The artist studio is a workplace where ideas come to life.  These botanical artists use the  studio as a place for story telling through the medium of graphite and watercolor on paper and vellum. In Beverly Duncan’s Ashfield Composition, The Seasons #3, she describes the place where she collects the specimens, Ashfield, Massachusetts, and the native plant life within it.   We journey through this piece from left to right:  White Ash fruit, False Solomon Seal fruit, European Cabbage butterfly, Japanese Anemone flower and buds, Snow Drop flower and bulb, American Beech Winter Branch and a Nine-spotted Ladybug Bettle.  Duncan uses her studio, a sacred space, where she delicately lays out her collection, composes and paints each part with the care of a living, breathing organism, cherishing her most intimate relationship with the natural world through every brush stroke.

Kelly Leahy Radding’s Bluff Point Rose Hip tells the story of her work as a Piping Plover monitor on Bluff Point Beach in Groton, Connecticut.  She walks the beach surveying many species of birds and as the artist states, “seeing the plants is just a wonderful bonus.”

Connie Scanlon’s story began with the decision to paint three peas in a pea pod or “Solace”, evolving from the natural composition of the specimen.  Scanlon gravitates towards subjects which include the number three, as this reminds her of her three children.  An intimate moment unfolds between the subject and viewer, as if we should knock before looking.  There is often a romantic conclusion from her works.

Please visit www.sfnbotanicalart.com to view all the works included in the online exhibition.  Wishing you a very happy and healthy holiday season!