Peculiar Stages

I know I'm a broken record....

but I love the way blackeyed Susans unfurl....in sometimes dramatic style.   

The petals start wrapped around the center in a ball....

then slowly unfold in all their glory.

Coneflowers do a whole different thing....and I've been thinking about how to describe it.  I stopped and photographed these on our morning walk.

The petals kind of peek out.....starting with just a sliver....then slowly stretch out and thicken up.  They start very light...almost white before they turn color.

I actually like them at these peculiar early stages....

more so than when they're in full bloom.

I wanted to try and sketch some of these peculiar early blooms....and decided to work right in my art journal. That's always risky. 

I'm thinking I should add more.  

But then it got me thinking....maybe I could do some cutouts! I love that whimsical look of fussy cuts of black line drawings.

I made this collaged background a few weeks ago as an experiment.  It didn't work for what I was doing at the time...so I cut it down and stitched it into the art journal where it's been waiting for some sort of a focal point. I'll either add more coneflowers...or some sort of a quote.  I do like the idea of an all over pattern of sorts.  I'll mull it over.