A Growing Plant.
Hyacinths and tulips grow easily indoors, and their bright blossoms fill the florists' windows just at the time when we are beginning to grow tired of winter and to look forward to the coming of spring. You can plant bulbs so that they will grow and blossom in the school-room. There is nothing more beautiful for a window decoration than a row of tulips, hyacinths, or daffodils.
A growing plant of this kind is a fine study in still life. We enjoy looking at it, and we become much interested in trying to express its beauty. We are beginning to understand some of the elements or laws of beauty.
Let us study the drawing on this page. We have found that a group of still life, a spray of plant growth, or a landscape should show variety in shapes, in sizes of shapes, and in light and dark, or values. Does the hyacinth show these contrasts? Notice the shape of the mass of bloom, as differing from the shapes of the long, slender leaves, the stem, and the flower-pot. You will also find large shapes and small in different parts of the sketch. The flower-pot and the mass of bloom are large in proportion to the leaves and stem. Contrast and variety in color you can easily see.
Make a drawing with colored crayons or with water-colors from a growing plant, in bloom. Select one that shows simple growth, few leaves, and a bright mass of color in the blossom.