11.10.21 - More Mushroom drawings

 

Today I was going to check up on my test tiles in the ceramics room but the building was closed due to a power outage, so instead I did some more mushroom drawings because I really enjoyed that last time.

Before resuming my watercolour paintings I tried out some wax/oil crayons on black paper and I like how vibrant the colours look but I equally enjoy the more subtle shades that the watercolours create.

I used www.wildfooduk.com/mushroom-guide/ to find more images to draw from and I found some really interesting mushrooms that I'd never seen before with funny old fashioned names like 'Horn of Plenty' and 'Destroying Angel' but I chose to draw from ones I found most visually interesting rather than the best names. I really like the range of colours, from muted browns to vivid ruby and purple shades, and there are so many different shapes and forms, some of them look quite other-worldly and strange. The website also shows whether the mushrooms poisonous and to me it highlights the duality of nature - some fungi are (subjectively) beautiful but deadly while others are ugly yet still edible, and humans had to learn this by trial and error. I think writing the names of the mushrooms with the Latin gives the drawings an informative aspect and I think it complements the illustrative style quite well because it reminds me of wildlife identification books, particularly old ones with the hand drawn pictures.

The Great Wood Mushroom

Honey fungus

Orange Peel Fungus

Grey Spotted Amanita

Ruby Bolete

Lilac Bonnet

Jubilee Waxcap

Amethyst Deciever

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