Orchids With Intricate Leaf Scroll Border Coloring Page

Five moth orchids fill the center of the page, three across the top and two lower down, each opening its broad rounded upper petals behind a small dark throat. The throats are the only part already inked solid, and they anchor the design. Behind the flowers sits a pale rosette of fine scrollwork that shows through the gaps between petals, drawn much more lightly than the orchids so it never competes with them. Each corner carries a heavy ornamental scroll with a few round berries worked into it, and those four pieces are the darkest thing on the sheet. One stem with two broad leaves runs down from the flowers to the bottom edge. The plan that works is to keep the orchids soft and the corners strong. Orchid petals carry faint radiating lines that take a pale wash beautifully and look wrong under a heavy marker. The background rosette is best left white or given the faintest tint, because filling it properly will bury the flowers standing in front of it. The corner scrolls, by contrast, can carry a deep saturated color without unbalancing anything.