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1. Project size: 9x12

2. Choose an flower that you would like to use for your project. Find at LEAST 3 reference photos from a Google image search on your iPad. MAKE SURE THESE ARE PHOTOGRAPHS.

3. Crop your main image using the Rule of Thirds for your composition, the additional photos can be used to add to your sketch – These photo references are what keeps it creative and YOURS.

4. POST your 3 reference photos.

5. Do 2 thumbnail sketches for composition.

6. Sketch the outline of your flower onto tracing paper - you will be transferring the pencil lines using white chalk on the back of the tracing paper.

7. LIGHTLY trace your sketch on the scratchboard.

8. Use the Techniques that have been practiced or develop some additional textures to complete your work.

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Recognized as a pioneer in scratchboard, Sally was one of the first designated as a Master Scratchboard Artist by the International Society of Scratchboard Artists. Also a Master and recognized by American Women Artists as such, she is a Signature member of the Society of Animal Artists and a Silver Signature member of Artists Changing Tomorrow. Sally was one of the first to introduce color to the medium and has been perfecting her craft since 1967. Her works have garnered Awards of Excellence in multiple Museum juried shows.

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Recognized as a pioneer in scratchboard, Sally was one of the first designated as a Master Scratchboard Artist by the International Society of Scratchboard Artists. Also a Master and recognized by American Women Artists as such, she is a Signature member of the Society of Animal Artists and a Silver Signature member of Artists Changing Tomorrow. Sally was one of the first to introduce color to the medium and has been perfecting her craft since 1967. Her works have garnered Awards of Excellence in multiple Museum juried shows.

Sally has a innate connection with the animal world and regularly travels to exotic locations to photograph her subjects and experience their behavior in the wild. Her works are on display in Museums nationwide and in private collections across the globe.

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Sally Maxwell, master scratchboard artist

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Recognized as a pioneer in scratchboard, Sally was one of the first designated as a Master Scratchboard Artist by the International Society of Scratchboard Artists. Also a Master and recognized by American Women Artists as such, she is a Signature member of the Society of Animal Artists and a Silver Signature member of Artists Changing Tomorrow.

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In the world of floristry beauty is an everyday thing, but as with most things in life, beauty is often in the eye of the beholder.
Flowers Across Melbourne scoured the globe to find the weirdest flowers in the world so take a seat, grab a drink and get ready to check out 40 flowers that are stranger than fiction.

#1. Monkey Face Orchid (Dracula simia)

Let's face it (pun intended), this little guy didn't take a whole lot of imagination to name; "Dracula" because of it's two long, fang-like petals and "simia" for its resemblance to primates. The two dark little eyes, fuzzy dotted eyebrows, and furry little nose and beard area bear striking simian similarities that become even more apparent when viewed from a distance.
The Monkey Face Orchid is rare oddity so don't get upset if you've never seen one before. It is only found in the cloud forests of Peru and southeastern Ecuador at altitudes of more than 3,000 feet. It can bloom all year round, and its flowers smell like ripe oranges, making it a prized addition to any orchid connoisseurs garden.

#6. Hooker's Lips (Psychotria elata)

Hooker Lips, Hot Lips, Flower Lips- call them what you will- there's no guessing how this plant got its name. The bright red bits that resemble a hooker's bright red lips are bracts, not petals. The leaf-like bracts are only in their kissable state for a few days before opening to reveal the little yellow and white flowers within. The Hooker's Lips Plant is native to the tropical regions of Colombia, Costa Rica, and Panama, but due to its popularity with collectors and the deforestation of its natural habitat it's landed on the endangered list. Hope we don't have to kiss this little beauty goodbye anytime soon!

#7. Dancing Girls (Impatiens bequaertii)

These little beauties are one of the rarest flowers around and prove quite hard to find even for the most determined plant collector. Nicknamed for their resemblance to dancing ladies in dresses, these tiny flowers are native to East Africa and come in white and light pink. The plant itself is quite petite, growing to just about one foot across and bearing blooms that max out at ½" long. Dancing Girls trail and climb, so they make lovely additions to hanging planters where you can enjoy their fabulous flowers at eye-level. Dancing Girls will root wherever they touch the soil, and they make excellent indoor plants if you can find one.

#11. Parrot Flower (Impatiens psittacina)

If you've never seen a Parrot Flower before you're not alone. The Parrot Flower, a Thailand native, is classified as endangered and therefore not allowed to leave the country. The neat thing about the flower of this rare species of balsam is that when you look at its side profile, it looks just like a parrot or cockatoo in flight! Funny thing is, when images of this flower began to circulate across the Internet they were dismissed as being "digitally manipulated" or Photoshopped because very few people had actually seen one since they are so extremely rare in the wild, and it's illegal to remove them

#14. Tiger face in Moon Orchid (Phalaenopsis amabilis)

The moon orchid is one of Indonesia's three national flowers the flower of charm, the other two are Jasminum sambac and Rafflesia arnoldii. Usually, in nature, the stripings and markings on flowers are evolved to either mimic larger animals in order to scare away predators, or to resemble the genitals of insects in order to attract the most significant number of pollinators and propagate. In this case, the Moon Orchid's stripes look almost exactly like that of a tiger! Makes you wonder what kind animals this lovely little flower is trying to scare off.

#39. Desert Pea (Swainsona formosa)

This weird, wonderful flower is quite the evolutionary produce, surviving and thriving in dry, arid climates. The blood-red petals with their bulbous, purplish-black middles make these flowers look more like aliens. Perhaps that's why the Desert Pea is one of Australia's best-known and most recognised wildflowers. Besides, it is also the state flower of South Australia. But just because it happens to be one of the most famous wildflowers in Australia doesn't mean you can go around and start picking it; quite the opposite in fact. The Desert Pea is among the native Australian flowers and is a protected species. As a result, it is illegal to collect or pick any without explicit written consent of the Australian government.

I know we said 40 but there are so much more out there..... so here are ten more just for fun.

Crêpe ginger (Cheilocostus speciosus)

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40 of the worlds weirdest flowers - Flowers Across Melbourne

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Explore the grand collection of the world's coolest and weirdest flowers! You will surely be surprised by their crazy and funny looks!

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Using white chalk on a black surface will get you used to thinking about working with highlights and the lighter parts of an image.

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Recreate this sphere using a white charcoal pencil and black paper.

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Now we will work on adding in the highlights using scratchboard tools.

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Using this sphere as the subject, create 4 spheres, each using a different technique that is listed below.
-Hatching
-Cross Hatching
-Stippling
-Scumbling
Post your 4 finished scratchboard techniques in the Turn In tab in Teams.

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With a scientist's precision, artist John N. Agnew captures the textures of "lesser-loved" species and their habitats on scratchboard. His animal portraits in scratchboard are featured in The Artist's Magazine (July/August 2012), including the following step-by-step demonstration of Maternal Instincts (below). And, don't miss his article on 12 scratchboard strokes that he uses in his wildlife art.

Scratchboard Art: Steady Hand, Studied Technique
by John N. Agnew
After I've selected my image references-often those displaying interesting textural elements-and learned all I can about the subject and its habitat, I'm ready to begin work on a new scratchboard. I start by making a detailed drawing on vellum or tracing paper. I use my photos as reference because I like to include more detail than I could possibly remember-and it's difficult to pose a live alligator in my studio.

1. I transfer the image to my scratchboard panel (a white clay-coated board, covered with black India ink) by chalking the back of my drawing, placing it on the scratchboard, and tracing over the lines carefully. Once this is done, I remove the drawing and gently wipe off the excess chalk, leaving behind faint white lines that are my road map.

2. Using the chalked lines as a guide, I go over all of them with light stippling. This makes the lines permanent-the chalk is easy to wipe off. I then go over the entire image, establishing my base tones with stippling. Here you can see the traced chalk lines, stippled lines and tones, and the beginning of cross-hatching over the stippling.

3. Once the stippling is complete, you can see that I go over parts of it with cross-hatching to make lighter tones and highlights. Areas that are to remain dark often go without cross-hatching. The cross-hatching sometimes requires several layers, depending on the brightness of a given area. Keeping your cross-hatching strokes very small will help make even tones. In this detail I've begun the background, using small line strokes to establish texture and to differentiate the background from the darker, softer tones in the alligator.

4. Here's my finished drawing Maternal Instincts (scratchboard, 11 x14), which shows a mother gator protecting her nest, with cypress trees and knees (woody projections of cypress tree roots that rise above the swamp's normal water level) in the background.

Read the full article about Agnew's scratchboard art techniques in The Artist's Magazine (July/August 2012). And, don't miss an issue when you subscribe!

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Scratchboard Art Technique Step-by-Step Art Demonstration

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With a scientist's precision, artist John N. Agnew captures the textures of "lesser-loved" species and their habitats on scratchboard. His animal portraits in scratchboard are featured in The Artist's Magazine (July/August 2012), including the following step-by-step demonstration of Maternal Instincts (below). And, don't miss his article on 12 scratchboard strokes that he uses in his wildlife art.

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We have already done the Hatching, Cross Hatching and Stippling using the ink pen. Scratchboard is similar to this, only in reverse! We will be focusing on the highlights now instead of the shadows.

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The image is transferred to the surface by applying chalk to the back of a drawing and tracing over the lines. Then, starting from the left side of the illustration you see that you scratch off your basic guide lines using a line tool, so that if you smudge off the chalk you still maintain a guide. Next step you continue to fill in more lines between the first ones until you reach a "grey" stage. Now you continue to cut the highlighted areas.

Once all of the texture and tonal ranges have been cut, the image is painted in with colored India inks. Some use watercolor, but I found it stains the undercoat of chalk and you cannot cut it back off to pure white. The ink is applied just as you would work a watercolor painting, but you have black guidelines. The ink can be overpainted on the black because it is transparent and becomes part of the black. This makes the painting part quite easy. Once it is painted and dry, the piece can be cut again in the areas the light is hitting the subject for final highlights as the final meercat shows.

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The Maxwell Technique of adding color to scratchboard

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The rule of thirds is a guideline for both artists and photographers. It says that if you divide your composition into thirds, either vertically or horizontally, and then place focal areas of your scene at the meeting points of them, you will get a more pleasing arrangement and layout for your compositions.

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The grid has helped artists get proportions and sizes correct since the Renaissance. They help with:

1. Correct proportions

2. Drawing more quickly (less erasing)

3. Help with perspective

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Based on the X grid, this will give you more structure if you need the guidance

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Based on the X grid, this will give you more structure if you need the guidance