My parents were all about plants when I was growing up. There wasn't a hike that wasn't slowed down to a crawl-like pace just so we could be instructed of the latin name of some flower or fungi. Or tree for that matter. And Saturday mornings were met with early risings just so we could weed the 500 flower beds that my parents had created. We weren't on a lot of land, it just felt like there were that many flower beds and 300 times the amount of weeds to pull. (This story exaggerated for full affect.)
Then my parents built a tree nursery in my junior and senior high days (that's middle and high school in Canada terms). This is one of the places where my entrepreneurial spirit was born. Funny enough though, I still rebelled against the learning about plants. I had to learn by mere happenstance since I helped work the nursery. Customers would come in and ask questions. I needed to at least know where to locate them. But that was my limit.
The dogwood flower is said to be a symbol of strength and reliability, as well as, purity and innocence.
Let's fast forward to today. I started painting botanicals because I secretly do love plants. I even have a bit of a green thumb. This is a way for me to make up time from being a less attentive teen. I like to draw them with more looseness and a sketch-like quality, yet still be accurate to the specific plant type.
Botanicals generally seem so serious, like some antique George Brookshaw (1752-1823) prints I own thanks to several estate sales. They are quite unique but are not even close to my style so I am fascinated that I actually picked these up. They are wonderfully drawn and colored. Most importantly, very precise and accurate.
As for my drawings, I didn't want to copy him, or the others for that matter. (I used to work at a frame shop and would see all sorts, but most are on the realistic side.) I wanted to create a version that was lighter in feel and more appealing to a less formal interior. So far there are eight total. But I will slowly add to this collection.
The most recent sketch is the dogwood, of course! That's an all caps, underlined "of course" if you live in East Tennessee. The Dogwood Arts festival is massive for the area, this really should have been the first flower I drew. The dogwood tree was never really my favorite. Something about this Spring has been so hopeful, seeing them in bloom right now. Things in this world seem to be too serious. The dogwood flower is said to be a symbol of strength and reliability, as well as, purity and innocence.
I hope my drawings come out that way, too.
This post is 100% human generated content. All grammatical errors are my own.
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