It's the perfect time for hand-drawing succulents: this spring, pick up the paintbrush again and fall in love with them

Follow

Follow the Encyclopedia · Meet Beauty (WeChat ID: duoroubaike)

Main text begins:

Thanks to the author [Lingzi] for theoriginal submissionsharing

Submission date: 2018-04-14

Edited and compiled by: Encyclopedia Jun

Location: Dadukou District, Chongqing

Clouds and Water, Zen Mind

 Religious Music Hall

Wang Xun 

00:00/07:40

The March sunshine is lovely, and the crabapple flowers, under the gentle brush of the spring breeze, were the first to awaken. The pink and tender petals made me love them so much I couldn't take my "eyes" off them, and I immediately pulled out my phone to keep shooting from every angle. Capturing the beauty in your eyes is the most convenient way. But is there still something missing? Yes, it's warmth. Thinking about it, I've been "idle" at home for quite a while now. Every day, besides taking care of the child and doing housework, what I love most in the remaining time is tending these flowers and plants, my succulents.

My greatest interest since childhood has been drawing. Over decades of work, I occasionally found time to dabble a little, but rarely calmed down to practice slowly anymore. Now, however, I have a wonderful opportunity. I want to pick up the paintbrush again, give cold photos the warmth of the hand, and etch them under the pen.

After one exciting decision, I immediately dug out my daughter's drawing tools. Let's start with colored pencil hand drawing.

Sitting on the balcony, painting with my back to the sun, is a delightful thing. Drafting and outlining are no problem for me, but how do I blend colors naturally together? What other techniques are there in colored pencil drawing? This is what I truly began learning today. At noon, looking at the first finished painting in my hands, although it was not perfect, I felt a small sense of accomplishment.

Once posted on Moments, my friends' praise satisfied my little vanity. Spring is the most beautiful season for succulents, and I also wanted to paint portraits of my succulents. So I looked up other people's pictures and techniques for colored pencil succulents and began my first attempt at hand-drawing succulents.

To be honest, this picture is pretty bad: the lines are stiff and the colors are rigid. I'm posting it purely for motivation, haha!

I've raised this pot of Ruby succulent for three years, and I usually take careful care of it. It looks beautiful in photos, so surely it will look even more beautiful painted?

At first I wanted to be lazy and paint only one head? Too monotonous! Two? Not rich enough. One more, that's okay. Just go with four, and include the flowerpot too. Hehe, a conflicted heart cannot win against a perfect imagination. The petals are small and numerous, and the process of painting is pure torment. Still, luckily I like it, so I'll just treat it as tempering my patience.

With the experience from the previous colored pencil drawings, the later ones went much faster. But colored pencils have limited colors, and sometimes layering two colors makes it look too heavy. It seems I still need to explore slowly.

The craft of drawing cannot be separated from daily practice. Even if I improve just a tiny bit each day, it is another new affirmation for myself.

This succulent drawing captured a plump feeling, but it is not pink enough. It seems I need to buy new tools.

Fellow succulent lovers all know that when succulent babies are beautiful, you cannot look away, but many times they are also struggling bitterly themselves: one moment plump like a baby, the next shriveled like an old person. Every rebirth is a new appearance. So this beauty is not that beauty; what matters is preserving the mark of this moment.

In the spring of 2018, the sunlight warmed the flowers into bloom, and the flowers and succulent babies warmed me, letting me regain confidence and rediscover my dreams. Every morning, what I enjoy most is walking to the balcony to say hello to each little cutie and enjoy the surprises they bring.

In this tiny space, whether bright and sunny, or listening to the wind, or smelling the rain, I am neither joyful nor angry. I just gaze freely at the succulent babies. Their faces bear the imprint of my tenderness, and my eyes keep their most beautiful appearance. And colored pencil drawings will be how I remember their past, their youth that once gone will never return.

Advertisement ADVERTISEMENT

This article has beenexclusively authorizedby the author to WeChat public account: Succulent Plant Encyclopedia (ID: duoroubaike). The content of the article does not represent the views or stance of the public account.

- Review of last issue's wonderful pushes -

- Encyclopedia featured articlesrecommended -