Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Challenge 76, a fresh flower


Pen and ink and watercolor crayons and pencils

These hibiscus (what is the plural of "hibiscus"? Hibisci?) grow and grow and grow down my driveway. If I am not attentive to pruning, they would cover the side of my house and my kitchen window. But I do enjoy their blooms and they seem to thrive in this hot and humid tropical climate.

I am new to watercolors and am having a great time experimenting with pencils and crayons. For this Challenge I worked on actual 140# watercolor paper which I liked much better than the sketch book I had been using. I may have to switch and then bind all the drawings together some way later. Or who knows....I might just have to break down and join the moleskine watercolor community.

12 comments:

Teri said...

BEAUTIFUL!! I really love this-the colors are vibrant and gorgeous!!

Lin said...

OUTSTANDING!!! AND YOU ARE DOING EXCEPTIONALLY WELL WITH YOUR WATERCOLORS!! ABSOLUTELY LOVE THE VIBRANCY AND LIFE OF THIS!!!

Penny said...

Really lovely! I like how the painting uses the entire paper! And you captured the folds of the leaves and petals. Very nice!

Anastasia said...

very beautiful!!! great job! pretty colours too

Alison said...

A beautiful piece - watercolour paper really does help, doesn't it

JaKo said...

Very , very nice !

Unknown said...

Wonderful job- you really captured the gorgeousness of that lovely hibiscus- and you inspired me to get ouside and paint the garden out here- well done! Keep up the great work!

Nel Jansen said...

Beautiful job , Kay. You've managed to really capture the light coming through the transparency of the petals, and the brightness of the leaves. Keep it up!

Robyn said...

Hibiscus maybe?

Lovely job on rendering them.

Jana Bouc said...

Fresh flowers is right! This is beautiful! I love your style and choice of colors. It's such a vibrant image.

Carole said...

Kay, this is seriously gorgeous! Can't believe you are new to the medium. Brilliantly done. I love the balance of colours and the composition.

Tami said...

If I said WOW!!!! would ya get even half the idea of how nice I think this is? This is stunning! The color is so lively!