SFN Botanical Art: The Blog » Paintings and Drawings

Carol Woodin’s Hazelnut

susan — Mon, 15 Feb 2016 15:20:04 +0000

Carol Woodin’s Hazelnut watercolor, 7 x10 inches, is the newest acquisition to my inventory. Painted on McEwen’s vellum, a prized material reintroduced by Rory McEwen, a treasured Scottish botanical artist who revived painting on vellum (animal skin). A prepared gessoed surface applied on top of the skin acts as a diving board for the art to jump off the sheet. The gesso electrifies the paint, adding a depth to the dry-brush watercolor technique. Woodin has produced some of the most exquisite examples of 21st century botanical portraiture on this substrate, a shared experience with a master who would have celebrated this renaissance of painting on vellum and appreciated Woodin’s stylized compositions.

Beauty

susan — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 13:05:28 +0000

Lately I’ve admired the work of Patricia Luppino, a botanical artist from New York. Her pencil and watercolor pieces capture nature at its most beautiful and vulnerable. She recently asked me for a portfolio critique where we moved into a lengthy discussion the motivation behind her stylistic interpretations. Here’s what she shared with me:

“I’m not certain that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but if it is, it seems that beauty may not always be in the beholder’s line of sight. As I hover in that invisible netherworld between middle and old age, with the specter of decrepitude ever looming, I’m saddened by obsession with youth and beauty. For what charitable cause, what grand idea, what contribution are these fortunate ageless few responsible? Can we once gaze past them at the craggy crone with the twisted spine and appreciate her wisdom, her grace, her spirit?

Contemptuous of youth and beauty in its many forms, I’m seldom moved by a stunning painting or a stunning flower. Does it really need to garner even more attention? Show me instead the gnarled root, the dried seed head, the buried bulb who all seem to call out ‘behold me, you will see, if you care to behold, that I am beautiful too.”

Since we experience four seasons on the East Coast of America, I used to crave seeing living plants in the depths of winter. However, with works by Pat Luppino and Kate Nessler, my need for green has greatly diminished, in its place is the beauty found in roots and sweeping fungus. It’s solitude, privacy and gracefulness speaking volumes, in its stillness there is so much movement. Beauty comes through these natural forms, forcing recognition and leaving lasting impressions.

Kate Nessler’s Edges

susan — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 23:20:01 +0000

Watercolor, pencil and dried specimens on Kelmscott vellum, including specimens in transparent vellum handmade envelopes. Vellum attached with linen thread hand-sewn on museum board.

Welcome to my first blog post! Here you will find what excites me about botanical painting from original works to museum exhibitions and reference books on the subject. Enjoy!

Kate Nessler has a fantastic series of new works called Edges. Kate has incorporated pressed plants along side partial to fully rendered drawings of the same image. These images are mounted and drawn on “edges” of vellum sheets, showing the crudeness of the skins. By painting and adhering specimens onto this type of surface, Kate is celebrating the organic nature of the skin and forcing one to recognize the beauty of nature. Please visit my website to see many of these pieces with full descriptions.