Researching Flowers

Sometimes I can't find the real flower I want to make or someone asks me to make a flower I don't have time to find. My only other option is to look it up on the Internet. There is a world of info out there from photos to oil painting and a lot in between. I tend to do a lot of research on the Internet even if I have the real flower. I can see the range of color, different species, close up shots, their leaves or buds, I can really find a lot out just with a bit of research.

Today I wanted to make a Freesia but I don't have a real one handy so I went on YouTube and looked it up. I found people post a lot on flowers and found a short video of a time lapse of the Freesia which I gave the link to.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bI15fctUZRc&feature=related 

It is very helpful to see it this way and I even got to see the inside of the flower  showing what the stamens look like. I also googled Freesia flowers to find out what they look like and how they can be used in arrangements, the colors and whatever else I can find.

So, now that I have done some research I am able to figure out what cutters I need to make the flower, what types of stamens it has, how it grows, the colors, markings, pretty much everything I need to get started. As much as I would love a real flower in front of me it isn't always possible, but the next best thing are the posting on the Internet.

Here is one example of a Freesia I found to use as a model 



Real freesia to model after