Goodbye, Donkey, Hello, Breadfruit

© Ellen Blonder

I don't often give up on a painting, but I need to at least set the donkey painting aside until I can feel it more in my bones. 

Meanwhile, I have long been wanting to do a painting of a breadfruit I saw at the McBryde Garden last year in Kauai, part of the National Tropical Botanical Gardens. This is the first day's beginning of a sketch, on a section of a 16 x 20-inch canvas. 

Blueberries-Day 1

© Ellen Blonder

I photographed a branch heavy with blueberries last summer. I also bought some colored pencils and have been looking for a subject to sketch with them. My inspiration is a book by an artist I met in Kauai, who was there to co-teach a seminar on botanical illustration at the National Tropical Botanical Gardens. Her name is Wendy Hollender, and you can see her beautiful images or find her book Botanical Drawing in Color through this link, which will guide you through learning to correctly draw botanicals with colored pencil.