Preliminary Drawing of Camassia

This is a portion of the line drawing that I will use as a basis for a painting of Camassia.  I like using drawing paper with a smooth but tough surface, like Bristol Vellum, for the initial line drawing so I can erase to my heart's content while I adjust the drawing and composition. Next I'll lightly transfer the lines from the Bristol paper onto watercolor paper, using my handy light box. The color notes will help as I start the painting phase.

Now I need to do some color matching, mixing and testing of washes.  I am excited about all of the subtle yet dramatic colors in these blossoms, from the lime green ovary and orange anthers, to the blue with magenta undertones in the petals.  This should be fun...challenging but fun!

Camassia quamash

I recently visited a local nursery that specializes in Pacific Northwest native plants, Bosky Dell Natives, in search of the subject of my next painting.  It is such a luxury to not only have a nice selection of well grown, potted plants to choose from but also to be able to pick Leslie's brain.  She is an employee and a virtual encyclopedia of native plant information.

I found many tempting possible subjects, but finally narrowed it down to Iris douglasiana and Camassia quamash, or Common Camas.  It is late in the season for both plants but I was able to find a few that were still in bloom or in bud.  Leslie asked if I had been to the Camassia Natural Area in nearby West Linn, where the Camas blooms profusely, along with many other wildflowers, in April and early May.  I decided to stop by later in the day to see the Camasssia habitat and companion plants.

Although it was dusk by the time I got there, I managed to get a few photos.

Camassia quamash

Oak woodland on rocky plateau

Madrone trees in the dusk

The nature preserve is located in the middle of suburbia, where 26 acres of Oak woodland and meadows atop the rocky bluffs overlooking the Clackamas and Willamette Rivers have been set aside and protected by The Nature Conservancy.  The Common Camas mostly grows in the meadows, where we were able to find a few still in bloom.  It must be quite a sight at the height of the season when the meadows turn blue with Camas blossoms.

I have already started my preliminary drawings of the Camassia, and hope to get some sketches of the Douglas Iris done as well before they finish blooming.  I'll keep you posted!

Thankful on Mother's Day

Today, on Mother's Day, I have thinking about how thankful I am for our children and granddaughter.  Now our granddaughter is two and a half, and what fun we have had watching her grow and her personality develop.  This is a little drawing I did of her as a newborn for a book I am going to give her when she is older.  I want her to know how cherished she is to all of us.

SBA Diploma and a Tribute

I just received my diploma in London at the Society of Botanical Artists Distance Course graduation.  I felt privileged that Margaret Stevens, the current director of the program, presented my diploma.  She will be retiring later this year, so this is the last graduation that she will preside over.

Margaret is a founding member of the SBA and was a key person in developing the distance course.  She has been the director since the course's inception in 2005 and also serves as a tutor in the program.  She wrote The Art of Botanical Painting, The Botanical Palette, and co-wrote The Botanical Sketchbook, which are the three books used as textbooks for the course, and are popular reference books for anyone interested in botanical art.  

Remarkably, she just co-authored another book that was published this year, The Handbook of Plant Forms for Botanical Artists.  She somehow manages to do all of this and still find time to produce beautiful botanical paintings herself.  I think she is an amazing person, and I am glad that I got to meet her.  Because of the SBA distance course, my dream of studying botanical art has finally been realized.  The graduation ceremony illustrated her, and the course's influence, as people from the Republic of Korea, Brazil, Hong Kong, Australia, Italy, the USA, the UK and several other nations, walked up to receive their diplomas. 

SBA Exhibition at Westminster Hall

The day before the graduation I went to the SBA International Exhibition and was surprised to see my cabbage painting on display in the student section.  It is the first time I have had work in an exhibition so I was very excited!

Soon I need to begin preparing for the 2014 SBA International Exhibition, where I hope to submit work for acceptance.  But for right now I plan on following the advice I noticed in the mosaic at the British Gallery entry, "Rest and Be Thankful"!!

Cabbage & SBA Graduation

I posted about finding this cabbage at the farmer's market and my preliminary drawing here. I got top marks from the SBA tutors for this painting which is ironic since when I first did it, I thought it was a complete failure and started on another vegetable painting to send in instead.  I quickly realized that I did not have time to do another one since I had already spent so many hours on this one.  So I put the cabbage painting away and tried to put it out of my mind while I worked on my other two portfolio paintings.

When I got this out a month later, I liked it better but saw some areas to tweak, then I put it away for another few weeks, then got it out and tweaked it some more--just a little more shading here and there, and little more definition on the ruffles, etc.  I must say it has grown on me...and now I am scratching my head over why I didn't like it in the first place.  I hope I can remember that it is important not to give up on something too soon, with a little more work and some objective distance, it might turn out okay after all.

Do you find your perspective changes when you go back to your artworks later?

Brassica 'Dead On'

Studying botanical art has been a long-time dream of mine, but unfortunately such programs are fairly scarce and located too far away for me to participate.  When I heard about the Society of Botanical Artists Distance Course in the UK, I immediately sent off my application with a sample of my work and waited with baited breath to see whether I would be accepted. I first heard about the program in October, was accepted by December, and started in January--now that is fast action, isn't it!?  It is hard to believe that I am graduating now.  In some ways, many ways, I will miss the course but look forward to growing more 'in my own style' and subject matter choices.  I am not sure where that will take me but I hope to continue to focus mainly on Pacific Northwest natives.

This is my third painting for my graduation portfolio.  I am pleased to say that I got a good response from those evaluating my work, and actually am graduating with a "Distinction"--my feet have barely touched the ground since I found out!

Botanical Mixed Study

Forsythia x intermedia, Narcissus 'Tete a Tete', Iris xiphium

Since I had three months to do my diploma pieces (for the SBA program), I assigned myself one painting per month. The way it worked out was that the mixed study had to be done in January. I never realized until then how little the selection is in the middle of winter. I guess it does make sense--its too cold to garden and there are no holidays that would involve plant-giving in January.

On my visit to the nursery, the yawning clerk looked at me with surprise as if I had just interrupted her nap. The store was strangely quiet and the scattered plants seemed rather forlorn in the nearly empty isles. I then pinned my hopes on a nearby florist. Fortunately there I found some Dutch Iris in bud and forsythia twigs beginning to bloom, then went back to the nursery for some Tete a Tete daffodils that I had noticed before, to fill out the scheme. At home, I drew my composition with the forsythia and daffodils, leaving a blank spot where the iris would go as I waited for its petals to unfurl.

After a few days, the iris buds withered away to limp gray blobs without ever fully opening. Now it was too late to start over with another composition, so the search for opened Iris blossoms began. I found some slightly tattered ones at a grocery store and forged ahead. But they only lasted a couple of days before they turned into gray blobs as well. Fortunately when I returned in hopes of a fresh bunch, the grocery store had received a new shipment so I bought some more...and this cycle repeated again and again.  Finally I finished the mixed study, although a bit past my self-imposed deadline.  I suspect that the grocery store manager wondered about the sudden rush on Dutch irises!

Fritillaria meleagris

Checkered Lily

There is something rather flamboyant about Fritillaria, perhaps it is that the leaves can be alternate, opposite or whorled or sometimes all of the above, like they can't be constrained by the ordinary rules. Or perhaps it is the outlandish spots on some of them, particularly the F. meleagris. Don't they know that plants should not have such a geometric checkerboard design? Well apparently Fritillaria don't care about our expectations, and that is okay by me!

This is a botanical illustration, the first of three paintings I submitted for my diploma portfolio for the SBA course I am taking.

I painted Fritillaria affinis, which is native to the Pacific Northwest where I live, earlier in the course. I hope to paint another native, Fritillaria pudica as well, and of course who could resist the preposterously exotic Fritillaria imperialis?