Tag: watercolour

Leaf of the Day: White Cordia, a Pirate, Audubon and some White Crowned Pigeons

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Today I did get down to Leu and spent a couple of hours wandering around and seeing some really amazing new things springing up. Something I have been thinking about for a couple of weeks now is doing some studies of bark. I found the most beautiful elm and hoop pine bark as well as some spiny tree trunks and various other spotted and striped trunks and branches. The cycad cones too are just getting bigger and bigger. Their geometry is quite beautiful and I know if I really want to paint them I will have to give in and work from photos.

In the Arid Garden there is a tree which for weeks now had been covered in very pretty white blossom. The tree itself is a lovely shape too and now it is covering the ground with these beautiful greeny white fruit which stay fixed onto the remains of the ridged green calyx. They look very tempting. This is the White Cordia Tree Cordia boisseri or Ancahuita. It’s an intimate and pretty tree with twisting branches and soft hairy leaves.
It is also known as the Texas Olive or Wild Olive or Mexican Olive because of the shape of its fruit, but I have to say it looks nothing like an olive to me. It is theoretically edible and was used to make cough mixture in Mexico.(Hmmm..so is probably not pleasant to eat). One source says the fruit are edible but intoxicating and dizzying and should not be eaten in any number. If this is so I am quite surprised there isn’t a ready trade for them here in Orlando.

Yet another name is the White Geiger Tree, but the Geiger Tree is more readily associated with the Cordia sebestena the Orange Geiger tree. It seems this variety was named after an Audubon painting of a tree that was growing in the garden of Captain John Geiger who lived in Key West. Geiger was a harbor pilot and master wrecker ( pirate), who lived in the house with his wife and nine children. Audubon was visiting Key West in 1832 , admired the tree and asked for cuttings, instructing his assistant, George Lehman to include it in the painting of the “White Crowned Pigeons”.


White Crowned Pigeon

In Key West , Geiger’s house has now become the Audubon House and Gallery. There is a small tropical garden and a fine collection of Audubon prints and to my great delight a collection of Margaret Mee prints. I greatly admire her and her work and I think she will be the subject of my written piece later this year, but she is for another post ..or several! Here is her beautiful painting of Gustavia pulchra from her flora of the Amazon.

I just have to go to this museum! Follow this link for more information. The Audubon House, Gallery and Gardens
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White Cordia Fruit

Leaf of the Day: The Glory Lily and Faffing and Footling about

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There are some days that never quite get going, until it seems too late to do anything at all. Today was one of those days. I spent the morning faffing about. “Faffing”.. I thought about this word as I was starting to write this post and realised that I may have to explain it, as here in America it is not necessarily understood. And there really is no substitute for it either.
“Faffing about” is a phrasal verb which means doing all those horrible, time consuming things that have no real impact on the quality of your life but have to be done to avoid bringing the wrath of the law, your partner, the bank, and public decency on your head. In short, doing anything that interferes with what you really want to do that day. It’s those itty bitty things that should take 5 minutes and all take at least half an hour and suddenly your day has disappeared leaving you dissatisfied and with nothing in your life, or anyone else’s for that matter, significantly improved.

I wanted to go to the Gardens today but I had to wait in for the telephone man who was due to come between 10 and 1. I had to bring some washing in, put some washing out, change the dressing on my foot where the iron (luckily cold) had embedded itself in my foot yesterday. Yes…pointed-end first, excruciatingly painful and a 2 inch gash with an interesting talking- point-scar to look forward to. The irony ( sorry !) of this stupid accident is that I hardly ever use the iron. Ironing, along with cleaning, falls into the category of things that only need to be done if visitors are arriving or as severe displacement activity when creative procrastination is at its crippling height! Then I had to ring the bank, 30 mins and 7 phone numbers later.

That was my whole morning, faffing about, doing this, doing that, achieving nothing. There is also a noun. A” faff ” is something you do that doesn’t give you the reward you would like, for the effort involved. Faffing however should not be confused with footling. Footling is mooching for pleasure, because you want to, with no particular plan in mind.
One nice part of the faffing was the arrival of the telephone man who not only fixed the phone, but, having heard the cricket score on my BBC Radio 4 news told me how very much he missed cricket. He is from Jamaica and a real cricket fan so we had a chat about why they don’t play cricket here. No conclusion drawn. His sister had lived in London since 1972 and married a Londoner. Her husband fell in love with Jamaica and they returned there 4 years ago buying a huge house once owned by some British celebrities. He talked about the beauty of the Blue Mountains and the beaches. I was convinced.

At 1.30, faffing eventually over, it seemed I could get started on the day so for some fresh air I cycled to Kraft Gardens for a change. All was serene and lovely there on a hot still Florida afternoon. Anhingas drying their wings, egrets roosting, lizards basking and squirrels tirelessly bouncing. I definitely footled about there for a while, took some photos, got some inspiration and cycled home, encountering not only the usual traffic hazards, but also a man dressed as a yellow plastic traffic cone who was advertising smoothies.

I started drawing at 3.30 and did eventually get going, mostly thanks to Harlee who had pointed me in the direction of Radio 4’s excellent programme about Judith Kerr’s classic book “The Tiger who came to Tea” It was a delightful programme of warm childhood memories from both grateful readers and new mums plus an interview with Judith Kerr who says she is a very messy artist who rubs out more than she draws. That’s familiar!

Finally then, this is the flower of Glory Lily Vine, Gloriosa superba which climbs or scrambles over other plants with the aid of tendrils. The flowers are very distinctive because of their reflexed petals, like a Turk’s cap lily. I have seen other varieties whose petals stand up straighter and look like little bright flames in colours ranging from orange red to deep magenta. This is another potentially poisonous plant. All parts of the plant contain colchicine as found in the equally toxic autumn crocus and is used by herbalists particularly as a remedy for gout.
It is a very complicated structure so the only thing to do, is sketch it over and over again, in order to get the rhythm of the shapes but today time was short. Here is a sketch book page and a rushed study of the flower head.

It is very pretty indeed and certainly a challenge and I shouldn’t condemn a flower for its associations but when I discovered it is the national flower of Zimbabwe my enthusiasm and concentration faltered and I found my thoughts sliding away to that desperate country where my preoccupation with my day seem trivial and inconsequential and the gentle and delighted reminiscences of Judith Kerr’s readers more poignant. Her family had to flee Germany in 1933 in the face of another unspeakable tyrant. Hitler was about to take away their passports as her father had written satirical articles about the Fuhrer before he was in power. She speaks about a risky early morning escape with her mother and brother, crossing the border on little milk trains in order to avoid detection.
The interviewer, and one of the commentators, trying to find a hidden subtext to the story of some related post traumatic stress, are disarmingly rebuffed by her simple comment that no, there is no other meaning, the story arrived by itself. Sitting in their flat after a day out, all the games played, and without the dubious benefit of television, what could be nicer than a tiger coming to tea. What indeed?

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Glory Lily Vine

Leaf of the Day: Winged Beauty

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If any vine belongs in fairyland it’s this one, the enchanting Winged Beauty Dalechampia dioscoraefolia, Bow tie plant,or Costa Rican Butterfly Vine. These beautiful purple/ lilac structures are of course not leaves or petals but bracts which can reach as much as 5″ across. The “flower” is set above these two bracts. It is one of the euphorbia family which I looked at in more detail with Liz Leech at West Dean. It has slender stems, with very lovely heart-shaped leaves.There seems to be a white version too and, as I have been researching this, I find there are other varieties with even more fascinating flower structures.

Dalechampias are pollinated by the equally pretty little iridescent Euglossia orchid bees and when I get round to painting an orchid (it won’t be long as I am here in Florida) I will find out more about them. They are interesting little bees who spend much of their busy lives collecting fragrance as opposed to nectar and tucking it into their outsize trousers which make them look as though they are wearing jodhpurs.That won’t win any prizes in the apiology description class but you see what I mean in this excellent photograph from orchidspecies.com

The flowers structure in this vine is very odd but quite beautiful and I can see I have to go back and revise some more to understand exactly what is what here.I was interested in the front and side view of the “flower”. There are 3 bright red somethings attached to a round something which has a split covering revealing something very sticky ( I didn’t include the remains of an ant which were stuck onto this bit) with 3 small yellow flowery things on the top. Liz…I need your help. I had a problem with the instant shrivelling up of the leaves on this one too and they darkened as they dried out so I think the true colour is lighter blue. I just have to get quicker.

With the onset of a new month I am trying to make a rule to make at least 5 colour sketches each week no matter if they are finished or not. The next SBA assignment is to paint flower heads so I have to get some practice in.I want it to become as easy to pick up the paintbrushes and colours as it now is to pick up a pencil.
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Winged Beauty

Leaf of the Day: Luna Moth Ginger

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The Luna Moth Ginger , Hedychium. What a gorgeous flower this is. It’s big, 4 inches across, white, delicately scented and with beautifully shaped fragile petals and the bright orange anther. I had taken a photo of this lovely thing a couple of weeks ago and last time I was down in the gardens I saw that it had almost finished flowering so I grabbed one little blossom to draw. Today I just had to get this drawing done before it expired. It has been sitting in the fridge for a couple of days and lasted for an hour before collapsing in a limp heap on the drawing table. I have painted just one blossom as the leaves are too big to tackle at this stage.
The flowers themselves are held in informal groups on curving individual stems, forming very pretty untidy bunches. They are the sort of flowers I like.

The Ginger family is a great discovery for me here. Every week I am seeing more and more interesting and beautiful flowers only to discover they are from the ginger family. Who would have guessed! Here is my photo of the Luna Moth Ginger from a a couple of weeks ago.

And why is it called the “Lunar Moth Ginger? Well probably this
stunning image from Dale Jamiesons photo album at Pbase here will explain. This most beautiful creature is the Luna Moth (Actius luna) a silkmoth with a wing span of 3 to 8 inches and which apparently has a natural pale green fluorescence making it glow in the dark.

… and last and most important, today is the last day of six whole months of this blog and I want to say a very special thank you to all my friends old and new who are these days scattered all over the world. You email, send me comments and photos, put me right, give me encouragement, share knowledge, make me laugh and keep my nose to this particularly demanding grindstone. It all helps so much, believe me. For someone who kept a diary for all of three days when I was seven this has been an effort, is slowly becoming a habit and will be an achievement if I do manage to stay the whole 27 months of the course…only 21 to go…oh surely not… Thankyou all..don’t stop!
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Luna Moth Ginger

Leaf of the Day: Begonia Seed Pod, the ASBA and the FSBA.

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Part of the reason for the trip to Sarasota was to meet up with Phillip Phillips who runs the Florida Society of Botanical Artists (more info here ) who are in turn the Florida Chapter of the American Society of Botanical Artists. (More info here)
I have joined both of the societies which have wonderful artists in their membership and a huge variety of styles. Being a pod person I love this image by Dick Rauh of the Snake Root pods.. the Black Cohosh ..

I had met with Phillip before at the exhibition that the members of the Florida group had mounted in Sarasota on the theme of Native Florida Plants. The exhibition was lovely and here are 3 of Phillip’s images. How nice to see a bit of wildlife. Thinks must paint more bugs and lizards.

Centrosema or butterfly pea (native)

Butterfly – Papilio lorquinianus albertii, Swallowtail, Mt Arfak, Irian Jaya, Indonesia

Saururus cernuus – Lizard’s Tail (native)

As normal I should have paid more attention to the paintings instead of chatting but as I am out on a limb here (..oh dear, no botanical pun intended) it was so nice to talk to another botanical artist and know that others agonise about the quality of the paper and size of the brushes and other knotty problems of paint granulation and transparency etc etc. I am now looking for some more local inspiration for my drawings here at the Florida Native Plant Society. http://www.fnps.org/

As I have been away from the drawing board most of this weekend my contribution today is a very quick and modest seed pod of one of the Begonias in the garden.
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Begonia Seed Pod

Leaf of the Day: Felt Plant Leaf

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This is the last leaf for the submission (hurrah!) , a small top leaf of one of the strange “felt”plants a variety of Kalanchoe. The largest variety Kalanchoe beherensis can grow to 6 meters. I took a photo of a small one in Sarasota in the Marie Selby Garden a couple of months ago and there is another one at Leu.

The leaf I have painted is from a smaller variety which, as well as the furry leaves, has strange soft bumps on the back of the new leaves. I wanted to try painting something furry.. (pubescent) and this one certainly is. I have not used white body colour in the other leaves, trying to keep to the rule of the purist watercolourist of using white paper for highlights, but to achieve the furryness I used white gouache, mixed with some of the leaf colour and drybrushed the texture over the painted surface.
It was very time consuming, one leaf was fine but I am not sure about a whole plant. However the leaves of the larger kalanchoes are very beautiful and I hope to be able to paint one when I get on to larger subjects.

I am glad to have completed these leaves. There are many areas that are less than satisfactory, it is a steep learning curve to go from loose to very detailed watercolour, and I have to probably do less drawing now and more painting to really improve.
One of the most daunting thing for me is that sheet of pristine white paper. I am very impressed with myself for having managed to keep this sheet fairly splash free.. very good for a messy watercolourist who quite likes blots and runs!
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Felt Plant

Leaf of the Day: Holly and Toog and a Foaming Berry

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I went down to Leu this morning, just to see if I could get any last minute inspiration for my remaining leaves. Also I wanted to see the new planting that has been happening over the weekend. Near the lake they have taken out some of the uncontrollable and rampant exotics and are planting native Florida species.
One of these is a Soapberry tree Sapindus marginatus which is a nice little tree whose seeds have the amazing property of foaming when mixed with water. The berries contain saponin which is a natural form of detergent, and if you wish to find out how to use them, this web page The Complete Soapnut Guide will tell you. In Mexico and tropical America they have been used as soap, and in addition, the chemicals in the berries ( saponins) were found to be “toxic to cold-blooded vertebrates, and crushed soapberry fruits were thrown into ponds and streams to stupefy the fish so that they would float to the surface to be gathered.”
info from WaynesWord website here


The blue black marble like seeds are known as “black pearls” throughout the tropics, and are used for jewellery.
What a useful tree this is , I look forward to maybe a seed pod or two later in the year.

However, I had to finish two more leaves today. I do now have a new lamp which is very good and is a bright white light, so the lighting problem has eased. I have drawn these two leaves before. Chinese Holly here and the Toog tree leaf here. It was a challenge to get the shine on the holly leaf and I still felt I want to sharpen everything up a bit and get more contrast into the leaf but it will have to do for now.
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Chinese Holly and Toog

Leaf of the Day: Passion Flower

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Today I have been continuing the finished leaf paintings, so little time for the blog or much else really. This is number 5 leaf, a little bilobed passionflower leaf.
It is another beautifully shaped leaf and of course the passionflowers are the most extraordinary pieces of plant architecture. For now though, just the leaf.
This particular leaf has little yellow spots running along the blade, which after some research I discovered are called ‘extra floral nectaries‘.
Their function seems to be to attract useful insects who in return for a drink of sweet nectar prey on any plant-eating pests, thus functioning as ‘bodyguards’ in another mutually beneficial insect/plant arrangement.
Many species of ants are found in association with plants having extra floral nectaries and interestingly, it seems that vines in particular have developed these refreshment stations, their evolution and selection occurring as a result of ants using the vines frequently as natural pathways into the forest canopy.

I am not sure what particular species this leaf is from, as I only have a small piece without flowers, but there are many many different types of passion flowers growing in Florida. One I have yet to see is the batleaf passionflower ,

or the “Maypop” which is quite a common roadside weed, in the South East USA where it sprawls over ditches and open fields. I have found two explanations for its name. One that it ‘pops’ out of the ground in May and another that the pods, which are edible, make a loud popping noise when you stand on them.


These and more photos from from Daves Garden

I will return to these beautiful plants when I get round to painting the flowers.
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Passionflower Leaf

Leaf of the Day: 4 Coloured Leaves and Notes

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It’s that day.. that Friday 13th day, when sensible people stay at home and artists don’t pick up a paintbrush before noon.. but I have things to do and have braved bad luck… It is interesting that in Spain it was Tuesday 13th that was considered unlucky and I am still not sure why these dates in particular are so much maligned. Christan belief certainly regards it as unlucky, to do, in the main with the day of the crucifixion and, some say, with that first naughty apple-eating escapade in Garden of Eden which supposedly occurred on Friday 13th. However the Egyptians thought it was a lucky number so today I am with the Egyptians.

It would, however, be convenient if I could just blame all my artistic problems on various inauspicious dates but I know it really has more to do with my skills or lack of them. Since Monday I have been working very hard on the watercolour leaves for the course.
So far I get one done a day. I am trying to be disciplined and make a colour note sketch first, which is, I admit very helpful.. or would be if I could then stick to those colours. I have had problems with all of them..there are 4 more to go.

The two main problems are my lighting set up and, I think, the paper I am working on which is Arches HP.
The lighting is a nightmare. Rooms in these apartments here in Florida tend to be darker, dark is cool! I chose the lightest room to work in and it has a strong side light during daylight hours which can all change in an instant if it is cloudy (often). My model is propped, clipped, taped and balanced on various supports and stuck in wet oasis to get it into the right position to work from, but when the light changes it could be a different plant. The basil was a particular problem. I decided to get an extra lamp with a daylight bulb to get a constant directional light but that conflicts with the light over my drawing board and is a completely different colour from real daylight. The leaf or whatever it is I am drawing completely changes its colour and shadows, so I am still pondering this problem.
As to paper, one of the eternal questions of watercolourists is “which paper??”, they are all so different, and a surface and weight that works for a small subject and fine detail is then difficult to work with on large bold subject. Every artist seems to work on something different. I am a big fan of Arches for loose watercolour, but I am finding this surface somewhat spongy. It may be because I work back into the paper too soon before allowing the paint to dry properly, (impatience is another failing of mine) because I am finding problems keeping sharp edges and have worked over too much in some areas trying to achieve them.

I know I should have practiced working in such fine detail on different papers before wading in to the final assignment piece, but it is the nature of this particular beast to be a deadline worker. I pay for this of course by making mistakes but on the other hand there is a rush of adrenaline which sharpens up the senses and galvanises me into action.

Here are the leaves so far with their colour note sketches. I will be looking at lighting again tomorrow. Some leaves I redrew, as the initial drawings were not quite what I wanted or the leaves had died, (as the basil did!). The ginger leaf was the only one I had, so I needed to work quickly and, bless it, it did manage to stay alive for a couple of day… in the fridge, out of the fridge, in the fridge, out of the fridge…. at the moment there are more plants in there than food.

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4 Coloured Leaves

Leaf of the Day: Pomegranate 2

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Today having survived flood, plague and pestilence I have returned to the baby pomegranate. It is only 2 inches long
The Egyptians as in many things were quick to see the beauty and design possibilities of its attractive shape.

This beautiful necklace from 520 BC depicts the goddess Sekhemt the lioness headed deity, the beads are cowrie shaped with a tiny pomegranate bead at the top.

In this famous tomb painting at Ipuy, a gardener is raising water with a shaduf, and behind him is painted a lovely little pomegranate tree in flower.

There are many many other examples of the pomegranates use in design. I am sure I will be painting these beautiful and mysterious fruit again and will be posting some more images.

I am trying to be more thorough with the drawings now and made a colour note study yesterday before making a more finished painting today, but , by the time I came to draw it again, it had lost a leaf, the colour had started to fade.. you have to be quick.
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Pomegranate 2