Here’s the final plate. The last class session was devoted to grasses and long, narrow leaves. I chose “switch grass”, a spare, lovely green and red grass that I wove throughout the background. Although I could easily keep grinding on my primrose leaf (purplish green) I think I’ll call it done and move on. I learned a lot with each leaf I illustrated. Not only about leaf structure, but also the process of building accurate colors. I’m still not great, but I’m a helluva lot better than when I started five weeks ago. In my humble opinion, this class should be required of all botanical art students. It’s that critical.

Now it’s time to apply all this to all the work that is pending.