thy dominion!
Sailor of the atmosphere;
Swimmer through the waves of air;
Voyager of light and noon;
Epicurean of June;

Regarding sailing and swimming, the aerodynamics of the bumble bee have been called into question, but as successful business woman Mary Kay Ash said;

“Aerodynamically, the bumble bee shouldn’t be able to fly, but the bumble bee doesn’t know it so it goes on flying anyway.” ..

a good motivational quote for a Monday. You can read about this incorrect theory and perhaps how it came about at

http://ilovebacteria.com/bee.htm.

And see a lovely slow motion, in flight, bumble bee doing very nicely, here on YouTube.I made these sketches a couple of weeks ago just before starting the printmaking course. This coming week, the bee in print and much more about bees in general.
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Bumblebees:

Leaf of the Day: The K word..slow progress..

By Val Littlewood February 28, 2009 December 29, 2019 Uncategorized

I redrew the Kohlrabi today and put a light wash over it and, as I now have a “spare” drawing, I decided to use it for some painting practice before committing myself to the real thing. There are many things I still don’t really understand about this type of work. I have said before that learning from books is so difficult and this is a major drawback of the course. One hour with a top class botanical painter would answer many of my questions. I still don’t know how thick to have the paint or how wet to have the paper etc etc. I am not used to working on smooth paper and the paint seems to sit on the top of the surface which is giving me a headache when building up dark tones, maybe I need to change the paper. …so it’s trial and error…
I have however come to one very important conclusion. To be a really first class botanical painter you need to be very methodical and very patient. I am not and think I am too set in my ways and bad habits to change. I cannot imagine pursuing this very detailed type of work as a career but I may combine a bit of my own looser style with some detail to create something different. There is room for some experimentation. However I will persevere with this.. but TGIF..
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Leaf Trials and First Wash

Kohlrabi Leaf Trials …

First colour wash for Kohlrabi, 16 x 12″ watercolour on Fabriano HP

Leaf of the Day: More Kohlrabi Sketches

By Val Littlewood February 24, 2009 December 29, 2019 Uncategorized

I only had the evening to work today and the deadline for veg is getting very close. So I bought some new kohlrabies, bigger this time and with more leaves. They are not the freshest and the leaves are somewhat limp so I am having to “arrange” them a bit. This is the problem of living in a city. I did go to the local farmers market last Saturday but found nothing better there and I can’t find any with roots intact, so these will have to do.
As I can’t draw such a complicated piece straight onto the watercolour paper (I would need to rub out too much and damage the surface), I have made a pencil sketch first and think I will also have to work out the leaves in more detail before painting.
This will be quite a big piece. I had to use the big 16 x14″ sketch book for the pencil drawing (and had to scan the drawing in 2 halves as you can see).
The new colour sketch is on the smaller 9 x12″.

For me, the danger of having to draw and redraw something is getting bored with the image. I do like to get on with the next thing. But it really does pay off if you can persevere. I have great regard for artists who specialise in just one subject … say butterflies or birds, I just don’t have the temperament, but that is the way to true excellence. I have been reading more about Audubon whose dedication and drive was completely extraordinary, the more I read, the more I respect and admire this remarkable man. Even if I had the talent and the drive I don’t have enough years left to match a fraction of his achievement…

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More Kohlrabi Sketches

Pencil sketch on cartridge 16 x 14″

Watercolour and Pencil, on Kilimanjaro Watercolour Sketch Book 9 x 12″

Tag: sketch