I started over on the design for the invitation. The plan was, this time, to go for more of a botanical illustration, and have it be ten roses. The party was for people with even decade birthdays at a park with a rose garden consisting of many types.

I went to the flower store to buy a rose or selection of roses. I ended up buying just one rose, a red one. Here’s  a photo of it:

I also got a selection of rose petals from the store. Here’s a photo of ten of them:

I drew the model rose ten times from various angles to make up the design. Here’s a photo of the partially completed drawing:

Here’s a photo of the finished drawing:

Next, I painted the drawing with watercolor. Here’s a scan of the finished painting:

I scanned in the watercolor and readied it for a quarter page note card. I ran off the cards on an inkjet printer. Here’s a scan of the front of one of the note cards:

-Troy Blum

I got a commission for an invitation card for a common birthday party for people who have birthdays of an even decade. The location for the party has a circular rose garden.

My first thought was a cake with ten roses on it and the number 10 in the center.

My initial ball point pen sketch:

Then I did this sketch on the computer:

This was my first idea: 10 roses to represent the 10 year birthdays on a cake. My criticism of it was that the roses look more like tulips.

The clients decided against the cake idea. Also, the way the boards of the table were all the same size made it look as much as the side of a building as a table. They requested more of a botanical illustration. So, it was back to the drawing board.

-Troy Blum

I started three new paintings taking the approach of starting on an underpainted canvas and just almost randomly putting dots of maybe 1, 2, or 3 colors and seeing if anything suggests itself. Then, I was starting to bring out some of what I seemed to be seeing among the almost random dots.

Here’s a beginning on three paintings:

-Troy Blum

These paintings are all recent starts. They were made by dotting just a few different colors of paint onto the surface. I’m not sure whether to make them more definite or not, but I think they need more work. They’re a bit like eidetic images you might see with closed eyes, falling asleep.

Any comments?

-Troy Blum