Painterly Peonies

Back in the days when I sketched with pencil and pastels, I loved working with still life. I love the relaxation of being connected to the movement of your hands as you draw the curves or smear the pencil dust to create the shadows. Blending was my favorite aspect of layering and drawing images. I love feeling the ridges of the textured or the smooth glide of the pencil. I remember being taught to rotate the pencil in your hands as you draw so that you have a evenly curved point instead of the sharp slanted edges. This image taken today of some peonies I bought at the farmers market had such a painterly sketch look to it, it's mesmerizing to me. The reflection of the stems in the water with the graininess of the photo, and the textured background reminds me of my younger days sketching. 

What I love about digital photography is the instant gratification of taking thousands and thousands of gigabytes of images. Today's sketch pad is replaced with photoshop which can do amazing composites and morphications. But the human hands to paper, there's nothing like it. This image makes me want to pick up a sketch pad and dig out my pastels to draw out each lovely fold of the peony. The subtle blending of creamy ivory petals so delicately created by the Lord's hands. And what is nearly impossible to recreate is the lovely spring fragrance of the flower. Even with the love of sketching, drawing, or photography it reminds is so much of every day little things that we can take pleasure in this very moment. So I hope these little painterly peonies brighten your day as they have mine!

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