Floral Details

On arriving at the Botanic Garden today, (Saturday), I saw my first daffodils of the year! Maybe it is time to change to my Spring header tomorrow for March ...

Returning to my flowering cacti ... I had left the flowers on the Echinopsis in a preliminary stage yesterday, so worked on them gradually to build up the form and detail.

I added some pale colours for the trumpet-like centre and shaped the petals.

After those had dried, I added darker colours of subdued pink and greens for the stem shadows and the petals.

The Agave americana and Aloe buhrii also needed more detail. On the above photo the background mountains behind these plants are sketchy. After building up the details on the plants, I worked into the mountains.

A stage of detail was added to the Aloe buhrii.

I added further definition to the flowers and the leaves. The ground was also darkened around the plant, to give more emphasis.

Above, the Agave americana was just sketched in. The background mountain is also very 'loose'.

Here the plants have been considerably worked into, and contours more defined in the mountain.

Lastly for the day, I added shading and form to the Opuntia robusta.

You can see on the above photo that I have firmed up the mountains behind the Echinopsis, and also the two distant cacti.

All that remains to do now is to put in a few finishing touches of detail!
Cactus House Mural, University of Durham Botanic Garden.