Being surrounded by cold and snow, I have found myself dreaming of the days when our yard is dotted by the cheery yellow polka dots that everyone else considers the scourge of suburbia…the dreaded DANDELION! Being the weird artist that my family calls me, I have always appreciated the beauty of the dandelion. One person’s weed is another’s flower. I have heard that in China, the dandelion is a cultivated bloom. My favorite aspect of the dandelion are the beautiful puffs. I think we all remember as a child kicking and blowing the puffs and watching the seeds take flight.
I was truly inspired when Gina Weathersby, of Gina Weathersby Photography, shared this gorgeous botanical image of a dandelion plant. Sometimes all it takes is a fresh look at something we see all the time to get inspired. Then I started drawing out my own interpretaion of the flower heads. I thought I would show everyone how I create my MODbotanicals. Basically I draw everything in black and white as individual elements. My go to drawing instruments are Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens. I usually use the S (superfine) and M (medium) along with the B (brush) nibs. I like to draw on a toothy watercolor paper to get a rougher, hand-drawn quality.
Once I have my elements drawn, I scan them at a very high resolution and save them as Bitmap TIFF files. That gives me the ability to place them in Illustrator and assign colors quickly with just a click of the mouse. It also keeps the white backgrounds transparent, so I do not have to waste time in photoshop outlining all of my images. Some shapes I draw as vector shapes such as the leaves. I have a vast library of textures in my computer, so I filled the leaf shapes with a fitting texture into the vector masks. The grass texture was from my library also. Illustrator is where I compose and color my elements. I like to keep to a limited color palette to give it a more graphic simplicity. This illustration only uses 4 colors, Golden Yellow, Grass Green, Darker Green and white. I try to take into consideration final print production and with a limited palette, flat PMS colors can be specified if the image were to be silkscreened on products. So, now I have a small MODbotanical study. My next step is to expand on this idea to create a large wall hanging. I might do a grouping of yard weeds such as dandelions, clover, violets, bugleweed etc…Sometimes you have to appreciate the beauty of things that annoy us.
Photo copyright Gina Weathersby Photography 2014
Hello Lisa,
I arrived home from Boise. To find a parcel from Lisa’s lounge and I thought what a cute name. I opened right away seeing it was from Ohio. It was a gift from your sister, my friend. I don’t know if Laurie picked the pattern, but they are two of the most beautiful table runners I’ve ever seen. I also love the scarf jewelry. Took a selfie & thanked Laurie for the thoughtful gift.
Just wanted to let you also know how much I liked it. Beautiful work.
Thank you,
Rita White
Hello Rita, I am soooooo glad you liked your present. I designed the fabrics so your compliment means so much to me. My sister Kathy and I are flying out to San Diego at the end of this month to visit Laurie for a week, can’t wait. Happy belated birthday. Lisa Ballard.