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Ellygator — Moonflowers 1
Published: 2004-11-11 20:07:25 +0000 UTC; Views: 4032; Favourites: 83; Downloads: 92
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Description
(2003) 3'x2' Colored pastels (Schmincke) on light grey cardboard.This is a drawing of moonflowers (inoxia datura) that I grow in my backyard in Texas.
Moonflowers are beautiful plants. The flowers have the size of a child's lower arm and splayed hand, are pure white in color and only open in the evening. The next morning they wilt at sunrise. They have the most amazing scent: a mix of jasmine, lime and cucumber. Moths go crazy over them. I've seen some the size of small sparrows come to drink.
Moonflowers are poisonous as they are members of the nightshade family. Their alkaloids will induce hallucinations and tradition maintains that they were one of the ingredients of witche's salve.
I had to draw this after a photograph, as the flowers only open at dusk and die at dawn.
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Comments: 68
Thank you so much! I am very happy you like it.
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Thank you! I have a whole batch of them in my back yard. They come back every year... Love them.
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Thank you! I am still amazed by them every year when they bloom!
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Beautiful!! I love the way you got them to glow
I love moon flowers, I have planted vines for several years just off my patio. I live in South Texas too
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Thank you! I am so glad you are growing some yourself and can enjoy them for real! Isn't their scent just something else on a warm summer evening? And the whole bush shimmering in the evening half-light with hawk-moths all over the blossoms. Just magical!
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They are wonderful! I collect the seed pods every year so I can replant them
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Same here. I just got some seeds from a purple variant on holiday in the Caribbean. I'll try and grow them this year. If they're viable and you're interested I can let you know and send you some seeds when they have pods this fall. The blossoms are a deep purple, the stems black and the leaves pretty much like the white variant. I believe the scientific name for this species is datura metel, the white ones are datura inoxia.
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okay that link I sent didn't work: [link] 
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Oh, fabulous! That's actually a good site for seeds of all sorts of plants. I'll bookmark that one! Thanks.
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Oh! look what I found! [link]
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Those sound wonderful!! Are the purple ones as fragrant as the whites?
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The bush I took the seeds from didn't seem to have that strong a scent, but what I smelt seemed to be a little sweeter than the citrus and cucumber scent that the white ones have...
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Thank you! I love having these amazing flowers in the garden in the summer.
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Now you have them not only in the garden, but also in your home
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Yes, I was thinking the first winter I had the drawing how nice it was even if I had to cut back the actual flowers after the first few night frosts, to still have a memory of them to look at.
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this is lovely
these are some of my favorite flowers...
when i first signed up here on dA, i had seen this painting, and loved it...
i did not know how to fave at the time...
this evening, i was showing a friend your gallery, because i love all your beautiful creations...
and then as i came to the end, i saw, once again, this lovely picture.
i will fave it now...
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Thank you! It was for me one of the most ambitious projects I have ever done, because of the size and the colors. I worked on it (and it's companion) for several weeks. I am very glad you like it.
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This is simply beautyful! A wonderful drawing - actually I thought it was a photo when I saw the thumbnailpic.
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Thank you so much! I really love these flowers.
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Wow I've never seen this one b4, it's bloody fantastic ^^ ur coloring skills are insane
And I found the lizard as well ^^
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Thank you! It's very far back in the gallery...
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U should do more stuff like this
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I have one "Moonflowers II" [link] , but I agree, I would love to draw my purple irises and my passion flowers one of these days. Just need more wall space...
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wow this ones also wondeful, and again I see the lizard ^^
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Thank you! It was fun hiding the little anoles among all the green...
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These are really, really beautiful. I love the shading and the realistic detail in the picture!
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Thank you very much! We have them growing in our garden every summer and I'm just in love with them.
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Thank you very much! I love these flowers.
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Thought it was some photo manipulation ... Really great and artistic feeling in it ! +fav
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Thank you very much! I used photos as reference, but the drawing is 100% paper and pastels.
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Rich and gorgeous colors and texture. The drawing and overall composition is outstanding.
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Thank you so much! It's one of the largest and most ambitious pieces I've ever done because of the size and choice of media...
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You're welcome! I'm happy you saw it through, because it's so beautiful and inspiring.
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i have a painting/collage in my gallery about datura. You should also check out tori amos's song "datura" from her album "to Venus & Back" it's really really cool.
-nicole
ps. THAT IS AMAZING!!!! everything you do amazes me! I love your gallery, i can look at it all day long
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Thank you! Just checked on your painting. I think it's spot on in depicting the mysterious essence of the plant. I'll have to go check on the song sometime. Thanks for the recommendation!
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Masterful. So realistic and so beautifully done. You've captured not only the flowers but also that soft and strange dusk light. An inspirational piece - makes me want to pick up my pastels, but then again... *envy*, sigh.
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Thank you! That and its companion piece was really an unusual project for me. It took me quite a time - unusual technique for me, and a very large format. But somehow those flowers seemed to possess me until I had drawn them like that. I have a huge bush of them in my back-yard every year.
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That's gorgeous... o.o
I'm listening to sad music at the moment and seeing this made me cry ^3^;
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Oh no! But really it is a bit mysterious and melancholy. I'm still kind of surprised by this piece, it just sort of demanded to be made and then almost drew itself. I look at it and wonder whether it was really me. But the flowers that inspired it are very powerful.
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I thought it was a photograph when I saw the thumbnail, it's gorgeous :3
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