It’s rather foggy and damp today in Sacramento, so I’ve been thinking about a day-trip my sketching buddy Laura and I took one hot day last summer, to Butterfly Valley in Plumas County, California. We actually used our art supplies this time, instead of just driving them around all day……ahem. But that’s another post.
Butterfly Valley is famous, in botanical circles, for the 5 species of native carnivorous plants that thrive there. Our quarry was the Cobra Lily, or Darlingtonia californica. It’s not a lily at all, but a pitcher plant.

Stand of Darlingtonia californica in Butterfly Valley
I’ve been fascinated with carnivorous plants for awhile now…aren’t they strange looking?

A little red on this one...
I was looking for one that wasn’t all green all over; even though plants are my specialty, the green, green, green is rather boring to draw sometimes. The more variable ones were in direct sunlight where it was really too hot to sit for any length of time. So I found a spot in filtered sunlight and sat for about 5 hours or so. I was going to do a double-page spread in my large sketchbook, but that was taking too long.

Green, green, green
I settled for a portrait of one pitcher, in a smaller sketchbook. The sketchbook is a Hand Book Journal, 5.5″x8.25″. I like this one because the paper is buff-colored, and has a little tooth to it, and takes a little watercolor well. It also has this nifty elastic closure, so if the paper buckles a little bit, it will still smooth out later.

My field kit, with work in progress
Below is the finished sketch. I used my favorite green, a combination of Winsor Yellow with Sap Green (Holbein). A little Moonglow (Daniel Smith) in the shadows, and a touch of Alizarin Crimson and a little Burnt Umber here and there.

Sketch of Darlingtonia pitcher
I plan to spend more time in Butterfly Valley next summer, so look for more posts in the future!