30 Days to Creativity

Posted on June 1, 2023 by Esther Chase

Day Two

Did you know the flower name “calla lily” is mistakenly attributed to the flower called zantedeschia?

Technically, callas are different.

Zantedeschia is a genus of eight species of herbaceous, perennial, flowering plants in the family Araceae, originating from southern Africa extending north to Malawi. The name of the genus was given as a tribute to Italian botanist Giovanni Zantedeschi (1773–1846) by the German botanist Kurt Sprengel (1766–1833).
Wikipedia

Callas are a humble native to the northern hemisphere where they grow wild in bogs and ponds, while zantedeschia are native to South Africa and have been cultivated as elegant ornamentals.

During the flower language boom in the Victorian era, there were strict social codes; flowers were considered the best medium to express feelings. Each type of flower was associated with a symbolic meaning. Due to the flower’s resemblance to female genitalia, a gift of one delivered an overtly sexual message. This meaning was popularized by admirers like Freud and artists like Georgia O’Keeffe.
Wikipedia

It’s no wonder their curves get so much attention! I just couldn’t resist choosing this one as my first floral figure.

I wonder what my flowers would look like with more practice… Then again, maybe the primitive style works. I also look forward to the improvement of digital art tools, which would make the creative process easier.

In the past, I would draw things on paper and then scan them as images so I could edit them on the computer. Now that I have an iPad with the Canva app and an Apple Pencil, I am challenging myself to draw digitally, but it’s not without challenges.

For today’s image, I tried drawing it with the Apple Pencil and I liked how it was working, but then the Canva app froze. To continue from there, I had to transfer myself to the desktop so I could use a mouse.