Friday, January 20, 2012

Postcard 3 from Brazil

This one was a toughie. Searched and searched. Lots of ideas that went nowhere. Tried to find a local Brazilian restaurant and found one...yay! But discovered it was closed. Then went for blogs from or about Brazil and happened upon this one by Constantino Gastaldi of Brazil “Dyckia Brazil” and found the “Dyckia fosteriana-fosteriana Star of Brazil” plant. Although the plant looks prickly and dangerous, it definitely spoke to me. My first thought was HAT! and Ruth was in her glory. Upon scrolling down the blog, I discovered this lovely color and flower called “Aechmea recurvata” and couldn’t resist it. According to the blog, this flower grows on treetops in Southern Brazil near the Uraguay border. Had fun cutting, pasting, drawing, painting. I sketched the star plant from the computer and printed out the vermillion flower. Cut the background off and pasted it down. Gessoed around, drew over with a ballpoint pen (what Ruth had handy) and painted with watercolor to enhance the image. Since there isn’t much room on the back I decided to write around the flower.





Maddie, I visited a local gardner, with the delicious name of Constantino, who was delighted that I wanted to sketch his plants he so lovingly cares for. Envisioning a new creation in velvet, satin and feathers. Spent the entire day sketching and making notes. Tomorrow the shopping for fabrics begins. Haven’t had much time to tour. Maybe this gardner has some free time...hubba hubba. So lovely to be naughty sometimes. Ruth

19 comments:

Darcy Marshall said...

such a beautiful flower, the colour is stunning. Love the writing around it, all works so perfectly.

Stefij said...

fab card, i love it

miniroses said...

art and descriptions are delicioius. love maddie's name. love whole concept.

donnalouiserodgers said...

stunning, and very original, and I ma very entertained by your story,

dx

mags21 said...

great card, love the flower and the colour so different.

gottahavemoxie said...

This card is so pretty and clever. I love the way you wrapped the words around the plant. I enjoyed reading your thought process on how you came up with the idea.

San @ Made in Hem said...

Oh, how original! Glad you stumbled upon that website. You ended up with a very lovely postcard! ♥

Joanna said...

Great idea with the writing - super flowers too!

WrightStuff said...

Your depiction is just great - you really captured its succulent qualities. I wonder if the juice is healing - like Aloe Vera perhaps?

Janet said...

So different and very lovely! Like the journalling around the plant. Clever postcard.

Janet xx

Å olanje na domu-Waldorf said...

Gorgesous flower! And great card. :)

Helen Jacobs-Grant said...

beautiful flower, so much detail
its a lovely card :)

Jen said...

Love the colour, great idea and drawing.
Jen x

Jackie Humphreys said...

Lovely image and colour. Great card.

manomij said...

I love the tour you have taken to find out something about Brazil. So glad you wrote it in this post. Great fun and that flower looks wonderful!

Lulabelle said...

Love your postcard!Love the writing around the flower, very effective!

lorig said...

What a great idea to write on the front of the card around the flower and include a second sketch on the back.

APG Jamie said...

discovery is half the fun of this challenge & what a super idea to write around the petals <3

Esther said...

Great flower and love how you wrote around it..Esther xx