Naked Ladies

Here in Iowa there is a plant called "naked ladies" that suddenly emerges, sans leaves, about this time of summer, showing pink, lily-like flowers. They're also called "surprise lilies" or "resurrection lilies." One of our sketch group saw an astonished array of them here in the city, a glowing cloud of pink in a sunny meadow. There were hundreds and hundreds of them, some in full flower, some just up and still in bud. Intrigued, the sketch group spent some time there painting and drawing last Saturday afternoon. 

Most of our group chose to focus on the mass of flowers in the meadow, interested in their forms or colors. And the majority of the group sat in the shade (just out of sight to the right of my composition) to do so, facing me. Although the mass of flowers is what drew the group, I actually eliminated the majority of them and focused on the woods behind.

For me, the bright contrast of the house in the dark trees was compelling and the carpet of flowers at the base made an interesting contrast. This view gave me an opportunity to emulate three dimensions on a flat page. If you look closely there are seven or eight levels in this watercolor. The sketchbook gives an opportunity to paint onto both pages when the composition is vertical, so in this case the painting is about 14x5, emphasizing the height of these old trees.