A-Z Challenge

AprilA2Z Art Sketching through the Alphabet “I”

April 11, 2017 /

Hello, Kitten & Dawgs!  I’m delighted you joined me for the next A2Z alphabet prompt with art sketching through the alphabet and today’s letter “I”.

Long ago, we had the best next door neighbor. When we moved into this house, Joe, was a single man and very personable. He was a gentle soul, warm, kind, and friendly to a fault.  Along the front bank of his house, he planted dozens of purple iris plants. In the spring when they bloomed they stood majestically tall but it’s their sweet perfume I remember the most filling my nostrils while watching our small girls play on their swing set.

It’s been many years now since Joe who eventually married and moved to the other end of the city. The new homeowners apparently didn’t share a love for irises and dug them up, tossing them away. Had I known what they were going to do, I would have requested some of the bulbs for transplant to our yard. I miss the scent and the memories associated with the iris.

This sketch would look nice as a watercolor design which I hope to try. Perhaps, I’ll use it as this year’s Mother’s Day card creation.

I hope my contribution in this challenge encourages you to stop putting off the pursuit of your own passions, fear of failure is not an option.  My advice is, just do it! Maybe, you’ll be surprised. I know I was! 🙂

Ignite my inner flame with your “I” inspirations! Any inkling? Impress upon me in comments your ideas and if I use ’em then I’ll inform others of your ingeniousness!

I’m heading off to link up with other fellow AtoZers and you’re invited to come along.  I’ll see you on tomorrow for the next installment of Art Sketching through the Alphabet!

A2Z Art Sketching Through the  Alphabet post recap:

  1. “A” for Angels
  2. “B” for Boys, little
  3. “C” is for Cows, Chicken & Chicks, and Big Cats
  4. “D” for Dog
  5. “E” is for Elephant, Eagle, & Elk
  6. “F” is for Fence, Fox, & Frog
  7. “G” is for Girls
  8. “H” is for Horses

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35 Comments

  • Birgit

    April 11, 2017 at 11:30 pm

    This is really well done including the shading. I love irises and had the, for a while but they started looking icky so my hubby dug them up. I wish they would have looked as beautiful as other people have I. Their yards or as your former neighbour had them. At least you have wonderful memories

  • lorigg

    April 11, 2017 at 7:07 pm

    I have tried to grow irises which I received from a neighbor who was dividing her clump. Sadly they have died in my yard. I think your drawing would make a wonderful watercolor. Hopefully you give it a try and share the results here.

    • Cathy Kennedy

      April 12, 2017 at 7:36 am

      Annie, I’m getting such wonderful feedback with my sketches. I was nervously excited to share these with everyone and I’m delighted I took the leap of faith to give this a try. Thanks for your continued support, my friend!

  • Mary B

    April 11, 2017 at 5:55 pm

    Growing up, we had iris plants along the sides of the house. Each year they would come up and bloom. We had a multitude of colors, but the blues and purples were my favorite.

    Can’t wait to see what you do for J!

    ~Mary
    Jingle Jangle Jungle
    #AtoZChallenge 1970’s Billboard Hits

    • Cathy Kennedy

      April 12, 2017 at 7:36 am

      Mary, the blue and purples ones are my favorite, too. I don’t know if the other colors smell as good as the purple ones our neighbor had or not but they were a delight to smell. Thanks for visiting!

  • XmasDolly

    April 11, 2017 at 5:46 pm

    Those are great drawings my friend. I think I can almost say flowers are your forte! I use to wonder how did the flowers get in my backyard cuz they’re long orange ones (Dave says they’re called “Day Lilies”).. I don’t know what they’re called. You see I don’t plant flowers on our property because I’m allergic to bees. I plant leafy ones just. By the way if you know any good ones with no flowers besides hastas I’d appreciate the pointers. Anyway, Dave says it’s because birds eat seeds and when they fly over & let their poop go they fall on our property and WAH LAH we get flowers.. bwahahahaha what do you think? make sense??? Also, if you have any pointers about helping my tree to grow I’d appreciate it. I have a baby tree that needs help… I really don’t have a green thumb when it comes to that… just veggies.. hehehe HUGS

    • Cathy Kennedy

      April 12, 2017 at 7:34 am

      Marie, Oh WOW, you’re allergic to bees?! That’s too bad. I’m not a gardener, so I don’t have any suggestions to offer you, my friend. I wish I did but the truth is with our soil being so horrible I threw in the towel years ago and gave up trying to do anything. However, if I come across anything that might help then I’ll be sure to pass it on to you and the best of luck to ya! 😉

  • luvviealex

    April 11, 2017 at 3:25 pm

    Oh what a shame about the irises. I do love bulbs but we don’t have the climate for growing them successfully here. It’s just too warm.

    • Cathy Kennedy

      April 12, 2017 at 7:21 am

      In our dream house someday I hope to have a lovely yard with the right soil where I can plant lots and lots of bulbs for a spring spectacular display. 🙂 Thanks for visiting!

  • John Holton

    April 11, 2017 at 1:33 pm

    Very nice! Irises and daffodils are similar, aren’t they? Maybe even cousins.

    Mary and I both have black thumbs. Anything we plant ends up dying.

    • Cathy Kennedy

      April 11, 2017 at 9:22 pm

      John, I don’t know if irises and daffodils are similar other than they are perennials. Irises are taller and the flower shapes are different. They could be related, though. I’m not much of a gardener, either. Maybe if we had better soil then I’d enjoy it more. Thanks for visiting!

  • Kaddu

    April 11, 2017 at 7:59 am

    Oh! That’s so cruel! I hate people who throw away green plants… plants that are still alive. If you don’t want them, at least gift/donate them to somebody who’s willing to take care of them!
    That flower sketch looks pretty. You’re right… it should look lovely with water colors. I think it will make for a great card!
    Happy AtoZing!
    Chicky @ http://www.mysteriouskaddu.com

    • Cathy Kennedy

      April 11, 2017 at 12:49 pm

      Thank you for the return visit, Kaddu! I guess it’s always possible that the owners had no clue what they were uprooting. It’s a shame, though. The scent was so beautiful. Have a good day!

    • Cathy Kennedy

      April 11, 2017 at 7:25 am

      If I’ve stirred something in you, then I say hooray – go for it! Sometimes we get away from the things we enjoy doing to pursue other things and we forget how much we like doing them. It takes another person to remind us of these things sometimes. I hope you pick these things up again. Thank you for the return visit, my friend!

  • lindamaycurry

    April 11, 2017 at 6:55 am

    I love irises. My husband spent his youth in Iris Ave so I bought him a coffee cup with irises on it. The house where he lived (and so did I for three years) has been demolished. The memory of irises lingers on.

    • Cathy Kennedy

      April 11, 2017 at 7:27 am

      Linda, Ahh, that’s sweet! Perhaps you can plant irises where you live now. I’d love to plant some but our soil is so horrible to work with and we really need some quality top soil put down before anything will grow properly. This isn’t going to happen, though. I’m hoping with our next house purchase the owners will have done this already. 🙂

  • Thomas Anderson

    April 11, 2017 at 5:43 am

    Good morning and happy “I” day to you, Cathy!

    Your neighbor story reminds me of my own. Mrs. Shady and I selected the lots on which to build our house because our property is adjacent to a pretty wooded area and we love a natural setting. The trees are old, tall and pleasing to the eye. They offer shelter and cover for birds, squirrels and other forms of wildlife. We had a nice family with a tiny child living next door to us, but they moved away and another couple moved in. Before I knew it the man had hired a tree removal service and, one by one, the majestic trees that technically stood on the rear portion of his property but, for all intents and purposes, were part of the woods, were all chopped down. Trees that had stood proudly for decades, perhaps a hundred years, toppled in a matter of minutes. Worst of all, shortly after the guy decided to butcher the woods, he too moved away, leaving a field of unsightly stumps for us to look at when we gaze out of our back windows. Some people…

    I like your fancy font spelling “Iris” and the sketch of the flowers themselves. I can almost smell them through the screen! I agree that it would be a great idea to colorize this drawing and give it a watercolor effect.

    Have a wonderful day, dear friend Cathy!

    • Cathy Kennedy

      April 11, 2017 at 7:44 am

      Tom,

      I love trees edging our property boundary and for the privacy it offers. This is one thing we will look for when we purchase our next house but we do not want any trees near the house. We had all the pine trees in our backyard, it’s really a bank, taken down a few years ago. You probably know that pine trees do not have a good root system making them easier to topple with the right circumstances and we had four or five that would’ve come down on our house. Not long after we had the most dangerous ones removed, our neighbor down the street from us was not so lucky when a massive pine tree (more than a foot in diameter, maybe two at the base) crashed on top of their house. It took weeks to remove and months to repair the damage. DH actually heard it fall the night before but didn’t know what it was until the next day when he came home from work. All I kept thinking was, “Oh I’m so glad we got the worrisome ones gone before that cold snap”.

      That’s just too bad about y’all neighbors. Did you or have you considered planting some trees along your property border? I’m sure you can find some trees/shrubs that are fast growing. If in our next place, we need something like this then we will probably hire it done and get some trees that are larger than what we can handle planted for privacy. I think we may have to postpone house hunting this year with everything we got going on with DH eye and impending surgeries. We’re hoping he can have the oil bubble (from the retina re-attachment) and cataract surgery done at the same time. He saw his doctor again yesterday. Everything is looking good and doesn’t have to go back for 2-3 weeks which makes us think these surgeries may be weeks or even months away. It’s hard for DH to be patient through this process. He wants his vision to improve and I don’t blame him but I also have to remind him to see these steps as a blessing because he could be blind in that eye now but God’s goodness kept this from happening.

      Thanks for visiting, my friend. Have a good day!

  • Arlee Bird

    April 11, 2017 at 12:10 am

    Several years ago my youngest daughter planted three irises in our back yard, Every year I’ve forgotten they were there until they come up again. This morning I noticed the tall green stalks and I guess they’ll be blooming soon.

    Arlee Bird
    Tossing It Out

    • Cathy Kennedy

      April 11, 2017 at 7:06 am

      Lee, Ah, at least the iris are still coming up! I planted some tulips and daffodils years ago but in this horrible clay soil they did ok the first couple of years and then nothing. I’m not going to put anything in the ground again until we have better soil. So, until that time I use planters if I want blooming flowers. Speaking of which, I need to plant my marigolds. Have a good day and thanks for visiting!

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