Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Meadow Inspiration - Vickie Henderson

If you're looking for a relaxing lift and some inspiration, take a walk through a late summer meadow. It's like visiting a fairyland, a feast of color, sound and texture. I always have a camera nearby and when time is short, it's a wonderful aid to memory. It allows me to create the sketches later, when I have more time. In this case, I created the pencil sketch last night, layed down the lighter values this morning and finished the sketch after arriving home from the office tonight.

And while I went through this creative process, I enjoying the meadow all over again and this magical encounter with a female Monarch laying her eggs.
In the sketch she is visiting a White Crownbeard, a flower with winged stalks that is a member of the Aster family. But the plant she selected for depositing her eggs was right beside it, the milkweed. Milkweed is the only plant that Monarch caterpillars eat.

To see images of her while egg-laying, visit my post Of Monarchs and Milkweed at Vickie Henderson Art.

7 comments:

  1. BEAUTIFUL work!!! I love how you've placed the accent on the butterfly and yet the flowers are so beautiful too! GREAT JOB!

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  2. Wonderful page, Vickie! Love how it builds from left to right.

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  3. What a wonderful spread, Vickie! (If you could put your name on the subject line too, then Facebook won't think I'm taking credit for doing your artwork! Sorry...and thank you...)

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  4. This is beautiful! I love seeing a painting going across both pages of a sketchbook, and you have laid this out very nicely. The butterfly looks like she could just take off and fly away.

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  5. All of you are great! Thanks. And 'will do' Kate.

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  6. The most amazingly delicate flowers - perfectly subdued to make your butterfly stand out!

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