Sunflower Drawing

Sunflower Drawing

9" x 12" oil pastel on paper

Like Van Gogh, sunflowers are one of my favorite flowers to paint or draw. This was a particularly orange colored one which I purchased at a flea market in the Catskills.

I was surprised to learn that the sunflower is one of the few cultivated plants native to North America and that archaeologists believe wild sunflowers were used by Native Americans on the North American continent as far back as 8,000 years ago.

About 2300 B.C. sunflowers began to be cultivated with their seeds roasted and eaten as a snack or ground into fine meal to thicken soups and stews. Roasted hulls were also brewed to make a drink similar to coffee. Dyes were extracted from their hulls and petals and face paint made from the dried petals mixed with pollen. Dried stalks were used for building material.

Sunflower oil was used as hair oil, cooking oil and medicine to treat everything from warts and snakebites to heatstroke and coughs. The sunflower was introduced to Russia because they found they could use the lighter consistency of sunflower oil during Lent and Advent when the Holy Orthodox Church of Russia forbade the use of foods made with richer oils. Consequently, Russia holds the title of the foremost producer of sunflower seeds.

There are about 67 species and 19 subspecies of sunflowers growing in the wild fields and ditches across North America. Wild sunflowers have many flowerheads on one stalk and require insects for pollination. Today's hybrid commercial sunflowers usually have only one flower per stalk and can be bred without the help of insects. In Provence and other places in the world one can see beautiful fields of sunflowers grown to be cultivated for their numerous products.

Because of their beauty, artists in the past and today still enjoy painting sunflowers.

If you would like to purchase this 9" x 12" oil pastel drawing, please email me. It is available on paper or it is also available already framed in a gold frame measuring 10 1/2" x 14."

The 9" x 12" oil pastel drawing unmatted is priced at $75 plus s/h.

The 9" x 12" oil pastel drawing matted and ready for framing is priced at $100 plus s/h.

The gold framed 10 1/2" x 14 oil pastel is priced at $150 plus s/h.