Watercolor Classes - Irises and Other Flowers

I'm back to taking classes at the White Bear Center for the Arts. Last week I started a class with Sylvia Benson.  She took sumi-e classes with me a few years ago. I had also taken a watercolor koi class taught by her last year.

She brought tons of photos for us to choose from as inspiration. This got me thinking so I talked to Rocketman about visiting some botanical gardens with his fancy camera and shooting some flower photos for me. He said that he would love to. But these are the photos I chose.

Next came sketching out the composition. It took me what felt like forever to sketch one iris along with a bud.

This is how the first 2 1/2 hour class went. Now I'm wishing I would have started with a much smaller flower. The hugeness of it is really intimidating me. I have class tomorrow and one more next week.

Here is a quick photo of Sylvia helping a fellow student. She is so patient and kind. I really wish I could take her home with me.

Today was our first day in the 70's since October and, if you are counting, it has been six months. We had steaks on the grill and it was glorious!