I'd surround myself with real ones if it were practical...

so many flowers!

I've been trying to do several things at once... & thankfully, some of the results have been acceptable, (though, not all of them.)  Teaching myself how to use oil pastels AND draw orchids.  I probably should have started with one, then gone to the next... HOWEVER, I personally like to just go ahead & jump in with both feet. 

1st go with oil pastels - Sunflower

ok, so I didn't just jump right on to orchids.  & also, I didn't do my first orchid in oil pastel - I did it in traditional pastel.

1st orchid - bright green phalaenopsis - pastel on mi teints

here's the first combination of oil pastels & orchids - & I really love this for some reason

light green phalaenopsis - ink, oil pastel on mi teints

I am kinda irritated that I had drawn all my lines in ink... I don't know what I was thinking!

Next - a study done completely in op's that I want to recreate almost exactly the same, except with a little more definition & a little less scribbleyness.

yellow cattleya (study) - oil pastel on mi teints

AND FINALLY, a flower portrait I can be completely proud of because I love it to pieces.

purple dendrobium - oil pastel on cold press wc paper

I think that when I started using oil pastels I tried to just blend blend blend all of the lines & colors.  Now I realize that I'm pretty sure I like the way they look when I use much, much less blending, & just let the vibrancy of the individual colors & lines stand out.

Next up - I'm working on a close-up of a single lady slipper orchid.  I'm just in the sketching stage right now, & I've got a new tin of CarbOthello pastel pencils that are so incredible to work with, so I'm fairly certain that is the way I'll go.  

If only I could stop doodling, which turns into tangling, & next thing I know, hours have passed & all I've done is fill sketch book pages with tangles - leaving no time for me to do other work!  I don't mean this in a bad way, but tangling & learning & searching for new tangles is such a time suck!!!  ALSO - have you ever played Tetris for a long period of time, & when you go to bed, you dream TETRIS??!!??  WELL - when I tangle for a long time, I dream tangles.

Perhaps I should just do some orchid tangles?