Rose-bush in a magic setting

If you come to Italy and Rome you must check the Giardini di Ninfa in the springtime, if you wish to spend a few hours in a dream.
I had the privilege, together with a group of sketchers, of spending a free afternoon there.
This very ancient rose- whose name I've forgotten-caught my attention.
I drew it in pastel. It was leaning  on an ancient wall of the ruined village, and the bluish shade was the copper oxyde sprayed to protect the plant from parasytes. It contrasted beautifully with the acid yellow of the younger stems.
It's really hard to select a subject in this paradise, imagined and planted lovingly by the lady of the Caetani family.

Wishing everyone a fantastic spring.

A Rose amongst the Cosmos - Maree

Gather ye rose-buds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying,
And this same flower that smiles today,
Tomorrow will be dying.
- Robert Herrick

Usually, by mid-November, the countryside is covered in Cosmos. As to-date, zulch, nil, nada! Maybe it’s the fact that we have had no rain whatsoever yet here in Tarlton (Gauteng, South Africa). These three little Cosmos flowers in my garden are all that is left over from last year’s flowers.

deadheading roses

deadheading roses
Originally uploaded by vickylw

The David Austin rose shrub I almost got rid of two years ago due to lack of flowers has come back stronger than ever. Fully loaded with blooms in May (or so I was told -- I was in Texas at the time), and now a whole new crop of roses coming on. Plus a couple of spent blooms like this one. I think it took me seriously when I cut it back to just above the soil.

Cottage Rose - Maree Clarkson

Being in nature and allowing ourselves to absorb both its gentle beauty and fierce power is a healing act. We do not have to travel far to open ourselves to this gift.

- Unknown

My sketch for today...


"Cottage Rose" watercolour in Visual 140gsm sketch pad

I did this sketch of a rose in my garden in a new sketch book - Visual 140gsm watercolour paper - it's so thin, it just sucks up the paint and won't flow at all and once you've made a mistake, that's it, can't be fixed. Like the muddy leaf top right-hand corner - I promised myself I won't be using it again except for pencil sketches.

Choices - Sigrid Frensen

I love Autumn. But then again, I suppose all botanical artists love autumn. So much going on, so many beautiful colours, not to mention all the fruits and seeds...
In my previous post you could read I'm working a bit more with watercolours now. Also trying out some things to combine the coloured pencils and watercolours. Valerie Oxley told us that it shouldn't matter how we come to a good result, as long as we get a good result. I got to experiment with that when I made a watercolour of the rose hips of one of my roses, Rosa moyesii 'Geranium'.

I started to make a watercolour of it. But in the end I wasn't totally happy with the way it looked. I worked a bit too much in the red and it got a bit grainy and muddy. I remembered what Valerie told us and thought 'why not'.
I got some coloured pencils out and saved the painting. It looks much better now and I'm glad I did what I did.

Next I tried to make a painting of a rose hip I picked from my Rosa glauca. That didn't work. AT ALL. It was hopeless, even my pencils couldn't make that one better. So this time I made the rose hip again, now using only coloured pencils. Sometimes things just don't go as you plan it I guess. But it doesn't matter... as long as you get a nice result in the end.

Now I need to think about what to make next... it's autumn and there's so much choice...

Ink Roses

Ink Roses
Originally uploaded by Ricky Holtman

Ink sketch of some roses I saw. I haven't taken them to color yet but maybe someday. This was done in a moleskine book. These are calle Knockout Roses I am told and are very hardy around Missouri area. They were a brilliant red.

Roses

Roses
Originally uploaded by Ricky Holtman

Quick little ink line sketch with watercolor of some roses. There is a touch of fall in the air when looking at these roses....they are already turning colors. Wished I could have caught the color better but in a hurry.

Rosa glauca

The last two days I was working on a drawing of one of my favourite roses. Rosa glauca. It's a botanical rose with small pink flowers. The leaves are spectacular: grey green with a bit of dark red in the veins and stems. In the autumn the rose has a lot of dark red hips. It's wonderful. I made a drawing of the hips two years ago. I will probably do another one this year or next year since I've sold the first.

The rose is flowering only for a very short period and I had to work fast for this drawing. This morning yesterday's flower had dropped it's petals. I'm happy with the flower and I think the pink resembles the true colour very well. Also the buds and the stem (or branch) are very good I think. The leaves however are a bit of a problem. I don't like doing leaves and the colour of these leaves is very difficult. I managed to draw two leaves and I hope the pink of the flower and the red of the branch will distract the attention from the leaves a bit.

Oh, and about the rose... it's called Rosa glauca, which means Red-leaved rose. The front of the leaf is grey- green but the backside of the leaf is a bit reddish. The veins are red too. It is a species of rose native to the mountains of central and southern Europe.

Sketching Roses

These are some recent "after work" sketches of some flowers we had in the house after my Yiayia's (grandmother's) funeral. When I have fresh flowers in the house, I will put off drawing other things so I can sketch them while they are still alive. I also take lots of pictures so I can make some more detailed drawings or paintings later. Here you can see a small watercolor that I also made from some of Yiayia's flowers, although from a different arrangement.

Rebeccas Rose Trellis

Rebeccas Rose Trellis
Originally uploaded by linfrye

Daily Practice

A disappointing day yesterday. We left with two vans and an extra vehicle filled with excited patrons and headed toward Wilmington and the spring blooms of Airlie Gardens. About 30 minutes into the trip, the heavens opened up, and sheets of rain, drumrolls of thunder and bolts of lightning 'had their way with us.' Sigh. We pulled into a rest stop to call the Gardens to see if the weather were any better, and it seemed that the banks of storm clouds were going to continue throughout the day. Sadly, we turned the cars around and returned to the Arboretum to plan alternative trips.

We wound up scheduling not one, but FOUR trips between June and next May - with suggested ideas for the 2010-2011 year. So we were able to achieve some positive results from the day.

The storms battered us until well into the evening, with several tornatos wrecking havoc in the towns we had passed by. So we probably made the sane decision - disappointing as it was.

After we all dried off and resumed the tasks we could now tackle, the day went fairly well. When I left for the evening, I reached the B&B before sundown. Under threatening skies, I sat in my car in front of Rebecca's Rose Trellis, and sketched that cheerful scene. Later on, Rebecca told me that the climbing roses were her mother's ... even more special to her.

More meetings today and tidying tasks before my trip next week. I'm waiting until Saturday to get excited...!!! LOL

Lin Frye
North Carolina