Jacaranda Fever

 The jacaranda trees are blooming everywhere,  and while I have made some progress on the nectarine and apple blossoms, I have given into the seduction of the riot of lavender and blues and purples and have spent the day measuring, sketching and colour matching. I am not sure what I will be doing with the composition, but sort of have this idea that I would like to see it cascading down from the top of the frame. I have concentrated on getting the colours matched and things as the blooms look like they will drop any minute and there is no way I could have the work complete in time. It has been a great  productive day and not thinking about the finished work and composition has freed me up to really observe the blooms and the connections to the stems in more detail and I think that will be time well spent. I will continue to do another page of sketches before I start I think, and try to get some highly detailed sketches of the blooms while there are still so many around, but the tree in our street is starting to shoot some leaves which means that the blooms don't have long left.

I am going to try to get some sketches of the bark also, even though I don't think that I will be showing much in the final piece, but because I think it will be a lovely juxtaposition of the craggy rough bark and the green shoots which support the flowers and then the delicate blooms themselves. One of the things I love about Botanic Art is that you think you know what a plant looks like, but then you sit and observe them closely and you realise that you haven't seen them at all, and all the beautiful little details come through, and from then on you see that plant differently, and see it more clearly and in its full beauty. It is so nice to have the time to sit and look closely at things, which is something that is disappearing from our busy lives. It makes me feel quite blessed.