How to Draw… a Flower #4

A Three Dimensional (3D) Flower

In this weeks blog we are continuing with more flower drawings.

We are in the last week of The Wildlife Trusts #30dayswild, and we love celebrating the rich habitats and wildlife we have on our doorstep here at Heathlands.

To draw your 3D flower…

You will need:

Paper
A pencil
A pen
An eraser / rubber

How to draw a wildflower – cow parsley:

Using your pencil, begin by drawing an oval.
Draw a curved line under this as shown, to create a “bowl” or “goblet” shape.
Add a smaller bowl shape to the bottom of this.
Draw parallel lines down from the bottom bowl to create a stem for your flower.
Draw the flowers “sepals”. The part of the flower between the stem and the petals.
Draw your individual petals, following the curve of the bowl shape. Do the foreground petals first and add the background one after.
Add “stamens” growing out from the centre / inside of your flower.
Complete your drawing by going over your finished sketch with a fine liner. Allow this to dry for 5-10 minutes before rubbing out your pencil lines.
And you are done! You can add colour now if you wish.

You can watch our video tutorial here:

How to Draw… Flower #3

Flower Heads from Different Angles

For our final mini tutorial on how-to-draw flowers, we are looking at how we can change the perspective of our drawing, through simple changes in our drawing technique.

We hope you are all enjoying the #30dayswild activities that are being shared on the Heathlands Facebook Page and we would love to see any of the creative things you have been up to.

You will need:

Paper
A pencil
A rubber
A pen

How to draw a flower heads from different angles:

We are going to start by drawing our flowers first this time. Begin by drawing two (2) simple flowers with long petals like in picture one (1).
Next draw a third flower, this time draw the petals at the top and bottom a little shorter, and the petals on one side a lot shorter.
For our final two (2) flowers, draw the centre as “little domes” and only draw petals coming off the side or off the bottom. This way the are facing a different direction, sideways or upwards!
Finally connect your flowers with some stems and add foliage like we did in our first flower tutorial which you can find here: How to Draw… Flower #1

You can watch our video tutorial here:

How to Draw… Flower #1

A Wildflower – Cow Parsley

Next in our mini-series of “how-to-draw” tutorials, is flowers!

Here at Heathlands we are blessed with an amazing 8 & 1/2 acres of woodland, pasture, gardens and wetland. We have a huge variety of wildflowers, we are cataloguing these on our Facebook here: Wildflower Post

It is also June, which means we have started our #30dayswild activities here at Heathlands. You can join in at home by going to The Wildlife Trusts website.

You will need:

Paper
A pencil or a pen

How to draw a wildflower – cow parsley:

Begin by drawing two (2) stems. One main stem and a secondary stem coming off the first.
Add six (6) curved stalks radiating out from the end of each stem. The centre two (2) stalks should be the longest and the outer two (2) the shortest.
Draw two (2) or three (3) foliage stalks coming off the main stems.
Add delicate feather-like foliage to the stalks from step three (3).
Complete your wildflower by adding little “stars” * to the tips of your flower stalks.

You can watch our video tutorial here:

Drawing with a Difference #1

Here at Heathlands we love to explore new and exciting ways we can express ourselves with Arts & Crafts.

With this in mind we are starting a new series of live demonstrations, short videos and blog posts, for you to have a go at “drawing with a difference”. So, what do we mean by this? Quite simply we mean drawing, with anything but pencil and paper.

Our first session went live yesterday, Monday 27th February 2023 and the link to the video can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/Heathlands.Cumbria/videos/1359988764543889

Drawing with a Difference Session #1 – LEGO!!!

The inspiration for the first of our sessions is pixel art, a method for creating images with small squares or pixels.

For this activity we decided it would be really fun to use Lego Dots, as our pixels as they are movable and easy to use. We also decided to draw a polar bear, Monday was international polar bear day!

What you will need:

A Lego base plate
Lego Dots
Your imagination!

How to make your dot / pixel picture:

First you need to decide what you are going to “draw”.
select your colours and start with key features or if you prefer an outline of your idea.
Fill in your work, moving your pixels if needed.
Repeat as much as you like!

Below are some examples of pixel pictures we have made, including a few step by step images of the polar bear.

Step by step polar bear, you can also find a stop-motion here: https://youtu.be/3QcqkYIWqNU

Paper Roses

We’re back with another tissue paper flower idea for you! In this post we’ll show you how to make simple paper roses, they look really good bunched together or you could use some fancy paper to make a single rose for someone special!

You will need:

Tissue paper (or other lightweight paper)
Pipe cleaners

Step 1.

Start with rectangles of tissue paper, ours were about 20 x 15 cm

Step 2.

Work with one sheet of paper at a time and fold over the long side, leaving a gap around 2-3 cm at the bottom. You can also gently scrunch the paper up a little for a bit more texture if you like.

Step 3.

Hold the folded edge in your fingertips and roll the paper around in a loose spiral.

Step 4.

Pinch the other end together and twist it to secure the flower.

Step 5.

Wrap one end of a pipe cleaner around the bit you just twisted, leave the rest untwisted for the stem of the rose.

Step 6.

Make some more and then pop them in a jar or vase or tie them up with a ribbon. Have fun and don’t forget to show us how you get on!

Beautiful Blooms

These beautiful flowers are really simple to make and you don’t need much in the way of materials; just some tissue paper and a pipe cleaner.

You will need:

Tissue paper
Pipe cleaner (or wire)
Scissors

Step 1.

Cut your tissue paper into rectangles, the bigger the rectangle the larger your bloom! We used the folds of the tracing paper as a guide for cutting out and our rectangles are roughly A4 size. You need between 3-8 sheets of tissue paper for each flower, more layers gives a fuller bloom.

Step 2.

Lay your rectangles on top of each other and make a concertina (like a paper fan) by making a fold across the bottom, flipping the whole stack over and folding up again by the same amount, flipping back over and folding up and so on. The folds on ours are around 2 cm wide.

Step 3.

When you’ve made your concertina, fold it in half and wrap the pipe cleaner around the middle to hold all the layers together.

Step 4.

Trim the ends of your concertina into rounded shapes, this will make your flower look like it has petals.

Step 5.

Carefully open up the concertina into a circle and gently start lifting and separating each layer of tissue paper, one by one. This bit is fiddly so take your time!

Step 6.

Admire your beautiful bloom and make some more!

Have fun and don’t forget to show us how you get on!

Tulip Origami

At Heathlands we are looking forward to spring. So we thought we’d share this simple paper fold / origami with you all to make a bouquet of everlasting tulips!

Tissue Paper Jar Lanterns

Inspired by all the beautiful wild flowers blooming at the moment we’ve made a lovely tea light lantern from a jar and some tissue paper. It looks really beautiful all lit up. We’re using a battery powered tea light in ours, if you want to use a real candle remember to never leave it unattended when it’s lit and make sure it’s not near anything flammable.

You will need:

Tissue paper (we’ve used blue and green for the background and pinks and yellows for the flowers)
Glass jar (washed and dried)
Glue (PVA works well)
Scissors
Tea light

Step 1.

Cut or rip up your tissue paper for the background into small pieces. We’re making a simple design with sky, grass and flowers but you can use your imagination and either make your own design or just use a riot of colours!

Step 2.

Cut out flower shapes from your other bits of tissue paper.

Step 3.

Cover part of the jar with PVA glue and then start layering up your background tissue paper onto the glue. Work around the jar until the whole jar is covered.

Step 4.

Add spots of glue where you want your flowers and then carefully stick them on top.

Step 5.

Give the whole jar a coat of PVA and allow to dry.

Step 6.

Add in your tea light, light it up and enjoy! Have fun and don’t forget to share your makes with us!