I couldn't stand the squash floating on the middle of the page, so I washed in the surface shadows where the dishtowel will be to anchor them.

Tuesday was the second day of painting on this project, and I added quite a bit of detail to the “cap” of the Turk’s cap squash.

I found that straight yellow ochre came in handy for some of the shading on the yellow Delicata squash and the Little Gem. Shadows on the Turk’s “cap” are sepia with yellow ochre, and sepia, yellow ochre and ultramarine blue.

I believe this is a maple leaf of an adapted or Texas-native species. If you can identify it, please leave a comment!

Autumn doesn’t really get going in Houston until after Thanksgiving. Although delayed, our Gulf Coast autumn had a nice little display of colorful leaves—before much-needed rains pelted them to the ground and turned them brown.

I found this leaf shortly after New Year’s Day while walking around my neighborhood. My guess is this is some type of a maple, or Acer, species. I observed something interesting during my walks: The leaves of post and pin oaks don’t fall from the tree until they are fully brown and dry, unlike some of the other trees here.

Painting the shadow under the leaf gives it a little more dimensionality.

The challenge for this painting was painting red shadows on the leaf. The palette included quinacridone pink and rhodonite genuine, both by Daniel Smith. The shadow under the leaf was made with lapis blue, sepia, and a bit of potter’s pink as a reflection of the red leaf onto the white paper.

The first day's wet-into-wet washes.

This painting will really stretch and develop my skills in botanical painting because:

• The palette includes cadmium yellow, orange and red. Semi-opaque, heavy colors on the warm side of the red and yellow families, “the cads” easily create mud when blended with other colors.
• Wet-into-wet technique will be the basis of the rendering.
• This will have a still life element with a striped dishcloth serving as background.

Stay tuned for more updates!

When the Wrenaissance Man saw this, he said, "I think you may have found your calling!"

Zach, the horticulturist at the Museum of Natural Science, recommended the purple porterweed as an excellent choice for butterfly attraction in the shady garden.

We are seeking two important qualities in the plants we buy for our tiny plot:

• They must offer something special—attract butterflies or hummingbirds, smell delightful, bloom spectacularly, or have autumn color.
• They need to have neat, compact habits, and/or discrete, sculptural shapes.

According to the reviews at Dave’s Garden, purple porterweed succeeds superbly on the first condition, as it is irresistible to butterflies, but fails miserably on the second, as it is gangly, weedy and awkward-looking. Reports are mixed on whether it is invasive/spreads.

I guess you can’t have everything!

Leaf veins are often indented on the front of the leaf, but form dimensional ribs on the back side, as this cat's whisker leaf shows.

Ophiron labiatus, or cat’s whiskers, is a compact butterfly-attracting plant with small, blue-green leaves and it thrives in partial sun/partial shade conditions. The flowers spiral around a central stem, similar to foxglove or mint flowers. They are delicate and lacy and have a pale lavender color.

After seeing the blooms on the sample I bought from the museum, I bought a second at Bulb Mart so I could have a symmetrical grouping.

Brazilian pipeweed is an ideal flowering vine for shady to part-shady garden walls.

Aristolochia fimbriata, Brazilian pipeweed, is a vine whose flowers attract swallowtail butterflies. It thrives in part-shady to shady areas. As you can see from the photos in this Wikipedia entry, the Aristolochia family offers exotic and spectacular blossoms for the gardener as well.

One thing to think about when selecting butterfly-attractant pipeweed vines: Many non-native species may have chemicals that are poisonous to the local butterfly species.

Good for thee, but not for me: Sassafras needs plenty of room and lots of sunshine.

Saturday the Wrenaissance Man and I went to the Houston Museum of Natural Science plant sale. The sale is an annual fundraiser for the butterfly center, and features plants that will attract butterflies and do well in Houston gardens. We were hoping to acquire some plants for our microscopic, shady-to-part-shady townhouse garden.

We were attracted by the sassafras—the Wrenaissance Man liked the old-timey, granny garden associations, and I was thinking about autumn color. We both imagined it was a nice, little shrubbery. Unfortunately, Dave’s Garden informed us that sassafras is a 50-foot tree that requires full sun and plenty of space, as it is also invasive. 

Oh, dear.

Anyone up for a plant barter?

The scent of basil leaves is intoxicating! Even this hydroponic grocery-store specimen was powerfully fragrant.

I had bought this basil plant at the grocery store on Thursday, but did not use it for dinner that night. Instead it ended up on my drawing table on Friday morning.

After a quick wash of the shadow planes with ultramarine blue, followed by a hit of cad lemon light with ultramarine blue in the lit areas, I worked over the image using mostly colored pencils.

This week I’ve really noticed the degree to which the venation of the leaf creates the 3-dimensionality of the form. It’s very much like the struts of a geodesic dome covered with parachute silk.

This dying leaf fell off our neighbor's tree, which is probably a loquat.

The drought has really affected so many trees and shrubs here in Houston. Many of these big perennials are dropping leaves months early. It’s been sad driving by Memorial Park and seeing the tall, mature pines dying and the stacks of dry timber piled up by the park staff as they clear brush to prevent an urban forest fire.

I started this painting with a big wet-on-wet wash on each side of the major vein. Once that was dry, I defined the planes further with watercolor, then worked in both watercolor and regular colored pencils to finish.

The Little Gem magnolia in our front yard was the source of this glossy green leaf.

I started the 30 Leaves, 30 Days challenge this Monday with a leaf from a Little Gem magnolia. The name “Little Gem” is a bit misleading, as the mother tree of the variety is 60′ tall! Nonetheless, it is a popular landscaping choice here in Houston for the contractors who specialize in building townhouses with tiny yards.

The big goal of this challenge for me is to be able to churn out a high quality image each weekday. This particular piece is made with about 90% watercolor, with a few touches of colored pencils to sharpen up the details.