I have three pots of begonias that overwinter in a sunny location inside my home, and they were putting out blossoms as we went into March. I was feeling stressed because our governor had just announced a ‘stay at home’ order, so I sat down with them for a little while with my camera.
My camera is a very important part of my drawing process. It helps me focus internally, and I certainly couldn’t draw the drawings I do without a photograph to work from. But just looking at these flowers that day was something my soul needed. I wasn’t aware that I got a photo suitable for drawing until I went through them on my computer and found this odd composition that’s stacked one element on top of another like a ladder. I don’t know why I like it; I just know that it makes me smile. The photo is at the bottom of the post.
I decided to draw this without any blending by brush to let the grain of the paper show through because of the big top leaf’s texture. It had a ‘gritty’ look to it that made me want to give the whole drawing a bit of texture too. The drawing is small (4.5” x 2.6”) however, so I kept the texture small by using Arches Hotpress paper. It has a delicate but visible tooth. I chose to use Mars Lumograph pencils because of their beautiful range of value.
I re-drew the tracing as I worked because my tracings are never very accurate.
Ideally, I want to draw a grayscale version of the blossom that demands nearly as much attention in its environment as the pink version does in its colorful one. In reality, I know that’s not entirely possible.
Our eyes are made to see color and the only way to compete with that in grayscale is to make beautiful form, texture, line, and lighting. Sometimes that means adjusting value to create more contrast, which is what I intend to do with this blossom by drawing it lighter than the pink version in the photo.
The background under the blossom’s supporting stem structure was challenging to hatch in around the tiny details. I used a very sharp 6B lead followed by a harder, sharp 2B lead to smooth and darken the hatch.
I was happy to see that the blossom became more prominent after I added the dark background underneath. To make the details on the blossom stand out a little more, I adjusted their value. This value combination was a fair grayscale compromise for the shocking pink color version.
Since I was adding background, I hatched-in some around the rest of the large center bottom leaf, too. I could have added it after I drew the leaf, and I might regret adding the background first since my hand could smear it, but the background value will give me something to compare the value of the leaf to as I darken it.
The large center bottom leaf has always seemed a bit dark, so I played around with the notion of drawing it in a lighter key. However, I can see now that if I do that the blossom won’t ‘pop’ or stand out the way I want it to in the composition. Without the counterbalance of the dark leaf at the bottom giving the drawing depth, the blossom at the top would disappear into the picture plane.
The stay in place order that’s in effect for Michigan and the overall stress of the pandemic has started to get to my drawing. I can only draw for short periods of time, so this piece is coming along slowly.
The large center bottom leaf was challenging to draw. I have not come across something exactly like it before, so I had to wade in and experiment with what worked. For the darkest areas, I started with a 2B, followed by a 4B, then I darkened the hatch again by going over it with an HB pencil. I drew the barely-there lines in the leaf with an HB by hatching them until they nearly disappeared. I used an HB to draw the various details in the light part of the leaf.
Drawing without any blending tools is enjoyable. I love the look of the graphite on the grain of the paper. It looks like gentle ‘washes’ of value with just a little grittiness to them. I love the range of the Lumnograph pencils too. Once you get to know these pencils, you can repeat a mixed value very easily. I wrote down ‘recipes’ along the edge of my drawing on the masking tape. For example, HB/2B meant a 2B hatch with an HB hatch on top.
Now that my odd begonia drawing is done, I’m pleased with it. The composition is certainly strange, but it still makes me smile. I hope it makes you smile too.
Keep drawing everyone,
Carol
