Night Poppies
Nyctinasty
As I was watering the garden one evening I noticed that some of the flowers closed up their petals for the night, this process is called nyctinasty. There are different theories as to why some plants do this, one theory is that this process helps protect the pollen from becoming damp, another is that the plants are conserving their scent. I noticed the poppies in my garden began to do this in the early evening as the air was cooling.
Painting with ink
I used the folded petals of the poppy flowers as inspiration for my ink painting 'Night Poppies'.
Masking tape was applied to areas of the paper, then a crumpled up damp tissue was applied to part of the paper and ink was added with a brush.
When the damp tissue was removed if left a range of tones and pattern in the background of the image. Lines were added over the the top of this using a brush.
The masking tape was removed to reveal areas of white in the foreground of the image.
There is a plant in our area called "Princess of the Night" which closes its flowers in the night and spreads fragrance in the night.
Is that a night blooming cactus flower?
Don't know the English name. Probably the same plant which spreads fragrance in night.
Cool work ^^ I totally thought that this is charcoal :D The way you painted texture.
I think the brush strokes give that impression- one of the brushes i use has slightly damaged bristles so I use that for creating this type of mark making.
Nice artwork as usual! Nyctinasty is really a fascinating part of the life of flowers ^_^
Thank you - yes it is!
Now I have to try out that dump tissue moment, love the outcome a lot. Thank you for sharing @opheliafu.
I've tried it with watercolours too - works nicely
Thanks for the tip :) Sure I will try it.
amazing art,,,,thanks for sharing
Nice @opheliafu
really awesome art....
@opheliafu this is OMG stuff.. simply beautiful ..
excellent art friend..i like ti 😱😱😱
Beautiful piece, and interesting technique...I had not thought of using the tissue paper in that way...I may try this soon...Looking forward to seeing more of your work.