Sunday, 14 June 2015

Great excitement at Polly's

There's great excitement here at the moment,  my first slipper orchid,  bought two years ago at the Welsh Orchid Festival,  has decided to form a scape.   From peeking out between the centre of the top leaves,  it has now grown into a fully opened flower!

This has happened rather more quickly than the original flower when I bought the plant, so I've been hard at work recording the different stages in my sketchbook.

Study page for Paph. maudiae x Charlesworthii ©Polly o'Leary 2015 all rights reserved
Study page for Paph. maudiae x Charlesworthii


It's quite a challenge colour-wise and I found that there was only one colour in my collection that was perfect for capturing the deep purply colour of the markings and stem - Perylene Violet, a colour introduced to me by my lovely friend Jarnie at Sketchbook Squirrel

Paph. Maudiae x Charlesworthii study of developing flower ©Polly o'Leary 2015 All rights Reserved
Paph. Maudiae x Charlesworthii study of developing flower


Since I bought a tiny tube to try, I've been amazed at the versatility of this wonderful single pigment colour which reduces the need for mixing and gives me a deep colour with plenty of  chroma and life to it, so I'm very happy to have a project that will make use of this wonderful transparent pigment.

What colour/colours have you found you can't live without?