In Bloom Again

I just watched the scene from the 1937 movie, Stage Door, with Katherine Hepburn (and so many other luminaries!) where Hepburn says the famous line, "The calla lillies are in bloom again..."  While I'm sure I've seen the film, I don't remember it well.  What I do remember is that she says the line many times, rehearsing it for a performance, and most of the time she says it really badly.  A tragedy that befalls one of her friends in the film is the only reason she finally says it with genuine feeling in the actual performance.

I can relate.  As I was drawing this calla lily under the excellent online guidance of watercolor artist Kelly Barone (a remarkable teacher who just wrapped up her annual free 5-day "Botanical Drawing" online offering), I realized that while I'm excited to be drawing again, I'd be making better drawings if I were referring to an actual flower to draw from.  When I watch someone drawing on a blank page, and just follow each line as they draw, I cannot get a sense of how the various lines will come together in relation to each other...until the actual drawing is complete.  Whereas when I am able to draw from an object I can actually see (like a flower), I can see both the whole and the part at the same time--how lines should connect together to create the whole.  My drawing comes together in a more natural way then. 

This is not to denigrate online instruction at all.  In fact, I'd recommend Kelly and other online teachers highly!  It's just to say that there is a difference, and I can see it in my line work. 

But I'm so happy to be drawing again that none of that matters.  The pleasure of actually drawing, whether the "end product" is bad or good, outweighs any reservations.  If you'd like to try your hand at some basic botanical art, head over to whimsybykelly.com and you'll be happy with your choices.

Stars open among the lilies. Are you not blinded by such expressionless sirens? This is the silence of astounded souls.
--Sylvia Plath

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