Capturing a flower

I seem to be working on a series of garden views from our back porch.  It didn't begin as a series.  The porch was just a comfortable location to work from.  I just keep spotting new things to sketch and paint.  Now that there are 11 finished journal pages and two more in process, I realize it has become a series.

The first journal entry was done last March, shortly after I finished the Watercolor Journaling workshop.  It is all about lines and shapes and almost monochromatic due to the lack of flowers and birds.  A winter garden view.

The latest entries in the series were started on July 4th, and include a Lavender Crepe Myrtle in full bloom.  As I was working on inking the sketches today I realized the Crepe Myrtle blooms are fading and may all be gone before I have time to finish them!  So I decided to spend my 'paint time' today doing a study of the Crepe Myrtle flowers.

I have always liked the soft lavender color of these flowers.  Each flower emerges from a pea sized green pod.  The petals are pinkish-red at the base, lighter lavender at the crepe-like crinkled edges, and have darker lavender veins.  In the center of the flower are numerous stamens topped with bright orangish-yellow anthers.  The mature stamens extend above the others on thick red filaments.  Filaments of old stamens grow thin and pale, and coil back toward the center of the flower.

Groups of these flowers form large clusters at the ends of each new branch on the bush.  The young branches are reddish-brown, while the older branches and trunks have a mottled appearance due to shedding bark.  The dark green leaves are simple and opposite.