I’m taking you on another field sketching trip today.
In this location, I found lots of different wild orchids at the beginning of June, and I was happy to spend a long time sketching, so the video got a bit longer. You can follow me around the entire day while I’m exploring the area and stop repeatedly to draw and paint. I hope you’ll enjoy the video!
a day of field sketching - wild orchid fever! | artist vlog
A day of field sketching – wild orchid fever (video)
In a second part that will come soon, we’ll take a look at how I finish my field sketches at home.
If you have any questions about my process, my tools or the plants, leave them in the comments – I’m happy to chat!
Hey jullia,
Thank you for sharing your experiences with the orchids. What brush did you use? And the paper?
We’re looking forward to the second part. Thank you
Hi Juan,
you’re welcome! The paper is Saunders Waterford hot-pressed 190 gsm. The brush is a synthetic round size 4, but a smaller brush would be even better for these delicate flowers.
Julia, this video was a great pleasure. It brought back so many memories of all the hours I spent outside finding interesting plants and sketching. You even covered how blinding the sunlight can be on white paper, the temperature fluctuation and the need for finding shade, the insects you may have to contend with, finding a comfortable position to sketch when there is no chair available, and how cramped your body can get after a long sitting time. I remember all of it and then some. On some of my pages there are even raindrops which spread the color when there was a drizzle, which I just left alone as a memory of the day, and I often included sketches of any insect that happened to land on my paper. Now at age 81 my wanderings are more restricted, mostly to where I have easy access via car and I bring a chair, and no more climbing to get a better look at flowers on an incline. It was a treat to see that the younger generation, like you, are still outside with a pencil, paper and watercolors. I have about 50 or so sketchbooks of those memories on a shelf now, and every sketch brings back each lovely day.. Thank you so much for this. It was a pleasure to be with you on a day of wild orchid fever.
RoseMarie, that is so wonderful to hear that you are an experienced field sketcher, thank you for sharing – especially the bit about the raindrops on the page. Despite all the challenges, I hope this will inspire others to give sketching in nature a try. I too have a lot of fond memories when I look through my old sketchbooks.
Great walking with you, Julia, very interesting. Learning about that rare orchid is amazing, such a gift. Can you share the name again? Love the ravens, we have them here at the farm, also. What is the temperature these days for you?
Thanks Nancy! The orchid that mimics an insect is a fly orchid – there are many more similar orchids in that genus (Ophrys), I just haven’t found them here yet. Right now, we have days around 30°C (86°F) – not the best weather to spend outside running around and trying to find a shaded spot to sketch.
Thank you for the name, most amazing orchid!
It was such a pleasure to go on this field sketching trip with you virtually! Thank you!
Thank you Susan, my pleasure!
Such a lovely field trip! I loved your idea of adding a magnet to your water bottle to avoid accidentally contaminating the environment. I very much enjoyed this video. Thank you for sharing 🙂
Thank you Yolanda! The magnet has since fallen off (due to weak glue). 😉 But I keep trying out different setups, so I’m sure I will show something similar soon.
Thank you Julia. Very interesting and helpful as I am only just beginning to acquire an interest in sketching and find your documented experiences interesting and inspiring.