Matilija Poppies

The Matilija Poppy is the largest flower in the poppy family. It’s rare to see it outside of arid regions in California and northern Mexico. The really surprising part of this flower is the brilliantly colored, large, orangey-yellow center but if there’s the slightest of breezes, the thin petals flap over and hide the center, turning it into a nondescript white mass

I have only one poppy tree in my neighborhood and it’s flowers are too high up for me to really look at them. You can see in this sketch that I need to look up at the sky to sketch the flowers.

I didn’t have time for a second sketch that day but I noticed a small rock behind the tree and figured that if I stood on top of it, I might be able to look down at the flowers.

So I came back the next day and did just that.

I will need to go back yet again, perhaps on a day that is not windy, when the poppies hold open on a sunny day.