Drawing the Ladies' Tresses Orchid

Southern slender ladies' tresses orchid, colored pencil drawing, 11"h x 7" w

 

After seeing a presentation by one of our very accomplished botanical artists from the Botanical Artists Society of the National Capital Region (BASNCR) group, I decided to experiment with black Stonehenge paper for drawing. I've never used a black background for any of my botanical pieces before, but I thought that it could add an element of mystery that might be appropriate to depict the tiny and intricate native orchid I found in my back yard last week. 

First I sketched the entire orchid blooming spike in pencil in my sketchbook, just for practice, I then repeated the exercise drawing on the black paper using a white color pencil. The spiraling blooms are so tiny that even with a bit of enlargement, it was rather unprepossessing.

I really wanted to be able to see the details of the tiny blossoms--even using a magnifying glass, they were nearly impossible to see! But using my phone to enlarge the blossoms and taking a photo, although the photo wasn't as sharp as I would have liked, I was able to see the basic form of the individual blossoms with the characteristic green spot on the labellum (the larger lower petal or lip). The flowers are so lovely, they really deserve the extra attention, so I decided to include a section of the enlarged flowers on the right. This made the composition a bit of a challenge, as the enlarged flowers are almost touching or "kissing" the smaller flower spike, but somehow, it works. I'll probably try this again, perhaps separating the two elements with a bit more space in between.

I want to try this again on the same black paper using pastel pencils, which may give me more brilliant whites against the background. The effect of the white pencil is interesting, but it doesn't give as brilliant a white as the pastel pencils would.  I will definitely try the same composition as a conventional watercolor with a white background, just to see how the different backgrounds affect the atmosphere of the piece.

Backyard Native Orchid Discovery

Southern slender ladies tresses orchid (Spiranthes lacera var. gracilis)

 

Yesterday I was puttering in my garden deadheading spent flowers, taking stock of the damage the deer and the seventeen-year locusts have wrought this year, when my eye was caught by a small spike of white flowers springing from the lawn behind my fenced veggie plot. I went over to take a closer look, and to my great surprise, saw the tiny flowers were arranged in a familiar spiral pattern--could it be a ladies tresses orchid? It sure looked like it!

 

Native orchid in the lawn.

I grabbed my phone to take some photos. The spike was no taller than about 8 to 10 inches, with the spirals closely wound, and no visible basal leaves. The more I looked, the more certain I became that it was indeed a native orchid, it had to be one of the ladies tressses species that blooms at this time of the year. How incredible to find one in our lawn!

 

I Emailed a photo of it to Sally, one of my botanist friends from the Virginia Native Plant Society (VNPS) to confirm my suspicions and see if she could help me identify the particular species. She confirmed that it was a southern lady's tresses, Spiranthes lacera var. gracilis. Apparently the southern species variety is hairless and the leaves aren't present when it blooms, whereas the northern variety of the species, Spiranthes lacera var. lacera, is hairy and the leaves are present at blooming time. The green spot on the labellum is another clue to the southern variety.

Since this is the first time I've seen the orchid in my lawn, I wondered how it could have sprouted there. This native orchid is common in disturbed areas in my region (including lawns), and it's possible that it has been growing there for some time, but was mowed in other years, and so I never noticed it, or it could be the orchid's first year producing bloom. Who knows? We'll have to make sure it doesn't get mowed, so that perhaps it can set seed and begin to multiply. How lovely it would be to have a colony of these delicate native orchids in my yard!

August Monsoon

Back yard during a thunderstorm.

 

After the prolonged drought of the past few months, August seems to be turning the tide with three powerful thunderstorms within one week, each dropping over an inch of rain. It's almost like the summer monsoons in the Southwest at this time of the year. Out there, the heat builds up during the day to give rise to huge thunderheads that drop incredible amounts of rain on the parched land.

The winds were so strong at the height of one of these storms, that our new cast aluminum bench (a corner of which shows on the lower right hand corner) got blown clear across from one side the deck to the other! The bench was originally by the railing all the way over to the left. Many of my houseplants summering on the deck were thrown off my new plant stands, some were even knocked clean out of their pots! Fortunately, the damage isn't permanent, they'll recover in a day or two.

 

Salvia 'Black and Blue'

Everything in my garden was looking pretty sad before the rains, but now everything is starting to revive. The Salvia guaranitica 'Black and Blue' just started to bloom. My Australian red lime has set some fruit, two nice-sized ones from the past winter and a few more this summer; I presume a change in color will indicate when the limes are ready to be harvested.

Australian red lime.

The deer decimated so many plants that I don't have much in the way of seasonal flowers such as the usual black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia)--this year's display is quite poor compared to last year's. 

 

Black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm')

Impatiens in the front bed.

I planted these red and white Impatiens in the front bed after the Narcissus leaves began to dry and wither, but either deer or rabbits ate the Impatiens, so there 's not as much coverage as I'd hoped for. With the recent rains, these may yet grow fuller before the end of the season.

Herb's bed and the Little Indians

 

Every year I strip the early buds from the Chrysanthemums, but they still end up blooming much too early. This year I didn't touch the buds at all, and as you can see, the mums, the yellow ones in particular, are starting to bloom right now. The zinnias are still going strong too--I'll definitely be planting more next year, now that I know deer won't bother them.

 

'Benary's Giant' zinnias.

Great blue Lobelias (Lobelia syphillitica)

 My great blue Lobelias have started to put on their annual show--this location seems to be to their liking and they multiply more each year. The 'Pink Posie' Pentstemons under the 'Amber Ghost' Japanese maple are also blooming well this year. The Caryopteris 'Longwood Blue,' on the other hand, seem to have suffered greatly from the drought, and don't have many flowers, at least thus far.

 

'Pink Posie' Pentstemons.

Caryopteris 'Longwood Blue' in bed behind 'Pink Posie" Pentstemons.

 

I can only hope that the rains will continue and the fall blooming season won't be as disappointing as the summer has been.

The Cowpasture River

The Cowpasture River, watercolor, 10"h x 14"w.

 

During my artist residency at the Red House, I really wanted to take a dip in the Cowpasture River, a beautiful stretch of this river flows through Amanda's farm. The Cowpasture is one of Virginia's cleanest rivers, and one of the sources of the much larger James River that flows through Richmond and so much of our state's history.

I explored many other places in the area before finally getting around to painting the Cowpasture River. The Sunday before a tremendous thunderstorm struck. I later heard that the rain fell at a rate of two inches an hour! The river rose so high that three of Amanda's beach chairs were swept downstream, never to be found again! 

The following Sunday afternoon, with more normal water levels, I felt it was safe to explore the river. The water was a bit colder than I had expected, so I settled for just wading rather than full immersion, and then started my painting. 

 

The Cowpasture River.

The afternoon was very warm, and soon the shade moved so that I was in the full sun, trying to shade the painting with my body. Somehow, the paper in my sketchbook (it was the last blank sheet) didn't seem to be working as usual--my washes were covered with specks all over, and the paper wasn't absorbing the water normally. Could it be that tree sap or debris on the surface was making the paper act differently? I couldn't explain it, but I was having the hardest time trying to get the paint to cover the paper.

I was about to give up and call it a day, when it occurred to me, why not lay down the darkest wash I could over the trees and shadows, and then go back in to lift out the lighter branches? This change of approach really helped, although the near foliage became a bit more blueish-green than I had intended. There was nothing to do but go with it, and echo the same shades for the shadows on the water. The result is a painting with lots of mood and mystery, which I really like.

Painting on Amanda's little beach.

Amanda loved the painting too, so I've agreed to give it to her. A few days later, I painted another one for myself. This one is in a new sketchbook, which has a different brand of paper. It handles differently from the paper in my old sketchbook.

The Cowpasture River II, watercolor, 14" x 10"

This second painting has a very different mood--sunny and bright, more open. The clump of trees overhanging the water isn't as dominant, and doesn't influence the mood as much as in the first painting. Amanda came by and took this photo of me as I was finishing the painting.

The Cowpasture River is such a lovely place! I hope to visit it again soon.