Purple Coneflowers



"Purple Coneflowers"



This little painting was completed outdoors in my garden.  I was having a frustrating morning in the studio and couldn't seem to get anything to go the way I wanted it to.  Earlier, I had drawn on a painting of tulips, then splattered black ink all over it.  I was SO MAD!  So I took my pencil and 300 lb paper, and stuck an eraser in my pocket and headed out into the garden, sat down and started sketching. It was EXACTLY what I needed. I needed a reminder that I can draw, that I have a GREAT eye, that my sense of color and composition was still with me. I had mostly completed the drawing and wasa gettitng ready to begin painting when this bumble bee buzzed in and began exploring my blossoms!  Bumbles are rather slow and clumsy, bt they are not aggressive and are not afraid. He stayed long enough for a quick sketch, then buzzed off to another bloom. When I was finished with my painting, I worked colored pencil into the seed heads that added texture and vibrant color. Then I stroked color into the leaves for depth. When I paint from nature, I am
challenged to find paint colors that can come close to my subject.  

Mother Nature's palette is richly varied :)    

Did you know that Bumbles curl up and sleep in the flowers in the evenings?  They love the lavenders, the black-eyed susans,  and the cone flowers, I have even seen one jammed into a penstemon blossom. They tuck their heads down and their cute little fuzzy bee butts stick up.  They are deep sleepers. Just remember that if you are tempted to pet one, you are dealing with the stinger end....