Learning with @roninrelax's Artistic Contest №2 - Fruits of Trees

I love art, most forms of art but my education in art was only in pre-school and primary school. Most of the time, it was more crafts than art of drawing or colouring or painting.

When I joined Steemit in March, boy, I was blown away by all the amazing works of great artists on this platform, most of whom have graciously shared their deep knowledge on how they drew and painted from start to completion, be it on nature, landscapes, architectures, portraits, abstracts, fantasy or anything! I am so thankful to be on this platform, getting to know all you amazing people. I believe this is one of the power of this platform, the wealth of knowledge that is shared here and the friendships built are priceless.

Two Saturdays ago, @roninrelax launched a contest called Learn and Draw - Artistic and educational contest. His first contest, Contest №1 from Roninrelax : - Learn and Draw - Artistic and educational contest was to identify three tree barks and draw their leaves. But, I have not seen the barks before, and was not sure how to start searching because I do not know how to begin to describe a bark 😅.

Then, @roninrelax launched the second contest last week, Contest №2 from Roninrelax : - Learn and Draw - Artistic and educational contest. This time, he gave the answers to the trees' names and this round, was to draw the fruits or seed bags of these trees which were Maple, Acacia and Pine trees.

I was tempted and was not sure how to start but I did, thanks to @oliviackl 😊🤗😘. She took the first courageous step to post her drawing and I was inspired to try this myself too.

So, off to Google I went, searching for Maple fruit, Acacia fruit and Pine fruit. This I believe is part of the learning that @roninrelax was referring to, in his contest title. I got to learn how Maple, Acacia and Pine fruits look like, or seed bags they are referred to sometimes.

I never knew the cute little cones that I first saw and liked in Kyoto, Japan years ago were pine cones! I even kept them as souvenirs :D I didn't know too that the pine nuts that I love eating comes from the Pine cones! What a discovery! (Thank you @roninrelax for this education 😊. Through this mini education too, I found out that there are many different species of Acacia, Maple and Pine that even the fruits are of different shapes and colours. I was spoiled with choices to choose one sample photo of each fruit to start drawing.

I took a sketch book I bought some moons ago and armed with a 3B pencil (which I also bought some moons ago, hoping to start drawing, together with the sketch book) plus my ever ready colour pencils, I started sketching, first with Acacia:

Acacia fruit or seed pods look like a bigger version of pea pods.

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Then, I moved on to Pine Cones:

I noticed how artists usually start by sketching basic shapes of their objects before they add form to the object/s they are drawing or painting. So, I tried that with the cones but truthfully, I was not that happy with the cones. I tried a couple of times but they still do not look right.

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Next, I moved on to Maple fruits:

I have to say, Maple fruits or seed pods look like cute bums with wings! So adorable!😄😁

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Then, I figured that I should add some colour to these babies and I started with the Maple fruits:

This is one of the Red Maple species (I think).

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Next, I moved on to the Pine Cones, hoping that by colouring them, they might look prettier 😅:

Maybe just a little 🤣 and that is when I decided to add some pine nuts, how about that? 😅

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Last but not least, the Acacia:

It really wasn't easy to match the colours, the different shades, the shadows and all, following the sample photos but I tried. One thing's for sure, I truly respect and salute artists who draw and colour objects, landscapes and portraits so hyper-realistically!

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Here is the final result:

I quite like it, although I know I could do better given more time, more patience and more practice.

Essentially, this exercise has taught me:

• a little about Maple, Acacia and Pine trees, at least enough to know how their leaves and fruits look like 😁.
• that nature and all its wonders is beautiful.
• that if it wasn't for this contest, I would never have gone looking or searching for this type of information. Thank you very much @roninrelax and @barski 🙃.
• that it takes patience to keep trying, to draw what I see and to follow the shapes and curves.
• that I have much to learn about shapes and colours. It is not easy to follow shapes to its original form and it is not easy to identify the shades of colour, following the sample photos, mixing the colours right to get the closest shade.
• that I need to keep at it, to practice drawing and colouring, opening my mind to learn from others and to persevere.
• that I had fun drawing and colouring this, although a little stressed too because the colours and shapes do not seem to match 😅.

Why don't you join me in the next contest? 😊

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