Bee in Cosmos Flower

Today's lesson, available in my Art Tutorials store, is ideal for all art students. I'd like you to take a look at nature. Look at the real flowers in the garden. Some flowers are dead, some aren't open, many are bent and overlap. 
We are going to rework a painting with a poor competition. The petals will not be perfect unless they are grown for the cut flower market in controlled situations.

This is a lesson in composition. Notice how my main flower is overlapping the garden behind it. Some of  the foliage in the background has reached forward to poke through the gaps in the main flower's petals and the bee is in front of the main flower with part of a petal over a section of the bee. All of this overlapping of elements in the painting assists in creating the three dimensional feeling within this artwork.

Bee in Cosmos Prints & Gifts by Ryn Shell

Just completed, Bee in Double Cosmos Flower, Schmincke extra-soft pastels on 11" x 14" watercolour paper. Reference—my garden. Image cropped from original artwork which shows the full flower.

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I plant a variety of brightly coloured annuals, designed to have something in flower all year round, with a view to providing provide pollen and nectar for bees. Cosmos annuals are perfect for this purpose and are easy to grow. Most cosmos grow tall and are ideal for back of border planting. There are also dwarf varieties fro the front border of garden beds or pots.  Annual plants grown from a packet of seeds are an inexpensive way to obtain a pretty, and bee friendly garden. ​