Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Illustration Friday - Snap



The IF theme this week is "snap". So here you have a bunch of "snap dragons."

The brightly colored flowers are so named because of the way you can snap the flower heads and make the little dragons open and close their mouths. I've never actually done this to one of these flowers, even as a kid, but I guess many kids enjoy doing this. I remember these flowers growing in my mom's garden when I was young. I've always loved their bold splash of color, but I personally have never really had good luck with them. I've tried growing them from seed before and they took 2 years to finally bloom. The ones I planted from the nursery never seemed to live long. I think they needed more organic matter in the soil. Something that mountain dirt lacks sometimes - too much decomposed granite. I'm sure I'll try again some day, and I'll be sure to add something to the soil. Then I may get to see these little dragons snap!

  • Here it is on ebay.

  • It's an ACEO (2.5x3.5 inches), watercolor and pen and ink.

    6 comments:

    janie said...

    lovely illo, brings back memories of my friends mom giving out yards 'cause we beheaded all her snapdragons to play with as you were describing in your blog.

    Anonymous said...

    Great take on the word. I LOVED snap dragons as a kid!!

    Michelle Lana said...

    Very nice~

    trudette said...

    Looks like you had a lot of fun making this picture, great find.

    Unknown said...

    fun illo!!

    Gerushia's New World said...

    Oh, this is so clever. I love the way you captured the particular color that so many snap dragons wear. It's that pinkish, yellowish, salmonish color. I have some snaps growing in my garden right now that are just that color.

    Kim
    Garden Painter Art
    gnarly-dolls