Here’s a little sketchbook fun with early bulbs…and a not always welcome garden visitor. These early bulbs are so encouraging in late winter when the cloud cover is thick and the rain drizzles over the bare landscape.
Miniature Daffodil (Narcissus ‘Tete-a-Tete’) and Snow Drops (Galanthus nivalis)
One of the things I want to do with my sketchbook entries is to experiment with different styles and explore my own garden for subjects near at hand to paint, those plants that I know so well, although PNW natives may make an appearance as well. This entry was inspired by the charming book The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady, given to me by a dear friend.
This was the nature diary of Edith Holden, who records her rambles in the English countryside with words, poems and lovely illustrations.
In Edith’s honor, I included this little poem about a daffodil on the page:
She turned to the sunlight
and shook her yellow head,
And whispered to her neighbor,
“Winter is Dead.”
A. A. Milne from When We Were Very Young
Now this sketchbook will be traveling on to someone else in the sketchbook exchange that I wrote about here.
What is one of the first signs of spring that you look forward to each year?
This blog is about my journey as a botanical artist--what I am learning, what inspires me and what I am currently drawing or painting. My desire is to continually hone my skills to better express my wonder and gratitude for the beauty of the creation around me in the Pacific Northwest (USA).
This is just lovely, Janene, as always. I love the idea of a gardening diary with sketches. I think the first thing I look forward to in Spring is the pussywillows. I know that’s not the official name, but I always have to stop and pet them. Then come the crocus in their various colors and stripes. I’m always on the lookout for the first signs. Life awakens and the appearing dead limbs come to life. I love to see the tiny shoots and minute leaves starting. Thank you for sharing this. Daffodils (and I have the very tiny ones on my deck right now that bloomed from bulbs) are also great favorites and the multi-colored bright primroses are a sign of Spring to me.
Your spring flowers are beautiful, can’t say the same for the slug – but it is painted very well. I used to have this book, but it vanished in one of my many moves unfortunately 😕
Hi Sue, Thanks for visiting and putting up with my depiction of the garden pest we all love to hate! 😉 Here in Oregon the banana slug is a native species that lives mostly in the forest–we get ugly brown ones in our gardens–but I decided to sketch the “prettier” species even though I only see it on hikes! Too bad about your book–I hope you find another one to replace it with, since it is a classic and very inspiring!
Hi
The first singe of spring are snowdrops and little spritz on the other trees and plants
Ann, I love to see those first signs of spring!