Jacaranda flowers only bloom for a few weeks in early summer, so I wanted to sketch them while I can. The lavender colors of the flowers are striking, even from a distance.
I sketched two different jacaranda trees near my neighborhood from a parked car, working directly with watercolors. I received some paper samples from Stillman & Birn, so I tested out two different multi-media papers.
Beta Series has natural white paper:
Delta Series has ivory paper:
I think the bright, crisp light in Los Angeles lends itself to sketching with Beta Series, though both took watercolor washes well and let paint colors flow delightfully. And here is another reason why sketching is better at creating memories than photograph: it’s easier to omit things that are not important to the picture 🙂
