Monday, November 30, 2009

Costa Rica: Last and Favorite Pages

These are my favorite pages from Costa Rica. I had so much fun walking and sketching in the botanical gardens. I really enjoyed overlapping flowers, plants and vines. It was also great fun adding all the lush colors.
This page is from the Corcovado Nat. Park. All the flowers are so interesting and beautiful. The hanging white flowering vines were fascinating. Too bad my camera focused on the trees behind it. Oh well, I guess the sketch will have to do.
In this photo my camera did a great job, focusing on the flower and not the background! It is a type of hanging hibiscus. So delicate. There are so many spectacular plants and flowers.


This is the fruit of the "Lipstick" tree. If you flip the open seed pod over it looks like big old lips. The outside of the pod is spiky but soft not pokey and the inside is hollow with seeds that are full of a red staining liquid. I used it to paint a little in my sketchbook.

Robert Bateman 6" x 9" sketchbook
Pen and Watercolor

9 comments:

Shirley said...

I agree - these would be favorites of mine as well. The color and the composition are just lovely - and I bet you can even smell some of the flowers.

Sarah said...

I really like the page layouts here - and the colours.

Thanks for your comment!

Linda T said...

These pages are terrific! You really capture the variety of plant life in the tropics. The colors add a lot, too. I like how you filled the page. It's like they are growing in your sketchbook.

Lynn said...

Your travel sketches are fantastic! I'm leaving for a Caribbean cruise in a few days, and I'm using your journal as inspiration.

Unknown said...

Terrific botanical studies! I love these as well as the lipstick plant seed pod! Is any of the red paint on these pages the red from it?

Ramona Davidson said...

Thanks for sharing your sketches and journey with us. You have a lovely touch with sketch and color.

Patty Ruthe said...

Definitely a fav! Outstanding pages.

Margaret Ann said...

Simply delightful pages...You go to the most interesting places!~ :)

Vanda Claudino Sales said...

Hello, Deborah, congratulations on the blog and on your art! I am a Brazilian professor, and I am writing a book about world coastal heritage sites, following UNESCO's list.The book will be published in English by Springer, in The Netherlands. I am coming to ask you if it would be possible to have two high-resolution photos of the landscape or seascape of Coiba National Park, in Panama, to illustrate my book. All credits would be given. I ask you the kindness of an answer to the e-mail vcs@ufc.br Regards, Vanda Claudino