Mixed Flowers ...

The inspiration behind the choices made for this assignment came from my garden - in its prime right now at the heart of spring. One of my favourite trees is our Bauhinia variegata - known here as the butterfly tree, or orchid tree. You can see the picture of our tree here complete with the ladder still in place from my attempts at cutting the best stems to show the detail and structure of the flowers and leaves. The flowers are incredibly striking with showy stamens and the most beautiful strong colours.


Colour studies to match

The leaves are so complex - very prominent vein system and beautiful butterfly shapes .. hence the common name of butterfly tree.


First of the front facing flowers ...

These flowers were almost completed so that it would be easier to choose the other flowers to complement and not compete with the showy bauhinia. I chose 'Good Samaritan' rose buds as their colour was a beautiful rich raspberry red and the buds were a lovely form and shape which didn't overwhelm as a full blown rose might have. I also chose some scarlet rose hips to bring in a little more bright red.

I included the Tulbaghia violacea - society garlic - as it showed an interesting flowerhead shape and being such small flowers did not overwhelm the composition, yet still brought in variety to help fill the page. This would also bring in some strappy long, lean and different green leaves to contrast with the butterfly-shaped bauhinia leaf.

There's still a lot more to show on this one with a few more elements so once I have all the photos together I'll post the completed artwork ... it's a tough one as you have to choose the flowers as you go - much like gathering a bouquet from the garden. More work still to come ...

10 comments:

Ursula RomeroNovember 24, 2012 at 2:17 AM
Those big pink flowers are amazing - so three dimensional! It's a beautiful arrangement Vicki. I like the contrasting leaf and flower shapes and all the colours go really well together. Your garden looks beautiful! It's pretty grey here in England at the moment, and drizzly. Not long until the nights start to get shorter though which is good!
MoNovember 24, 2012 at 2:24 AM
Precioso!!, saludos.
ManonNovember 24, 2012 at 3:33 AM
Great work! Love the composition, the rich and bright colors. You did a magnifique illustration.
LOve it!
PerthDailyPhotoNovember 25, 2012 at 11:03 PM
Oh my the Orchid tree is a beauty, your garden sounds really special Vicki, a wonderful fund of inspiration.
Vicki have you ever thought about removing the verification word off the comments , sometimes its really difficult to leave a comment and I know a lot of people won't even try as soon as they see it. Unless you have a huge problem with spam, which is not usual, its really not needed, sometimes it takes me three tries before I get it exactly right.
BigLittleWolfDecember 1, 2012 at 5:52 AM
Perhaps it's in part because of the time of year here in the Eastern part of the US... as leaves brown and blow away, the trees barren soon, and the cold coming in... These colors are gorgeous and uplifting. Such a delicate flower and leaf. So beautiful, Vicki Lee.