Drawing Plants and Flowers: Check and Log

How will your experiments with negative space help your observational drawing in the future?

The negative space exercises, while very difficult, have made me more aware of the integral role the negative spaces play in a composition.  Also, having done used the 'Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain' book for exercises I can now understand how concentrating on drawing the negative shapes can help with accurately representing forms as the brain has less of a tendency to draw what it 'knows' when it is looking at abstract shapes rather than the objects themselves.

I have certainly noticed an improvement in the accuracy of my drawing with this approach. The main obstacle is remembering to apply this and not to fall back into old lazy habits.

The other thing I have learned is that trying to fill the paper and leave no negative space results in an overcrowded drawing. It is better to have some interesting negative shapes within the composition.

What techniques did you use to ensure you drew your plants in proportion?

As well as looking at the negative shapes within and around the plants I also used a viewfinder with the same proportions as my paper when planning a composition.  I made thumbnail sketches and made a few measurements of proportion relative to the paper before I mapped in the composition on the larger sheet of paper.

How did you achieve an effect of three-dimensional space in your drawings?

To achieve an effect of three dimensional space I placed objects overlapping in front of each other (the begonia was placed in front of the vase of roses and the the vase was related to the background). I also used shading to add form and dimensions to the flowers and the leaves. The dark soil in the pot and the shadowing under leaves helped to bring the leaves forward in the composition. 

My second drawing of the begonia with the orchid wasn't as successful in this respect. Here I had concentrated on the textural an bold colour/design elements but I overlooked relating the objects well to their background. There is a half hearted attempt at this with the shadow of the orchid stem on the wall behind the plants but really this picture is more about colour and decoration rather than depth and composition.