Artwork and (in)sanity update

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Written by artyplantsman

After a couple of weeks when I sometimes felt my heart was being put through a blender I have at last felt more settled this past weekend.

The sun was shining, and a lovely e-mail from a friend made me happy too. We also went to a winter food/craft market at Holker Hall in Cumbria on Saturday morning. Much cake was purchased, which might not help the Christmas abs challenge. I also confess to waffles with Maple syrup..  I like Maple syrup.

There were also lots of friendly doggies there 🙂

As I don’t possess a smartphone and the SLR (or the iPad) is a pain to lug around it is hard to take spontaneous pictures at things like this so I am considering buying a small cheap compact camera I can keep in a jacket pocket.

Though the sun gave me a drawing/gardening dilemma I did manage to make great progress on my current Geissorhiza picture and have almost finished it. The two pictures give a rough idea of the progress made this week. I have finished the flowers and moved on to filling in stems and leaves. When I finish this I will post a better picture without the grey background!

img_1041img_1049

 

As last time I will expand on details of some of the species included. Today concentrating on the bottom left foreground. The tiny pink G. ovata and the yellow G. corrugata

Both these species (like the genus as a whole) are native to the western cape of South Africa.

Geissorhiza ovata is the more widespread though it is tiny (around 5-10 cm tall) and easily overlooked. It also tends to flower better after a bush fire, which makes it especially inconspicuous in non-fire years. I have tried and failed to grow this from seed and have now given up. This picture was taken by me near Betty’s Bay, RSA.

ovata

Geissorhiza corrugata is more showy, and in the wild has attractive tightly coiled leaves as I have tried to show in my drawing. The photograph is of a plant in my own collection, where it has proven easy to grow. Sadly, in cultivation, the poor light levels in the UK prevent the tight coiling of the leaves and they tend to be much more straight.

corrugata

38 Comments

  3. I had no idea what an amazing artist you are! Just spectacular! I like maple syrup, too. We don’t use sugar in our house, only real maple syrup. It helps that I live in an area that produces a lot of it!
    I’m glad you are feeling better. ❤️

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  6. Your drawing is beautiful Darren. So much detail in it and the mix of colours just speaks to me. Very inspiring. How many hours have you spend on this drawing? Just curious to know. Like also the Betty’s Bay photo. Big fan of maple syrup? Love it too. Is it hard to find some in the UK?

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    1. Thank you so much Dominique 🙂
      I guess the total time would be around 70 to 80 hours – basically two weeks full time work.
      Betty’s bay was a wonderful place. Before taking this picture I had spent an hour watching a mother and calf Southern Right Whale in the shallow clear water of the bay.
      You would not like the snakes though – I have never seen so many snakes in my life as there were at the site where I took the picture. And I disturbed a Puff Adder which are both very venomous and rather grumpy!
      Easy to get maple syrup here. In fact we have some in the kitchen now but we try not to buy it as it is too addictive 🙂

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      1. That’s a lot of work but the result is fabulous my friend. You’re right I would prefer watching the whales then see the snakes! Although, I once had a boa around my neck and I was not scared. He had already been fed and it was not in the wild!

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        1. It is a lot of work and shows why I would struggle to make a living from selling originals when it takes so long.
          As you know, I actually like snakes. I always wanted a pet boa or Royal Python but the idea was not popular at home. To say the least…

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  11. Mmm, cake and waffles with maple syrup! 😋🎂🍰🥞

    Also, I never knew what an incredible artist you are, so that beautiful painting surprised me! I can’t wait to see the finished product. 😀

    Liked by 1 person

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  13. Your paintings are beautiful and you’ve introduced me to a plant I’ve never seen or heard of before, thanks! I like the red and purple ones best for their surprising appearance but am a sucker for yellow flowers, too!

    Oh and I’m also a fan of waffles with maple syrup!

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