STORY BEHIND THE ART OF HEEYOUNG KIM
15th Annual International
American Society of Botanical Artists at
The Horticultural Society of New York
Compass Plant
Silphium laciniatum
First of all, I would like to show my deepest appreciation to the Horticultural Society of New York and The American Society of Botanical Artists for giving me an opportunity to be a part of this wonderful exhibition. The Best in Show award from the 15th Annual International is the greatest honor in my career.
My personal goal of doing botanical art is building up an image bank of Midwest native plants. Considering the rapid reduction of native plants, especially prairie plants, I try to paint rare and endangered ones first, whenever I can get access to them. However, I happily share my time with common plants as long as they have ecological values or they are just too beautiful to ignore. When you enter the prairie in late summer or fall, you would be welcomed by 3 most distinguished plants among many other sunflowers and grasses. They are the Compass Plant, Silphium laciniatum, Prairie Dock, Silphium terebinthinaceum and Cup Plant, Silphium perfoliatum. They defeat almost all competitors and show off their grand postures, and of course these fairly common native plants deserve nice portraits.
Quite a few artists have depicted the Compass Plant in watercolor, pencil or pen-and-ink. The unique shape of the leaf is the most favorite part of the plant for artists. What I wanted to show through this painting was my very personal interpretation of it. They are up to 12 feet tall with big and complicated leaves, many yellow flowers along tall stalks, hardy and hairy structure...they are just full of character. These robust plants exhibit their beautiful sculptural forms covered with snow in winter, unless they are cut or burnt. To me they look almost like the symbol of the tough history of the prairie itself.
My biggest challenge with this painting was the composition: how could I highlight details of the flowers, hairy seedpods, and intricate leaves? And still show the exceptional height of the plant? I spent many days walking around the tall plant, seeing it from different angles, visiting various places…this is my routine to start a painting. Then usually an image pops up in my head. That is the moment to sit down and complete the drawing. After that, many days follow to refine lines and check botanical accuracy. I am quite satisfied with this composition with color and pencil. The background pencil drawing of leaves suggests distance, yet shows energetic movement of the leaves. It also supports the flowers and hairy stalk by subduing the majority of the image.
After finishing the sketch, I completed one pencil drawing of the whole image, and 2 ink studies of the flowers. Coloring started after I felt like I knew every corner of this plant. I do not want the painting process to be interrupted too much, because painting is my pure interpretation of what I have seen and studied. When I paint, I just want to paint.
This watercolor and graphite pencil work of the Compass Plant was shown in The Royal Horticultural Society London Botanical Art Exhibition, March 16/17, 2012 with 7 other of my paintings of prairie plants. The Gold Medal which I received from the RHS casts sunshine on local conservation efforts in the Chicago area, where one of the biggest volunteer groups has been working for 30 years on the restoration and conservation of prairies, woodlands, and savannahs along the Chicago River. We, enthusiastic fans of nature in the Chicagoland and I, are very happy and honored by 2 top prizes from The Hort/ASBA and the RHS, given to the humblest native plants of the American Prairie.
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