Roadside Banana

I have had a banana plant growing indoors in a pot for well over twenty years. Although it has continued to produce new leaves, in all that time it has only managed to grow to about half a metre in height! By contrast, throughout South-East Asia we saw these plants grown to many metres in height – some cultivated and some seemingly just roadside weeds. The plants I have painted here were growing beside a small country road near Chiang Rai in Thailand, but they look pretty much the same as all the other banana plants we saw in the region.

I originally tried drawing this scene using pastels, in order to get some bright colours into the picture. However, the resulting sketch was far too blurred (for which read “smudged”!), so I decided to try pen and watercolour instead. Much to my surprise – given the difficulties I often find in using watercolours properly – this painted version is much better. Of course it could be much better still, but that it seems is a given in this doodling lark …