Assignment 11.Working from photographs, My Garden

The 'working from photographs' assignment required a floral painting suitable for a card design. I attempted a looser style of painting, which isn't really my thing and it felt a bit awkward and not very botanical. I found this to be a pretty awful assignment which wasn't anything to do with botanical art.

Above  detail from what turned out to be a more illustrative approach....this was a lot of work!

I decided to paint a corner of my garden working from a number of photographs taken this year - I would have liked to try something a bit more creative but the garden was handy and I was a bit short of time due to work, children and grandchildren.
The agapanthus was the obvious choice for a feature - there wasn't much left that looked half decent because high winds had flattened everything else! I made  lots of colour notes - the reproduction in the photographs is a little inaccurate so some care had to be taken. The painted lady butterfly was a regular visitor to both the agapanthus and the lavender and added a bit of interest. I  assembled the sketches and traced the whole image which was transferred to my watercolour paper (roughly A3 size). I took about 3 days from start to finish. Valerie Wright was my tutor for this assignment. I think this is the worst thing I've done so far....not my thing.

My Garden, not happy with that loose background but it'll have to do

Only one more assignment to go, then the Diploma Portfolio. It's just flown by in a fairly uneventful way so far, can't believe I'm nearly at the end of the assignments. Still no contact with tutors, just the sheets back, some give more feedback than others. I honestly don't think I've learned anything from this experience.

Working in the Field, Assignment 10, Coastal Flowers

Assignment 10. Working in the Field.
I chose to work at a coastal site, Gardenstown, which is just a few miles from my home on the north east coast of Scotland. I had studied the site for my biology dissertation a few years ago so was pretty familiar with the habitat. Five species were required for this assignment, one had to show surrounding vegetation/ habitat and one cross section/dissection. Simon Williams is the tutor.

I chose Parnassia palustris (grass of parnassus), Succisa pratensis ( Devil's bit scabious), Prunella vulgaris(self heal)  Trifolium pratense (red clover) and Rhinanthus minor (yellow rattle), which had gone to seed.   I think I could have made the Parnassia dissection larger....oh well too late now. Loved doing  this one! but not happy with the result. I don't know why on earth I decided on this layout, probably because of the size of the paper.... I can see how it should be laid out now! I had quite a lot of domestic problems at this time but plodded on - it looks a bit rushed and unfinished to me.

Detail from the Scabacious, unfinished, needs a wash over the leaves etc.

Simon liked the work he was complementary but agreed that it needed a bit more work and general finishing including the wash on the greens,,,,,not sure why I didn't do that it was an easy option but I was rushin, he was spot on in his observations on this one. The mark was good enough, but I could have done a much better job of this. I was a bit disappointed in myself for failing to find the time. My error and a kick up the backside for me:)

I havent contacted any of the tutors yet, not sure if I should or not. I'm just kind send off the stuff and read the feedback and get on with it. Not sure if that's how it's suposed to be or not.