Totterdown and roses

                                          Copyright Rebecca Gregory 2014

I have only fairly recently started drawing flowers, but I'm really enjoying it, especially roses. Roses are quite complicated with all their frills and twists, but this (hopefully) makes for a more interesting drawing as there are lots of areas to shade and ranges of tone. Paint splats and spraypaint are the perfect medium for roses so they don't look too 'traditional.' These are rock n' roll roses. 

I still like to use pastel colours, but contrast them with black so they stand out. (Pastel shades and black are a perfect pairing!) I drew this in the garden in the summer, so I took my camping chair and did a 'tour' of all the different roses. I drew them all on separate pieces of paper because I had a vague idea that I wanted to do a collage, but I didn't really know how it would all fit together at the time. I often just make it up as I go along, and it's those drawings that usually come out best. When I have a definitive picture in my minds eye it never turns out looking like what I plan, so I guess it's best to just go with the flow...

The buildings on this page are of Totterdown in Bristol. I never get tired of drawing Totterdown, I am attracted to it like a magnet. I think it's the combination of the architecture in pastel colours, (yes, pastels again!) the rows and rows of terraces and the panoramic views over Bristol. And it has a 'realness' to it that suburbia just doesn't. I would love to be able to paint my house mint green, but it it's not the right type of house and would look stupid.

I've drawn this image using a purple fineliner because I wanted to smudge it with water. I've also used pro markers and watercolour, but it's only looking closely that you can tell which is which. I've used pro markers for the bits I didn't want to run. The purple pen mirrors some of the shades in the rose drawing on the opposite page, even though they are intended as separate pieces.