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Gone Wild With Wildflowers, Part 1

Post author By Jana Bouc
Post date July 29, 2012
19 Comments on Gone Wild With Wildflowers, Part 1

Bachelors Buttons (I think), ink & watercolor, 8x5" — Bachelors Buttons (I think), ink & watercolor, 8×5″

Just days before the city mowed down all the “dangerous” wildflowers on Carlson Boulevard for the second time, finally killing them, I walked along the narrow median strip with cars zooming by, and snipped specimens of each to paint. (I previously wrote here about why they were dangerous. They grew back after that first trimming.)

Pink Wildflowers, ink and watercolor, 5x8" — Pink Wildflowers, ink and watercolor, 5×8″

Pink Wildflower sketch with photo — Pink wildflower sketch with photo

I took them home and went wild, putting them in pretty bottles and vases, then sketching and painting them all day long.

Pink & Yellow Wildflowers, ink and watercolor, 5x8" — Pink & Yellow Wildflowers, ink and watercolor, 5×8″

Pink and yellow wildflowers with photo

My goal was to make free and fresh sketches of each flower that captured its personality while keeping composition in mind.

Little Daisy-Like Wildflowers, ink & watercolor, 8x5" — Little Daisy-Like Wildflowers, ink & watercolor, 8×5″

Little Daisy-Like Wildflowers with photo, ink & watercolor, 8x5" — Little Daisy-Like Wildflowers with photo

I postponed posting because of the time it would take to prepare the many sketches, scans and photos from that glorious day. I finally made the time; I didn’t want to be posting spring wildflowers in the Fall!

Lacy Wildflowers in Blue Bottle, ink & watercolor, 8x5" — Lacy Wildflowers in Blue Bottle, ink & watercolor, 8×5″

Lacy Wildflowers in Blue Bottle with photo

Do you know the names of any of these flowers? If you do, please leave a comment and tell me and I’ll change the captions with the correct names.

There are many more wildflower sketches to come, which I will post in Part 2.

Tags Art, Flower Art, flowers, Glass, Ink and watercolor wash, Pen and Ink, Sketchbook Pages, Still Life, Watercolor

19 replies on “Gone Wild With Wildflowers, Part 1”

Delightful paintings.Thanks for sharing.
The blue ones look like cornflowers, and the pink and yellow ones could be snapdragons. Snapdragons have two “lips” you can pull apart, hence snap I suppose.

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Ah yes! I think you’re right about the cornflowers. Thanks for the links. Not sure about the snapdragony little guys though because while they do resemble snapdragons, they’re tiny in comparison to any snapdragons I’ve seen before. It was such fun showing my neighbor kids some snapdragons growing on our block and making them open and close and showing them the little “teeth” inside the dragon’s mouth. I can’t resist doing that whenever I see snapdragons. Jana

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I just came across a traffic island of tiny snapdragon-like flowers myself. Maybe something like this? Toadflax? There’s a whole family of flowers apparently.

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Jana, these flowers are exquisite. I love every one, but especially love the first two, the blue and pink ones. I am so in love with wildflowers. Thank you.

annie

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Thanks Annie. Me too! Jana

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Oh these are wonderful Jana! You captured them so delightfully. I think maybe the pink and yellow may be nemesia and the daisy like one looks like a variety of gallardia. But I’m no expert on California wildflowers… I could see these as a series of cards. Too bad they had to mow them down.

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Fantastic job! You definitely captured each flower’s unique beauty. You’ve got a book in the making!

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You say the nicest things! Thanks Carol. Beautiful job on your quilt for Sweetie, by the way. I’ve never quilted but my best friend just made one for her grandchild (not born yet) and was telling me of her struggles with some stitching that puckered and the difficulty picking just the right fabrics. Jana

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I really enjoyed your post and each photo of your wildflowers and your drawings of said flowers. Each was really beautiful. Sorry I can’t help you on the names.

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Thanks Carol. I’m not surprised about the names though…probably not too many wildflowers to be found in NYC? Jana

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Yes, I agree that these wildflowers would make a beautiful book! Love these sketches!

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Thanks Adine, It’s nice to hear from you. Are you still sketching? I checked your link and I like your lighthouse series but it seems to have left off in 2011. Jana

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Hi Jana,

Lovely, delicate sketches! So wonderful that you captured them before their demise.
You got the bachelor’s buttons, or cornflowers right.
I think the second one is Clarkia. The third is Linaria, Toadflax related to Snapdragons – maybe Moroccan Toadflax?
The fourth is Gallardia, Blanketflower.
The last is Lobularia, Sweet Allysum.

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Thanks so much Lisa! I’m always so honored by your visits. Your new studio is gorgeous!!! Congratulations! And your students are lucky to have such nice facilities with full kitchen and bath. I adore my new studio converted from the big garage but the best I can offer is a sink and a microwave (bathroom in the house because of the elevation of the garage vs plumbing lines it wasn’t possible). Jana

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Beautiful, Janas! I love the simplicity of each of these. So true to the nature of the flowers. Blessings, C-Marie

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Thanks so much! I appreciate your description of simplicity and true to their nature. That’s what I was going for. Yay! Jana

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Beautiful flowers both in this and previous posts 🙂

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Thank you Sue! I just clicked over to your website. It’s looking great. I love the boat on the home page and the wonderful portraits. Jana

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