Last week I gathered an assortment of wild violet flowers and leaves, placed them a glass and photographed them. It was a cloudy day and I used a white background. I believe these components were helpful in producing these detailed photographs.
I find the beauty of these plants stunning. The colors and graceful shapes take my breath away!
Learning from the last drawing's lesson (Muscari), I did not sit down to draw this in the dining room with the east and south facing windows. Last time I had a difficult time placing the shadows because the lighting continued to shift as I was drawing. This time I set up the violets in a room with western exposure (end of day sunlight) and drew in the morning using a desk lamp to provide shadows. I drew for an hour and a half (it takes me a long time to get the shapes correct). I stopped and went to an appointment. When I returned home it was late afternoon and the sun was shining into the room, though not on the desk where the violets were.
The flowers and leaves had moved during these few hours! They must have followed the sun. Now there was no way to put the leaves and flower stems back to the original set up, so had to leave this sketch as is.
