Chapter 5 | FLOWERS AND MUSHROOMS

For the daffodil that blooms in March and April, three ovals have been used in which the petals fit. On the left you can still see all three in pencil.

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.