Flowers & plants 🌷

Gosh, I so like plants. Their fragrances, colours, their shapes! But. I have to admit I am not much of a gardener. I would like to be! And I try. But then I forget to water them, or water them too much, or forget that one is left in the blistering sunlight... I feel sorry each time I let a plant down. And so, so thankful for all their suprises such as fruit, wonderful smells, and simple being a wonderful companion that brings more zen into my life.

Begonia Maculata

De cyclaam, hoe nepper en feller de kleur hoe beter.

Begonia Maculata, oooh...

So cute with the dots, right? 'Maculata' really means spotted, but the spots look like dots, so fun. Very decorative, I might try one again, but they are so sensitive to aphids, a shame...

Begonia Escargot

In the other begonia illustration I added a 'begonia escargot', so here it is a bit bigger.

Nephentes thorelli

The 'nephentes thorelli', a flesh eating plant that comes in many different colours. Look up the 'jacqueline' variety, for instance, gorgeous. It was quite a thing to draw this, but I think it turned out okay. Oh, and one of those now lives with me and guards the vegetables and fruit I so love.

The dahlia

Ah, the dahlia. And oh, such a pain to draw with all those petals but well, once it's done it's quite the thing!

This one has petals that are the pinkest in the middle, the lower petals stick out in a whiter, muted tone. Very beautiful.

My own dahlia unfortunately died, I had a beautiful one but the freeze froze the tubers in the pot. Look, this happened before (yeah, it survived many Winters) but the combination of dreadful rains and freezing finally killed it.
The same goes for a wonderful Gazania with orange flowers that suddenly opened a flower (?!) right before the heavy snow early February 2021. Very special, especially because my sweet Siep, whom I found in the snow back in 2012, died on February 8 2021. He got to see that 2021 snow.

Cyclamen

The cyclamen, the brighter the better, I love bold colours.

Cherry blossom

Cherry blossom, always beautiful to see, especially if there are lots of trees.

Roses

The rose, fragrant and beautiful. I am trying a few ones in the garden, I hope they will live long and prosper.

pots, plates, plants

I created this one because I had explained how to draw plates with just one single circle with a gradient fill. That made me draw this after class. And of course, I kept adding stuff...

The fun thing is: students can already draw everything in this illustration after three Adobe Illustrator lessons. Of course, they will need time to let things sink in, but it's so nice to see they can already do so much after so little time. They do need to practise but well, I give them lots of homework so they usually do fine.

Hawaii palm

The Hawaiian palm, a very friendly modest palm that is being protected and can be purchased in some garden centres.

Taro plant

The kalo, a plant that likes to be inside and that likes warmer temperatures.

The lotus

Of course, this is the lotus. Coating has been developed that is based on the lotus, you can use it on buildings and othr surfaces to make them easy to clean, and stay clean! The scientist Barthlott has done research on this.

Poppy

One of my favourite flowers: the poppy. When I was small, seeing them on the side of the road was the sign we were getting closer to France. My mother would always be concerned, telling us to not lie down near them or we would never ever EVER wake up again.

Laurel

Just a fun decoration I used for different designs. I felt like drawing it.

Monstera

Monstera Deliciosa, one of my favourite plants. The name is fun, too; 'delicious monster'. The amount of holes they develop depend on the light they get. The darker the place, the less holes they develop.

What's more, in the wild they even bear fruit! The entire plant is toxic, but you can eat those fruits, hence the 'deliciosa' because them seem to be delicious.