Activity

I sketched these three branches of Dune Conebush back in September when I was on the ASBA’s Botanical Safari tour of South Africa. it took me almost 6 months to “finish” the page. I had no idea that Protea came in so many shapes and colors. I did see some gorgeous ones as well at botanical gardens, but many just grow on the side of the road. “Dune…[Read more]

Thank you for sharing these wonderful drawings and their habitat information! Fascinating!

Dune Conebush is a wild protea native to South Africa. They have female and male plants side by side. The fertilized cones are protected within the canopy of the plant until fire, when the mother bush is killed and the cones open and seeds are released. I did detailed sketch of these three back in September, and slowly working on them. I finally…[Read more]

Beautiful study page Machi! Great attention to the details!

Love seeing the structure of these plants!

Wonderful Katie! I think each individual tuber have nice form, but I would add more overall darker toning to the areas that would be in shadow like the bottom which would emphasize the form more. Great job! Wonderful rendering and attention to the details!

Created as part of a Draw Botanical Zoom Workshop on Onions. They are sort of falling from space but I think it works. What do you think?

The problem I have is with the green onion. The base is missing toning so it is reading flat. Also, the red onion would be casting a shadow on the green onion. I would work on that first and then decide if you want to add cast shadows to ground the onions to the page.

I agree! I have toned the base of the green onion since this photo was taken but the cast shadow is a helpful reminder – thanks! I’ll work on the drawing and repost.

Created as part of a Draw Botanical Zoom Class from farmer’s market carrots

Superb job Margaret! The uniquely shaped subjects, the colors and textures! Everything works!

I must say, I do like how this drawing turned out – in large part due to Pam’s workshop and recommendations.

Created fall of 2025 at my annual retreat at my sister’s garden in Northern Wisconsin from her shallots that she braided for me to draw.

Created fall of 2025 at my annual retreat at my sister’s garden in Northern Wisconsin from her amazing beds of zinnia. The red ones were especially vibrant – hope I captured some of their beauty.

Wonderful Margaret! You really captured the textures of the shallots and their stems! Great composition too!

Zinnias are a complicated flower to draw and you have done a wonderful job here! Beautifully rendered and the color selection and saturation are fantastic!

That’s so meaningful coming from you, Doug. Thanks for the encouragement.

🙏

Created as part of a workshop with Ann Swan at her studio in England, fall 2024 and finished in my studio fall 2025. We were working on shading with yellows.

You are ready for a return trip to the Garden of Lemons!

Oh how I wish! But this May is impossible for me. Hoping there is a 2028!

This is so beautiful, Margaret What colors did you use for the toning on the lemon?

Laurie – sorry I lost track of this question – I used first Pablo golden ochre then Faber Castelle 183 and lastly Luminescence 034 for the shading. FC 105 and 107 were the base colors.

I like the addition to this drawing Helene. Such an unusual and interesting subject!