Jenean's Garden

Went to visit my girlfriends garden.  It's like going to a Botanical Garden, complete with Orchard, Koi Pond, and a view of the caboose next door.   I had so much fun taking pictures of all the treasures she has hidden around every corner.  The flowers are all amazing, definitely a Botanists dream :)

Pots overflowing with flowers on the patio

Huge Hibiscus bush with dozens if not hundreds of blooms.

One of Jenean's garden treasures, a glass sphere.

Secret garden leading to the fruit orchard

Bird Feeder in the middle of the flowers.  A birds paradise!

Even a cactus garden, Jenean has everything back here!

Huge Koi pond with dozens of large Koi.  Wooden decking around the front to visit the Koi and waterfalls that delights the ears. 

A baby mouse hidden away on a table.  So many fun things to discover.

Besides visiting Jenean, the reason I went to visit was to find some out of the ordinary flowers to paint for my SBA Flower Assignment.  

The assignment must comprise seven flower heads, life size, each showing a maximum of 6cm of stem but No leaves.  Show examples of different shapes, colours, and sizes.  Try to show each flower to its best advantage with the salient parts of its construction on display. 

I need a blue colored flower, so this Columbine will work perfect. Does anyone know what variety it is?

These are great, love the color, the petals and the stamens.  Though the stamens are not my favorite thing to draw, but I need the practice.  Anyone know the name?

Loved this rose 'Double Delight'.  Great coloring with a pale yellow center deep inside.

My favorite was this thingy.  Never seen it before.  It starts out with a red flower, grows green seeds/fruit(?) and then they turn dark purple.  This one I am definitely going to draw for my assignment.

Anyone know the name of this one?

Fun afternoon at Jenean's.

I've got  

Now I just have to start sketching.

Check back for my progress on this assignment!

SBA Assignment #2

Assignment #2 Coloured Pencil 

Study 1 - Produce a small composition of a leaf, fruit and single flower.

Citrus × meyeri 

Tutors Comment's: (abbreviated)

The lemon leaf is beautifully accurate and I really like the un-ripened fruit.  The shading on your lemon flower is perfect, especially since shite flowers are not easy to depict.

This Meyer Lemon tree is right outside the window of my art room.  It has lemons on it most of the year and I am always leaving a bucket of them for my neighbors to enjoy.

Study 2 - Produce a small study of single flower and its foliage.

Tulipa 'Ronaldo'

Tutor's Comments: (abreviated)  

A good choice of colours.  The Ronaldo tulip is a very dark flower and you have made it look rich and deep but not dirty and black and the leaves are such a pretty shade of green.

I decided to draw a Tulip after my mother said she would like one of my paintings for Mother's Day.

Since these assignments take so much time out of my life, I decided to create greeting cards out of this Tulip and send one to each of my favorite mothers for their special day :)

Happy Mothers Day to all the wonderful mothers of the world!

My tutor gave me the nicest complement I could have received

"If this is the standard of your work at the beginning of the Diploma Course Lori, then I cant wait to see what you will be producing at the end!

Final Mark for the assignment 8.46

Hope you enjoy the journey with me

Lori V.

Filoli

Filoli, an estate South of San Francisco in the town of Woodside, California.  Built in 1915 by Mr. and Mrs. William Bowers Bourn.  The name Filoli came by combining the first two letters from the key words of his credo: “Fight for a just cause; Love your fellow man; Live a good life.”    The 654-acre estate is a California State Historic Landmark and listed on the National Registry of Historic Places. 

I was lucky enough to visit Filoli this past weekend, taking two courses, Framing & Portfolio, which are part of the Botanical Illustration Course offered at the estate.  Lee McCaffree was the instructor for this course.  She was a wonderful teacher and very knowledgeable about the subject.

The front entrance of the estate.

View of the Sunken Gardens

One of the garden carts at the Filoli Garden Shop.  

The carts were overflowing with flowers and plants to purchase.

View of the many paths of the walled gardens.

The back door of the estate

Just another pathway into one of the side entrances of the home

View looking in thru the Filoli Garden House

The Garden House

Oh yes, I did take a couple of classes while at Filoli.

Here is the instructor, Lee McCaffree and me working on framing ideas for my Hellebore.

Looking forward to returning to Filoli and taking more Botanical Art classes.