Delicate snowdrops
I treaded carefully among the brown leaves as I tiptoed though a path of snowdrops. Their emerging leaves pushing their way up through the ground and into the cold winter air. Tiny clusters of white lanterns, the snowdrops bring some welcome beauty to the winter months, and an optimism that spring is not too far away.
Galanthus (snowdrop; Greek gála "milk", ánthos "flower") is a small genus of about 20 species of bulbous perennial herbaceous plants in the family Amaryllidaceae. The plants have two linear leaves and a single small white drooping bell shaped flower with six petal-like (petaloid) tepals in two circles (whorls). The smaller inner petals have green markings.
Snowdrops have been known since the earliest times under various names but were named Galanthus in 1753.
Trying to steal the limelight with flashes of purple and white, these crocus bulbs are also beginning to appear, but for me the snowdrops are still the stars of the show.
Time for a spot of drawing
The page is painted with a wash of colour. Once dry circular shapes are painted in with acrylic paints in soft greens and blue. Then the snowdrops are sketched in with pencil, before pen is added over the top.
'First Snowdrops'
