Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Sunflower Seeds in Snazzy Striped Shells...And Ai WeiWei

14" x 14", Prismacolor colored pencil on Strathmore Vellum Bristol

I was preparing to plant some Mammoth sunflower seeds, but became distracted admiring their snazzy striped shells. Next thing I knew, I was drawing, not planting. 

While researching sunflower seeds for some fun facts to include here–lest anyone think me odd for drawing a few sunflower seeds–I ran across the phenomenal installation at the Tate in London by the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei in 2010. He and his artisans made and hand-painted millions of ceramic sunflower seeds. I can't even begin to explain it well; you must check it out here. (Suddenly, I felt a bit less odd for drawing nine of them.). 


Let's hope that the squirrels and birds allow these seeds to grow into big, cheerful sunflower faces in my summer garden!

1 comment:

  1. Beautiful! I love them. You often draw things I've noticed as beautiful at one time or another but never thought to do as art. I'm glad you notice them and take the time to do such things.

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