Diary: Getting things right

 I don't usually draw the same things over and over again, but the other week I was inspired by the redness of Pelargonium flowers on the plant on my windowsill. Poor house plants, they tend to get forgotten about in my house, so only the really hardy survive. My husband says that house plants should be given the last rites before they enter our house. He exagerates, of course, I raised the pelargoniums from cuttings 5 years ago, with the original plant (currently still alive) being a cutting from some plants that had been thrown away in a council skip when I worked on a children's mobile library in around 2005. 

But this isn't a gardening blog, it about the beauty of light shining through red petals. The first drawing I did with coloured pencils was very dissapointing. The flower looked too fleshy, too rounded and didn't have the vibrancy that I was looking for. 

As I thought about how I had drawn it, I decided that It would have been better if I had sketched the outline first, rather than jumping straight in with  blocks of colour. So, I decided that for a change my "Daily" sketch would be of that plant, trying out diffterent media until I found something that satisfied me. 

Sketch number 2 is in pencil, just trying to get the shapes of the petals right. 

Number 3 was in charcoal, not my most favourite medium, and done in a bit of a rush - so very sketchy

Number 4 is in pen where I think I am getting the proportions right, so the next was in coloured pen, trying to find that vibrancy I origianlly saw. 

I was starting to get happier about the sketches, but the plant was doing what plants do in their life cycle. The flower was changing, some parts starting to fade a little and buds in the first sketch now in full blossom. 

I now had the shape of the petals right, they look thin, not thick and fleshy and I have some highlights of colour.  But it is all a bit "Sketchy" I wanted something smoother. 

The very fine coloured felt tip pens that I use are water soluable, so I frequently use them with a sort of "Magic Painting" technique. I brush water on them, either with a fine brush to get some control or with a bigger one to get a wash. I was too apprehensive to wash over this sketch - what if it all went wrong ending up with a soggy mess?

So, the following day, hoping that not too many of the petals had fallen off, I sketched the plant again - and went the extra step to acheive Number 6.

I was relatively happy with that, which is good thing and the flowers were definately fading the following day. It is worth trying to get things right.