Drawing Little Pink Flowers on Textured Paper Is Not Easy

December 14, 2025

On Wednesday (December 10), when I brought “Juneau in Wild Sunflowers” to be framed, the part-time framing expert admired the picture. She loved the sunflowers and realized just how much work went into them. She was so impressed that she asked me how small I could draw flowers. Bruce being very proud of my talent, jumped in before I could say anything. “She can draw really small flowers.”

I agreed that I could draw small flowers. She asked me to wait while she got something. She brought out a piece of textured dark cream colored paper with a name, weight, and birthday of a baby girl. The information was about the size of an address, and centered at the top of the page. The font was also centered.

She wanted a small pastel pink flower with leaves on each side of the birthdate. The birthdate was at the bottom of the rest of the information.

She told me that several artists had not listened and created something she wasn’t looking for. I am very good at listening to gather requirements (All those years working with business officers to create software paid off).

When I got home, I looked for my colored pencils. I didn’t find them. After thinking about it, I remembered giving them to my daughter when we downsized to go full-time RVing.

On Thursday, we took the new car to Tuscumbia, AL to get the car tag. After getting the tag, we ate brunch at Superhero Chefs. We stopped at Walmart on the way home so I could buy some colored pencils. They didn’t have a big set, but they had a set I thought would work.

Once home, I practiced drawing tiny pink flowers on my smooth drawing paper until I felt they were small enough. I tried to draw the flowers on the textured paper, beside the birthdate. The flowers came out bigger than expected; I wasn’t prepared for the way the textured paper interacted with the pencils. The flowers were still small, just not as small as I wanted.

Yesterday (Saturday, December 13), Bruce and I went to Frames and Things Custom Framing in Florence, AL to give the paper with the tiny flowers to the part-time framing expert.

She wasn’t working that day, so the owner called her to let her know I had brought in my attempt. He sent her a text with a picture of my pink flower drawings next to the birthdate. I mentioned I had brought my pencils if the flowers weren’t small enough, so I could try again. She was happy with how it looked. She told the owner to let me know she’d take me out for coffee. I was happy it worked out.

I didn’t take a picture of the finished picture since it included information I don’t feel comfortable sharing.

Here are some of my practice flowers.