Another color of our tulips that are in full bloom in our yard. Yea Spring! Holbein and Daniel Smith watercolors in a Stillman and Birn sketchbook.
Flowers
Red Tulip
It was a pleasure to return from vacation and see our tulips at the house in full bloom. the weather was so cool and damp while we were away, that the blooms slowed down. Typically they are only in bloom for a day or 2 until the deer eat them. There are 4 colors and they are beautiful. Over the next few days I will be sketching each of them. Holbein and Daniel Smith watercolors in a Stillman and Birn sketchbook.
Daffodils
Narcissus is a genus of predominantly spring perennial plants. Various common names including daffodil, narcissus and jonquil are used to describe all or some members of the genus. Narcissus has conspicuous flowers with six petal-like tepals surmounted by a cup- or trumpet-shaped corona. The flowers are generally white or yellow (orange or pink in garden varieties), with either uniform or contrasting colored tepals and corona. Pilot Falcon fountain pen with Noodler’s black ink and Holbein watercolors in a Stillman and Birn sketchbook.
It is not Spring yet
Just when it is starting to look and feel like spring, we get a light snow to let us and our flowers know that spring is not here yet. The Daffodils look so sad almost in full blown bent over with the weight of the snow. The advantage is that this time of year, the snow melts quickly with the higher snow angles. Pilot Falcon fountain pen with Noodler’s black ink and Holbein/Daniel Smith watercolors in a Stillman and Birn.
Happy Easter
Happy Easter to all. Holbein watercolor on a Strathmore watercolor card.
Winter Whites
One more watercolor sketch of the bouquet of white flowers that I gave to Lisa. Alstroemeria, mums and roses all in their finest winter whites. Pelikan watercolors in a new Stillman and Birn sketchbook.
Alstroemeria
On the coldest day of the year, I bought an all white bouquet of flowers for Lisa to warm up the house and to think of spring. The Alstroemeria are a beautiful white flower with streaked with purple. The leaves are alternately arranged and resupinate, twisted on the petioles so that the undersides face up. The leaves are variable in shape and the blades have smooth edges. The flowers are solitary or borne in umbels. The flower has six tepals each up to 5 centimeters long. They come in many shades of red, orange, purple, green, and white, flecked and striped and streaked with darker colors. There are six curving stamens. Pelikan watercolors on the last page of a Stillman and Birn Beta sketchbook.
Blue Aster
There are so many varieties of asters that grow in the Northeast and I might have been hasty in noting that this was the Frikarth “Monch” variety. After further research, I believe that is actually could be the Aster Laevis “Bluebird” in the front planting bed in the front of our house. The ‘Bluebird’ is a superlative selection of the native smooth aster. This tall, vase-shaped wildflower has large 1″ diameter blue flowers held in cloud-like clusters at the tips of the arching branches. Staking is helpful by late summer if you forget to pinch. Aster laevis is a great source of nectar for migrating monarchs and other late season butterflies. Holbein watercolors with Pitt Art pens in a Stillman and Birn sketchbook.
Butterfly
This was a wonderful photograph that my wife Lisa snapped the other day at a garden nursery. A beautiful butterfly landed on a Coneflower in full bloom. The color of the butterfly was almost identical to the interior cone of the Coneflower. The petals were a vibrant red with some purple flowers in the background. It has been a crazy busy week and I am trying to catch up with scanning and posting. Holbein and Daniel Smith watercolors in a Stillman and Birn Alpha sketchbook.
Window Boxes
One last one from our brief Nantucket get away. This was a quick 30 minute sketch. The window boxes are gorgeous and everywhere on the island. Everyone is so different from the next one. Bright colors, a multitude of species and many different greens. The flower boxes are even more amazing in the springtime when they are planted with colorful bulbs and greens that seem even more vibrant after a New England winter. Holbein and Daniel Smith watercolors in a 8″ x 12″ Stillman and Birn Alpha sketchbook.
A SKETCHBOOK ODYSSEY 