Floral Illustrations in Pen

Here are two illustrations I drew using Micron pens in 01 and 05. I had never attempted this before so I was quite nervous when I took up the draw-with-me challenge on Instagram.

The first one is an illustration of Hydrangeas something I love to watercolor. It was a little tedious drawing so many little flowers. But I was happy how it turned out!

And this is an illustration of Anemone. I had never painted this before so had to take inspiration from photographs. I actually fell in love with this flower! I am looking forward to paint them in watercolors soon.

What I discovered was watercoloring and illustrating with pen were two very different things – night and day – more or less. When I watercolor I allow myself to glide into a dream – really! I let my paintbrush flow with a mind of its own. It is almost like a dance. But when I draw (with a pen), it is a different story. I have to be very focused (no dreaming please)! A lot of detailing is involved in the process. At least this is what I experienced while illustrating these flowers.

In the end I loved the result and would like to create more floral illustrations using pen!

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April showers bring May flowers

…..and lots of them!

Here is my latest watercolor floral art that I want to share with you.

Most of the time I paint roses, poppies, sunflowers and lavender, but this time I tried painting plumerias, hollyhocks, and crocuses. Even though I do not have a green thumb, I love painting flowers.

Painting hydrangeas was so much fun. The trick to painting them is you start with the central blossoms coloring them a little darker and as you get to the ones in the periphery you lighten up the shade.

Believe it or not, I found painting the plumerias most difficult even though they look pretty simple! My favorite however was the hollyhocks!!

A Collage of many Blooms

Usually, I do not ever complete an entire collage of painting in one sitting, but yesterday it was different! Both my kids were home (recuperating from flu) and I badly needed a break. So while I listened to some of my favorite tracks on the Spotify, I picked up my brush and watercolor palette to paint a flower or two.

One painting led to another and yet another until every color on my palette was used up and I ended up filling the entire page with floral illustrations!

Therapeutic, satisfying, nurturing …..this is how I felt in the end.