A Peek In My Sketchbook: Drawing Florals From My Own Photos

Here we are, another peak in my sketchbook, because I have to admit, I have been making a serious practice of it! So much so, that even my daughter, who knows better, asked me what I’m going to “do with all this”. Ha ha, it is just a bunch of sketchbooks, not a pile of paintings, which I need to create next! And in any case, a sketchbook practice is not supposed to be for anything other than exactly what it is…..namely a place where you can do whatever you want without having to please others or worry about what you’re going to do with it! Having discovered how to correct things I don’t love, without ripping out the page, I am now addicted to filling page after page……and having finished my small sketchbook, I’ve now started on one that is literally twice the size, and the large pages are glorious, though of course much more time consuming. I think this sketchbook is around 9″ x 12″, and I’ve already filled almost 27 pages in 15 days, so I’m gonna keep on doing just that.

Okay, enough blabbing, what I really wanted to talk about is that personally, after sketching florals and botanicals using tutorials from all over the place, I realized that I really can’t call any of the drawings my own and that I needed to draw from reference photos that I’ve taken, and for the florals, photos of flowers in my very own container garden. I do love drawing flowers from tutorials, but truthfully, using photo reference creates something much more true to life, and even better when it is your photo, since then you can truly own it! Keep on reading to see the photos I used as inspiration for this sketch …..and more of course!

Here is my morning glory photo, taken straight from the garden, and below is the geranium photo.
This was a perfect photo to use as reference as the flower is spelled out so simply and sweetly!

I also love that this is a record of what I grew this year, namely the morning glory, which is now blooming away, in red and purple, love it!This mixed media page was drawn using a photo of my white roses, only I didn’t love the drawing, so I enhanced it with some paint and collage, and now I do love it, even if the roses aren’t white!