Botanical Drawing vs. Nature Journaling

 

12/23/21 Amaryllis bud

A friend gave me an amaryllis but didn’t tell me what color it will be (a nice surprise). As soon as I received it, I knew it would be fun to document its blooming. My most recent botanical drawing workshop with Crystal Shin still on my mind, my first impulse was to make a portrait of the bud as botanically correct as possible (at right). That’s what I did on Dec. 23, the day that it was given to me. My plan was to make similar portraits as it progressed toward blooming.

After several days, though, I started thinking that it would be more interesting as well as better documentation if I used a nature journal format like Nina Khashchina’s rather than botanical portraits. Six days later, the stalk had grown several inches (and I kick myself now that I didn’t measure it the first day! What kind of half-asleep nature journaler am I??), but the bud hadn’t changed much, so I started over in a spread of my large Stillman & Birn Zeta sketchbook. When I measured it the day I made the full-length sketch, it had already grown an inch since the previous day!

12/29/21 The stalk is 20" tall... an inch taller than the
previous day!

To get my head out of “botanical illustration” mode, I’m using an old-school (for me) urban sketching style: Line drawings with my original beloved Sailor Naginata Fude de Mannen fountain pen (which I have missed using) before coloring. I am hoping that the style will encourage me to be more spontaneous in documenting instead of paying too much attention to botanical accuracy and detail.

My trusty fude is back!