Draw Paint Letter: Spring Part 2

Botanical reverse painting, polyphemus moths, designing floral letters & more

PRINTABLES: EPHEMERAL WILDFLOWERS IN PEN AND INK

While winter’s chill still hangs in the air, before the trees leaf out, sometimes even before the last snows melt, a special group of early wildflowers bloom and fruit and vanish again -- all within a fleeting eight-week lifespan.

They are ephemerals, woodland flowers that raise the first flag of spring and later retreat to spend the summer months dormant underground.

The spidery lines of pen-and-ink can be a lovely medium for sketching these flowers. Today’s printables will get you started in that direction. On Wednesday, we’ll sample some alternative techniques for marrying ink and flowers. And in Friday’s video lesson, we will combine ink and watercolor to evoke the vivid colors and delicate details in the first fresh blooms of spring.

Take a look at the two instructive printables, then use the reference images to practice ink sketches -- or, even better, see if there might be a wildflower or two at your back fence or along a nearby roadside!