Saturday, April 29, 2017

Overgrown African Violet


I have always had plants in my dwellings, even when I lived in a tiny college dorm room. The one you see above is an African violet, the houseplant with the fuzzy leaves and purple flowers which appears in countless windowsills or dreary offices. Most African violets perish of neglect. This one, placed in a sunny window, just sat there for years with only minimal care from me, watering with a touch of fertilizer every few months. It lost a lot of leaves, but it also kept growing, and growing, and blooming in a rather boring magenta color. It got bigger and bigger, put out more leaves and flowers, dropped them and grew some more. Today I gave it some attention, removed handfuls of spent flowers and leaves, and pruned it a bit. Will it still keep growing? African violets are threatened in their original habitat but seem to thrive in mine despite everything. I used to have a collection of colorful African violets and maybe I'll get some more. This drawing is dedicated to the "Random Stuff In My House" theme.

Black tech pen ink on sketchbook page, 8" x  5", April 28, 2017.

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