Orchids and Artichokes

Odontoglossum orchid, colored pencil drawing, 17" x 14."

Here's my most recent botanical piece, a colored pencil drawing of my second mystery orchid, which I believe may be an Odontoglossum species or hybrid. The orchid blossoms opened in the middle of March and I documented them here in this posting. The blossoms were starting to fade just as I completed my drawing about a week ago, the last week of April. As the tepals gradually become thinner and more papery with age, the flowers turn dark and eventually fall off.

Artichoke and asparagus, colored pencil drawing, 17" x 14."

Above is a view of the artichoke and asparagus colored pencil drawing done in class--my scanner is too small to do the full page of my sketchbook, so this is a photo showing my test marks for the colors in the upper left hand corner.

Dendrobium bud.

The Dendrobium orchid I bought last fall and painted for my class project has put out a new flowering spike. I wish it had done so a few months earlier as I was struggling to finish the watercolor painting, but considering the plant appeared to be dying, I'm happy to see the resurgence. The orchid has a new growing stem as well as the flower spike. Above is a photo of the buds developing their characteristic spur.