I mean, I think the title is pretty self explanatory, today I am planning to paint all of my plants.
It's something that I've wanted to do for quite a while now.
It's one of those ideas that has just persisted.
I want to do it in more of a way of documenting my little plant-babies and something that's
going to be an ongoing project where I can carry on adding to it as I acquire more - which
I'm sure I will.
I'm just gonna start with the ones that were around the house, so not the ones that were
already in this room.
Just the ones that you saw me bringing in.
So I think that leaves me 9 to do in this video.
I have been just noting down what they are, just so I can keep a track of that, and I've
been looking through my encyclopedia of house plants to make sure I have it all right.
And there are three that I didn't know the names of so I sent out a little thing on my
Instagram stories to see if anyone can help me with that.
And to keep everything consistent, I'm going to stick to using the same tools, hopefully
across the board.
So I'm thinking postcard size would be really good and I've actually got this little postcard
size sketchbook from Jackson's- I'll have info on everything linked below- but it's
like a plain postcard sketchbook; so i's got watercolour paper on one side and postcard
on the other side.
I'm hoping to do all of them in the future in this size, starting with today.
And I'll be using-... trying to decide whether I want to use gouache or acryla-gouache.
Then I've got my standard flat brush.
And I think I'm gonna start with this guy; this is Rafe, he's our snake plant and he's
in this pot from Sainsbury's, I got this for my birthday a few weeks ago from my mum.
He's one that I have had quite a vivid image in mind of what I want the painting to look
like so I think it would be a good one to start with and we'll see what kind of timing
I'm gonna be running on, how long this one takes and how long it looks like the rest
of them will take me.
But I'm looking forward to starting this project, looking forward to seeing what I end up with.
[music]
Okay, so here's the thing; I think that that turned out really well, I'm really happy with
it, I think it looks great.
However- and don't get mad at me- is it what I was going for?
Not really?
I dunno- it's not the style I was going for, also it took way too long.
I want more of my blocky, loose, just more relaxed and more dynamic style in this.
And I think where I went wrong was a few things.
I used a different brush than I said I was gonna use, I said I was gonna use my flat
brush, ended using a smaller one and I just started really zoning in on details.
Also when I'm filming, I just tend to do things a bit differently to normal, it's like painting
with someone looking over your shoulder.
And also, finally, I guess just because this was the first one, I was going in quite cautiously,
just trying to get everything right.
So, the goal now is to probably just set up the overhead camera setup just so that I can
get that to the back of my mind and paint more loosely.
Also maybe speed things up a bit, relax a bit more, get some music on, use my flat brush
and nothing else.
Maybe.
Maybe not even sketch.
But yeah, we'll see.
We'll see how it goes, but I do wanna... speed things up, get it looking more vibrant and
more dynamic and a bit looser and a bit sketchier.
However, I do think that this turned out really well.
I'm not gonna re-do this one...
yet?
We'll see how it goes with the other ones as I carry on, see if it goes with the collection.
Also you guys really came through with the plant question that I asked on my Instagram
so thank you so much to everyone that answered.
I've got all the answers now that I need so I know all of the species around me so I can
start labeling them and write down their names and what they are!
Having a more passive camera setup definitely helped but I still found the process for this
one to be a little bit hesitant, a bit stunted.
Also, I don't know how much of a difference switching to a flat brush actually made other
than speeding things up a bit.
That said, this one took just over an hour which- for a painting this size- is a little
bit over what I'd normally be aiming for.
The little lady that I am painting is Raphaela.
She is Rafe's best friend as we got them both together from the Nunhead Gardener, our absolute
favourite place to buy plants.
Dangerously addictive.
But these two never leave each others sides.
Raphaela is a Pinstripe Calathea or Calathea Ornata.
She has got these really cool pink stripes down her leaves so Ozzy chose this striped pot for her.
After Rapahela, I painted our big boy, Caspar, who, thanks to you guys on Instagram I've
identified as a Dracaena Fragrans- or a corn plant.
He was our very first moving-in present here in the new flat and the first bit of greenery
outside of the art room.
In fact, I think we had him before we had our sofa, or any real furniture downstairs
at all.
My uncle showed up unannounced at our front door with him and it was just one of the best
surprise presents I've ever received.
All three of the plants that I've painted so far live together in the living room, which
is the only room that Thierry, our cat, gets to roam around unsupervised.
We keep our toxic-toxic plants either in the bathroom which he has no access to at all,
or in rooms he's only in if we're in them so we can see if he's eating things he shouldn't
be.
The Dracaena family of plants are actually toxic to cats and Thierry has actually had
a nibble of Caspar's leaves before but thankfully with no effect.
And since then-which was about 5 months ago now- he has stayed away, so Caspar stays in
the living room for now.
We did move our other Dracaena, our Dracaena Marginata; Ramona, who you'll see later, out
of the living room because Thierry just kept going for her leaves.
Also, regarding the snake plant, I know that can give cats upset stomachs but from what
I've read, they'll have a bite and not like the taste and then they'll leave it well alone.
And Thierry hasn't been interested in the snake plant at all so far.
Plus he has ample cat grass to graze on, if he ever wants to.
It's the next day now, already.
I think I was definitely overly ambitious in thinking I could get them all done in one
day, especially with the late start that I had, but I am hoping to be able to finish
the next 6 today.
We'll see.
The issue is that it's Monday now which means that I actually have work to do.
So I started this morning, probably about an hour+ just getting through all the emails
that came in over the weekend.
I've also just sat down and planned out the rest of my week.
Don't think... that I have any orders in the shop which means that I can probably spend
all day here, don't have to go anywhere.
So what I've done is, just prioritised this painting project over everything else that
I have to get done this week.
And then the rest of the week, everything else is kind of crammed in, which really means,
I need to finish these today.
Hopefully.
The issue is, I'm really liking these, I think these have turned out great and I'm now thinking
these would make a really great postcard set for my shop.
It's been over a year now since I added anything new to the shop and I just think these would
look great.
I think they'd be great postcards to send out to people but also to maybe put in a frame
and hang up.
So I would love to make a postcard print set out of these.
And then, obviously, as soon as I start thinking about something like that, I start thinking
I would love to make stickers to go with them.
So I'm creating more work for myself but, we'll see how it goes.
We'll see how I get on today.
So next up, I'm going to be painting Violet who is our Alocasia Amazonica or Elephant
Ear plant.
And Ozzy named her Violet after the purple underside of her leaves.
Again, shes another one that Thierry has had a nibble of.
And again, they are mildly toxic to cats, which we didn't know when we first brought
him home, we already had her.
They're supposed to cause irritation of the mouth and throat.
Thankfully, he had no reaction to it and he has steered clear since but it has left her
in a bit of a sorry state.
A lot of her leaves are a bit worse for wear where he would like nibble and spit it out.
But she did flower recently for the first time which was really nice, didn't even know
these plants did flower.
The issue with Violet that I have- and I'll cover her ears for this- I'm not really keen
on this plant, I don't really like her.
I don't know.... shes got a kind of sinister look to her.
So I'm hoping that I'll get to know her a bit better through the painting process.
Discover a new love for her... but we'll see.
Hopefully, she'll be quite an easy one to paint and that'll set me up for the rest of
the day to really power through with the rest of them.
I think as soon as I decided I'd be making these for print, my mindset shifted.
I felt a bit more pressure to make sure the finish on them was worthy of offering to other
people, the type of thing that people would want on their walls, or want to send to friends.
And that was both good and bad.
It helped me really put 100% into what I was doing, but it also meant I spent longer agonising
over everything.
My painting of Violet went decently, I was happy with the outcome, though it didn't make
me like her any more.
I'm sure she's a nice girl, just not my cup of tea.
Next I worked on Mugz, our money plant.
He was a present from Ozzy's mum when we moved in, and Ozzy named him.
Mugz is a name we joked about for our first child, Mugz or Osmosis Jones, neither of which
I think I'd name my child but very apt for a plant.
This painting went pretty smoothly actually, I had a good idea of what I wanted to do and
I felt like I was able to execute it.
The only thing I'd change would be the background colour and maybe the outline colour as well,
just in hindsight, I feel like this one doesnt fit as well with the rest.
But Mugz is our son, so he gets to be a bit different.
Then things started to go downhill a bit.
This is where the pressure was setting in, not only to produce something print-worthy,
but to get as much done today as possible.
I started painting the background for the next one in acryla gouache.
Painting around Mugz' leaves had been the most tedious and I was moving on to Ramona,
our Dragon Tree- the dracaena marginata I mentioned earlier- and the thought of painting
around all of those thin leaves was... just not gonna happen.
While I waited for that to dry, I got started on Jean, Jean Wiques, who was another one
you helped me with on instagram.
A ZZ plant apparently.
I don't know why we named him Jean Wiques, but I remember that it was a mutual decision
between Ozzy and I and we had definitely been drinking at the time.
He was a moving in present from my dad- I think plants are the absolute best moving
in present- they're just the best present in general.
But this fella is poisonous to cats so he lives in the bathroom.
Luckily he's super hardy, doesn't mind the low light, lack of attention, damp etc.
The painting of him on the other hand....
I lost my mojo a bit.
Wasn't loving it.
So I went back to Ramona.
I wasn't sure how I was going to approach painting those leaves.
And...
I wasn't overly keen on what I ended up with.
This is where, if I'd been doing this just for my own fun, I probably would have settled,
but I couldn't shake the feeling that I could do better, so I switched off the camera, and
decided that was enough for one day.
With fresh eyes, the next day, I worked on Jean Wiques again, and this is what I ended
up with.
I still didn't know what I was doing with Ramona, so I decided to paint Quinn next.
Quinn is our Peperomia Angulata and she lives in the living room in this lovely pot my mum
made.
I don't have much to say about this little lady, but painting her went really smoothly
and set the tone for the rest of the day.
I finally felt like I was finding my feet, getting a consistent style down, and feeling
more confident in my mark making.
Just in time to paint my baby boy.
This is my little angel Antonito, my adorable little guy.
He's a Moses-in-the-Cradle plant - bit of a mouthful, also known as tradescantia spathacea
'sitara'- and I just love him.
He's so cute.
And painting him was an absolute treat.
I loved how the colours turned out, it feels so lively, really strong contender for my
favourite painting of the collection.
My confidence was short-lived though, as I got back to my final painting, back to Ramona.
I spent a little while thinking about how I might tackle it, I took a few pictures to
see if that helped- I was actually surprised, I thought I'd mainly work from photos during
this but I ended up painting every one of the plants directly from life, and I think
that helped give them more of a stylised look.
And that's the direction I ended up going in with Ramona, but not before another failed
attempt at painting all of her.
Eventually, I zoned in on one portion of her leaves- why didn't I think of that sooner??
- and it worked out perfectly, and fits so much better with the rest of the paintings.
So there I was with 9 paintings that I absolutely adored, a project that I thoroughly enjoyed.
Was I finished yet?
obviously not.
I then decided to try my hand at these cute little watercolour doodles of each of the
plants as a whole, just to show them in relation to each other size-wise show which pots they're
all in.
And yes, I did turn these into stickers, which is actually why we're here in the office-
been a while since we've been here right guys?
But the stickers and the postcards came today- look how cute these little stickers are.
So these will be in the shop now, by the time you're watching this.
And this has been such a fun project.
It's given me a real kick up the bum to be more creative, more adventurous with my work.
And I'm really looking forward to continuing to document my plants in this way and building
up a little print collection of them.
So if you are interested, you can get all 9 of these postcards with the stickers included,
all as one batch, you can also get the stickers on their own.
But otherwise guys, I'm so grateful that you came here to join me for this little project.
Thank you so much for keeping me company, and I'll see you soon for the next video,
Bye!