I really like the star jasmine vines. I have a large row of these planted at the front of my house because I wanted these graceful green vines to drape themselves across the long and blank white wall, partly to conceal the blank canvas from vandals, and partly because I genuinely like these plants.
They are also known as confederate jasmine. The starry white flowers have the most delicate and intriguing fragrance, especially in the evenings and nights. I believe they are sometimes used for perfumes.
I have recently signed up for a free online course on Natural History Illustration run by the University of Newcastle. And I am still at the introductory week where we are exploring our tools, i.e. pencils, erasers and papers at its most basic. I’m not very good at pencil rendering and I have never been a particular stickler for realism, so I think this would be a good affordable opportunity to do some learning of new skills.
I’ve looked at many of these natural history books and blogs and have always admired the hyper-realistic rendering. These artists are so technically brilliant, and must also have immense powers of observation. If they are trying to capture real life animal movements, they would also have to have an extraordinary amount of patience in order to watch and observe these living creatures. What an amazing job to have. But wow, the skill that is needed. That is something to aspire to.
