garden inspiration: pansies and violas in the sketchbook, block prints and watercolor paintings

June 15, 2015

garden inspiration: pansies and violas in the sketchbook, block prints and watercolor paintings

This spring I went a little overboard planting pansies and violas in my garden.

pansies, cinderblocks, cinderblock raised beds, gardening, Anne Butera, My Giant Strawberry

pansies, cinderblocks, cinderblock raised beds, Anne Butera, My Giant Strawberry

violas, garden, spring, flowers, Anne Butera, My Giant Strawberry

I needed flowers. There wasn't anything blooming yet and there was still a chance of frost. I planted them in many of the holes of my cinderblock raised beds and in a few pots.

They are the perfect antidote to the winter grays. Cheerful, colorful. Carefree.

They've been blooming ever since.

They made good subjects for garden sketching, something I've been trying to do regularly.

violas, micron, sketches, sketchbook, Anne Butera, My Giant Strawberry

And then when I started working on lino cutting I thought they'd be perfect subjects. I sat in the garden sketching with the idea of translating my sketches to carvings.

pansies, sketchbook, garden sketching, Anne Butera, My Giant Strawberry

violas, sketchbook, garden sketching, Anne Butera, My Giant Strawberry

Which was fun.

violas, pansies, linocuts, block printing, Anne Butera, My Giant Strawberry

I also knew I wanted to capture their sweet flowers in watercolor. The flowers lend themselves so well to that medium and I hadn't painted in a while. Two small (4"x6"), easily finished paintings were just the thing.