Chapter 4 | FLOWERS AND MUSHROOMS

You can also sometimes use ovals to copy flowers. For the basic shape of this daffodil I used three (left). Drawing the petals becomes a lot easier after that.

Exercise 1: Try to draw this daffodil or find another flower that you can draw using ovals.

You can also draw mushrooms using ovals. In the example, a tubercle manite is drawn. First only the outlines are drawn with the use of 4 ovals, then the details.

Exercise 2: Find a picture of a mushroom (or a real mushroom) that you can draw using ovals.

Editing of an illustration (courtesy of Getty images and NRC dated October 9, 2021)

THE STORY OF NARCISSUS

There’s a story in ancient Greece mythology about a young man named Narcissus, a story that’s connected to the daffodil. As a punishment from the gods, Narcissus fell deeply in love with himself (maybe because he rejected the love of a goddess). So when he saw his reflection in the water, he couldn’t stop looking at it anymore. He thus turned into a flower on the bank of the water. That flower was named Narcissus, the flower we know as a daffodil, every spring again bowing it’s head to look at its own reflection in the water.

EXTRA: Draw your own Narcissus-creature who is in love with itself.