[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 5 March 2022].
078 sunflower
Day seventy-eight of The 100 Day Project for 2021.
A quick sketch today.
I planted six Pacino Gold sunflower seeds in pots and placed them in the front room on 9 April. By 15 April - only 6 days later - they were appearing above the soil. Even though the packet states they'll appear 14-21 days later.
I hope they'll have multiple heads this year, and last year's sad single flower situation (albeit quite pretty) will be resolved by them growing up in full sun half the day in the front room.
Last year I started them off in my bedroom, which gets the much softer morning sun (and is also diffused somewhat by my blinds being shut a few hours after sunrise!)
They're looking good, with most having a second set of leaves growing only three days later.
060 sunflower
Day sixty of The 100 Day Project for 2021.
I've been meaning to draw this photograph for a while. But I knew it would take time and a reasonably large amount of concentration, so I had left it for a day like today. When I had daylight while I was sketching and when I wasn't rushing to finish in the final half-hour of the day.
I quite like how it came out, even though it's not photorealistic by any stretch.
I was worried that, when I got into it, I would find it too difficult. But I decided not to go for a super detailed version.
I sketched it all with a 4H pencil then used a mixture of 2B, HB and 2H to go over the leaves, disc florets and ray florets, respectively.
I should get some more planted again this year.
053 sunflower
Day fifty-three of The 100 Day Project for 2021.
As I was drawing the sunflower, I swore I would end up missing a petal or adding a petal that wasn't there.
When I was adding the leaves behind the flower, I thought I had done precisely that.
But it seems, looking at my sketch next to the source image now, I somehow rotated the petals in one direction and the leaves in another. Consequently, it created disorientation that meant the leaves on the right are all out of whack.
The large leaf on the left was intentionally excluded as I ran out of space on the page. Despite the sketch appearing in square format above, I photographed it in portrait format. I then used the fill tool, set to 'content aware', in Photoshop to recreate a square canvas during editing.
I used a 4H pencil for the initial sketch. I then went over the leaf outlines with a 6B, the leaf veins with a 4B, the petal outlines with an HB pencil and the petal details with a heavier 4H. The disc florets were drawn over with a 2B pencil.
What is now yesterday was a better day mentally, emotionally and nutritionally than many of my recent days.
Even though I found out the client work I'm doing might start to become more erratic. That's mostly fine with me as I want to seek out work more up my alley and pays better, though obviously more uncertainty right now isn't helpful.
Related: If you or anyone you know might like to become a patron, please send them the link to my Patreon. The more, the merrier :)
Aside from existing projects and others on a slow simmer, I had an idea for a brand new photography project on Wednesday evening. I'm hoping to share the first image from the series next week.
I'm also hoping to share this month's Love letter to London with you later this week. I had planned to share it with you last week, but my life right now has been all curve balls and no mitt or helmet.
I hope you're all doing okay. This lockdown has been hitting me and others I know in London harder than the one that started about a year ago.
Life isn't rushing back to "normal" (and I'm not sure I want it to, in some ways). But we're getting closer to safely open up, and I'm pleased my parents and many I know have already had their first dose of the vaccine.
new growth
Day twenty-five of The 100 Day Project.
I'm a quarter of the way through the project! w00t!
Illustrations:
Sunflower by J. J. Grandville from Les fleurs animées, volume one
Landscape by Auguste Cardone from L'Illustration (Issue 772)